Roving Pittsburgher Report, Review from the Abduction of Seraglio

Opera for the Amateurs

The Abduction from the Seraglio

Review by JoAnn R. Forrester

The closing opera for the 2011-2012 season was a joy.  After a season of heavy drama, I was ready to see something light, frothy and fun.  I was not disappointed.  Put this in the class of light opera with Gilbert and Sullivan. Another bonus was, it was in English. Yeah! 

Written by Mozart, this opera starts in Istanbul, Turkey and proceeds to Paris, France.  It takes place on that marvelous train, the Orient Express.  I have always wanted to ride that train. So many books and movies (Murder on the Orient Express) feature that train and some kind of romantic or dastardly plot. 

As I understand, it has been almost 30 years since the opera has been held here.  My vote is for more Operas like “The Abduction from the Seraglio!"  There is too much drama in our media (some manufactured) and tension in the news these days.  I just want to relax and be entertained and come out feeling happy. 

From the overture on it was fun and captivating.  The story revolves around the Pasha Selim palace and the Orient Express.  Three Europeans have been captured by pirates and sold into slavery to the Pasha.  The Pasha has become enamored by the Spanish noble woman Konstanze and has tried to make her his favorite. Meanwhile, Belmonte, the fiancé of Konstanze, has been desperately searching for her and has tracked her to the Pasha in Istanbul.

Konstanze is resisting the Pasha’s advances.  She is keeping her heart, mind, body and soul for Belmonte.  Konstanze does a good job of resisting, but, in one scene the Pasha almost “wins” his objective.  He is plying her with wonderful gifts and loving words and a MARVELOUS fur coat.  Konstanze is almost swayed.  Then she finds her will and remains true and loyal to Belmonte.  (That fur coat was a beauty).

Opening scene: Belmonte's arrival at the Pasha's palace.  He tries to enter the Pasha’s private car on the Orient Express. He is met with fierce and comic resistance by Osmin, the Pasha's overseer, played with great flair by Paolo Pecchiolo's. Osmin is NOT fond of Westerners, except for the Blonde, the woman servant of Konstanze.   The manservant of Belmonte, Pedrillo, has ingratiated himself with the Pasha, much to the disgust of Osmin. 

Konstanze, played by Soprano Lisette Oropesa, is an impressive delight in the scene where the Pasha was “wooing” her.  The Blonde, played by Ashley Emerson, has a beautiful and flexible voice with just the right feisty personality for her role. 

All kinds of shenanigans go on for the three acts as our lovers try to escape the Pasha. Of course, they are caught, then forgiven and released by the benevolent Pasha.

The staging was rich and detailed and managed to convey the feeling of train-in-motion.  I could imagine myself on the Orient Express, having my own personal adventure. The orchestra re-enforced the idea.  There is nothing like live music to enhance a performance.  I enjoyed myself and came out happy.  Need I say more?  A grand, glorious and FUN NIGHT at the opera.


The opera continues this week thru May 6, 2012 with two afternoon performances.  This English done opera is a great opportunity for amateur opera attendees to get their feet wet and love it.

JoAnn Forrester is the Host of Empress of Biz, Reinvent in Rugged Times, a business Talkcast syndicated on PPLMag, Pittsburgh's First Internet Radio and TV Network.  You can hear JoAnn at Business friends every Thursday at 9 AM on the TalkShoe network or archived later at:  http://pplmag.com 

RovingPittsburgher Review, It Takes Three to "Tosca"

Te Deum in the Church of Sant'Andrea delle Valle.  

IT TAKES THREE TO TOSCA

By Tamar Cerafici, Esq.

Reviewer’s Note: This remarkable production is available for only three more performances, Tuesday, March 27, Friday, March 30, and Sunday April 1, at the Benedum Center. Performances begin at 8 pm, on Tuesday and Friday. Sunday’s performance is at 2pm.

One of the perks of living in Pittsburgh and writing for this publication is the many chances I get to see Pittsburgh’s finest artistic offerings. I usually manage a hundred words or so, for a production like the Pittsburgh Opera’s latest rendition of Tosca, but I’m have some difficulty getting beyond --

Um, Wow. (Sigh) Wow.

I’m just that washed out by it.

