El Museo del Barrio, New York; May 15, 2012
For its last presentation of the season, the New York City Opera is giving four performances (through May 20th) of Telemann’s only-recently (1978) discovered Orpheus. A fascinating linguistic hodge-podge—it is sung in German, Italian, and French—Telemann’s 1726 work incorporates texts (not music!) from operas by both Handel and Lully. It differs from other operatic treatments of the myth by focusing on Orasia, the Queen of Thrace, whose unrequited love for Orpheus leads her to send the serpent to kill Eurydice in the first act and to have Orpheus murdered by the Bacchantes at the end, after which she kills herself. The opera is not your run-of-the-mill Baroque da-capo-fiesta; arias, ariosos, and recits meld into one another and the music is a mixture of opera seria, simpler German Singspiel, and high Baroque, highly decorative music. A 1996 recording led by René Jacobs showed how fine the music is, but the City opera’s production proved it stage-worthy.
The simple production with sets and costumes by David Zinn—clearly a cost-saver—was modern-dress, with a pair of semi-circular metal tables on wheels that served as a flower-and-champagne-laden wedding table early on, Pluto’s “boardroom” later, and with the addition of a couple of branches, the path out of Hades. Donald Holder’s lighting did fine work setting the mood, and a shower of rose petals was very effective. The bright red background for the wedding scene was particularly lovely.
Rebecca Taichman directed with warmth for the lovers and their friends (Eurimides and Cephisa) along with some clever touches—Pluto’s “boardroom” featured “the damned” typing away madly on laptops on either side of the stage. Her most daring innovation was the addition of a ballerina in the figure of Thanatos, danced with serpentine grace and wickedness by Catherine Miller: she delivered the kiss of death to Eurydice and the bite of death to Orasia at the end. At first a distraction, it worked splendidly. Mark Dendy choreographed.
The singers were outstanding, but some of their singing was not perfect. Some over-expression led to pitch issues with Jennifer Rowley’s Orasia, but the role is a very big sing—filled with wild, mixed emotions—and few will complain. She definitely has what it takes to be a star. The same might be said for Daniel Teadt’s Orpheus—his lament late in the opera was marred by sharp singing, albeit in the name of drama—but his is a fine baritone nonetheless. Joelle Harvey’s Eurydice was simply stunning: melting lyricism one moment, merry fireworks the next, and all sung dead-center and with feeling. Meredith Lustig and Victor Ryan Robertson as Eurimides and Cephisa (and Damned Spirits at other times), were excellent, as was Nicholas Pallesen as Pluto. Telemann has given this wicked character a lovely aria in which, having been won over by Orpheus, he releases the damned from their torments; it was as touching as his cruel moments were cruel.
Gary Thor Wedow, leading 19 musicians, including five continuo players on period instruments, infused the drama with the passion it deserved. The charming, 600-seat theater at the Museo del Barrio on upper Fifth Avenue proved an ideal space for the production. Along with NYCO’s fascinating, controversial, and odd Cosi, it seems as if the company may be regaining its footing.