A brief review of the plot might help me get my head straight. Problem is, the plot is complicated and it’s too long for the restrictions of this review. You can find a good synopsis on the Pittsburgh Opera’s Tosca site, http://www.pittsburghopera.org/shows/view/25

Mario Cavaradossi (Hugo Vera) ponders his portrait of Mary Magdalene,
"nothing like his raven-haired, dark-eyed Tosca." Photo: David Bachman 

Let’s just say here that Tosca and Mario love each other to distraction, there’s a lot of gorgeous singing, dramatic irony, and three really juicy death scenes, including a leap from a castle battlement. You’d think this would all be vaguely silly, and if Verdi had written the music it would be. Fortunately, Verdi was too old by the time the libretto came along – in Puccini’s deft hands Tosca is achingly beautiful. There’s a gigantic choral scene, the love duets soar, and the villain gets what he deserves, dying at the hands of the heroine, stabbed to the heart with his own dinner knife.

The lovers:  Tosca and Mario

Did I mention I love Italian Opera? My husband, not so much. He prefers to understand what’s being sung, and came with me only on the promise of supertitles. (This is the level of his dedication: I once made him sit through an entire recording of Turandot without program notes and he still married me.)

Even my husband was satisfied at the end. He actually used the word “like” and hummed a few bars of E lucevan le stella on the way home. Though I doubt I’ll get him to another opera, I have a theory about why he liked this production.

First, it satisfied on many levels. Ercole Sormani’s sets are STUNNING. The scenery was appropriately dark, menacing, and Italian. The grand first act, set in the church of Sant' Andrea della Valle, in Rome, was remarkably detailed and seemed huge. On the other hand, thanks to Andrew David Ostrowski’s lighting design, the action was surprisingly intimate, and never got lost.

Tosca before she leaps to her death

Kevin Glavin’s Sacristan (a Pittsburgh native) gave just the buffo support that the otherwise drab opening needed, and Adam Fry’s Angelotti (later to appear as the Jailor) gave substance to an otherwise dramatically weak first act. Angela Brown’s Tosca and Hugo Vera’s Mario managed to make the huge space sweetly intimate.

Kristine McIntyre’s stage direction was nothing short of brilliant. The famous Te Deum at the end of the First Act was deftly choreographed: although there is no actual dancing, we are seeing two events unfolding – Scarpia’s corrupt manipulation of Tosca, and a papal procession celebrating an apparent Roman victory over Napoleon (“Italy” as we know it today didn’t exist until the 1860’s). It’s complicated, and can be disastrous in the wrong hands. McIntyre deliciously captured the deep ironies in the music and the libretto, and continued to explore those contradictions throughout the performance. Antony Walker managed the orchestra and singers in a delightfully nuanced way.

Normally, such reviews reserve most of the accolades for the tenor and soprano roles. I must say that Vera and Brown were both endearing as Mario and Tosca. Brown’s Vissi d’arte, where she wonders – without losing her faith – why God has placed her in Scarpia’s clutches is breathtaking and deeply moving. Vera’s E lucevan le stella rang clearly through Mario’s heartbreak. Both singers matched each other beautifully in their duets, with a level of chemistry that’s often lost in lesser performances.

But Mark Donovan’s Scarpia was positively Machiavellian, and my favorite of the evening. His manipulation of Mario and Tosca is demonic. His death scene was melodramatic without being silly.  In fact, Donovan’s command of the character dramatically and vocally dominated the entire production.

And that’s how it should be. The opera opens with fateful chords that are Scarpia’s theme throughout. Scarpia and the corrupt government that continues even after his death, IS the driving ambiguity of this drama. Although true love apparently wins as Tosca leaps to her death, Scarpia’s henchmen are the players left on the stage.

On the other hand, as Puccini suggests, maybe art and love are the only things worth fighting - and living - for. Maybe that’s why Mario’s theme ends the opera. And maybe that’s why I cry every time the curtain goes down.

Tosca (Angela Brown) asks God for mercy in the famous aria "Vissi d'arte" 

Whether you like opera or not, you must see this production. You don’t have an excuse. There are supertitles so you understand what the characters are saying. And I bet you’ve sat through a production or two of Les Miz or Phantom of the Opera, so don’t tell me you don’t enjoy people singing at each other over a loud orchestra. Les Miz and Phantoms are operas – the fact they’re in English and on the Broadway tour circuit is not an argument.

If you bought tickets to either of those productions, support this gem of an opera company, and see this powerful show.

Photos by David Bachman, copyright 2012. These images and others are available at the Pittsburgh Opera Tosca Website.

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• Spent her Pre Law Years at Brigham Young as a drama major.

Attorney Cerafici is an internationally recognized leader and legal specialist in the often complex and challenging nuclear regulatory industry. She has been at the forefront of the industry in building regulatory and policy framework for a new generation of nuclear plants. She was a major contributor to the first Early Site Permit granted under 10 CFR part 52, successfully implementing alternative site analyses that have become the general standard.

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