Indeed, everyone was laughing—audience, cast and orchestra—during and following the final tableau of a sparkling production of Verdi’s Falstaff on Thursday evening at Severance Hall. But then, the music itself laughs and chortles and giggles throughout this splendid ensemble effort.
Overcoming three cast changes within the last week (one of them just the day before the first night) the semi-staged opera proceeded as smoothly as clouds floating through the sky.
For this production, the orchestra was lowered and the singers moved to the rear of the stage on risers. The front portion of the elevator in front of the stage, generally used for moving pianos to the storage room, was raised about half-way while the rear portion was then raised slightly higher, providing three levels of seating for the orchestra. The podium was on the lowest portion, which still allowed Mr. Welser-Möst to see and be seen by all the performers.
At the rear of the stage, the risers usually used for the orchestra provided the stage area for the singers. Falstaff’s large chair remained in the center at all times, but was occasionally concealed by two large theatrical-type ‘flats’ painted with Elizabethan era characters; a gentleman on one, and a lady on the other. On occasion, the upper portions of these screens were lowered disclosing the presence of Fenton and Nannetta behind them. For the final scene in the forest, the screens were reversed providing a painted Herne’s Oak, which also conveniently provided a wondrous pair of horns for Falstaff, sitting disconsolately in front of it.
Generally, the women were stage left, the men stage right, with Falstaff as buffer in between. The singers had ample room for movement, complemented by the special lighting which could hide or display as required. The blue lighting which rimmed the upper portion of the stage, reflecting off the silvery ceiling produced an eerie moonlight effect in the final scene. For the most part, costumes were a variation on concert dress, although Falstaff wore a glorious white brocade coat with purple trim for his courting scene. There was one intermission, placed between scenes I and II of Act II, which worked very well.
From the first notes of the orchestral opening, it was joyous, happy and well-paced—in every regard, an ensemble effort, although each singer did have solos, however brief. There were probably more beautiful, exposed solos from the orchestra than I recall, as well, and I’m quite certain that none of the singers—for all their combined experiences in opera—have never before had the pleasure of singing with such a marvelous orchestra. Of particular note (orchestra-wise) was the English horn solo by Jeffrey Rathbun early on, and the horns in the second half.
American bass-baritone Richard Sutliff was an impressive John Falstaff, who needed no extra padding to fill the large part. He projects a beautiful sound at each end of his wide vocal range, even in the falsetto parts. As an actor, his gestures and facial expressions matched the music, demonstrating the blow-hard Falstaff as well as the humble one.
Twyla Robinson as Alice Ford and Vladimir Chernov as her husband—were marvelously suited to the roles and to each other. Mr. Chernov was especially effective as an actor; his completely-at-ease stage presence combining with little throw-away gestures that added significantly to his dual roles as both Brook and Mr. Ford. Their daughter Nannetta was beautifully sung by the young Italian soprano Cinzia Forte in her US debut. She was winsome and entirely convincing throughout, but especially in her aria telling of her love for Fenton, sung by the tenor Cataldo Caputo. He had perhaps the only true aria of the evening, his sonnet about love and kisses, etc., to Nannetta, which was gorgeously done. They were visually well-matched as well as vocally.
The role of Mistress Quickly was taken by the marvelously capable American mezzo, Jane Henschel, with one day’s notice! The role is obviously not new to her, as she appeared entirely comfortable with it. Her gesture of disgust, wiping the back of her hand after it had been kissed by Falstaff prompted spontaneous laughter from the audience.
The sparkly, vivacious Meg of American mezzo Kelley O’Connor was delightful! Dr. Caius was well-done by the dapper and suave Italian tenor, Max René Cosotti. American tenor Scott Scully and Estonian bass Ain Anger made their Cleveland Orchestra debuts respectively as Bardolfo and Pistola, also doubling as stage-hands, expertly moving the screens around the stage area. We should definitely see all of these singers again, based on their performances here. The smaller than usual chorus was expertly prepared by chorus director Robert Porco
Director Andreas Zimmermann kept the pacing moving forward at a brisk pace, utilizing every available inch of the stage space to enhance the action. Set and costume design by Cleveland’s Robin VanLear were clever and appropriate. The animal masks she created for the final scene were splendid without interfering with the singing. Perhaps the men’s masks, being animal heads, were more successful, as they were easily identifiable and matched a personality trait of the character. The women’s head-gear was not so easily discernable, at least to those of us in the balcony, but still added a sense of mystery and fun to the happenings.
It was, all in all, a perfectly splendid evening, continuing the tradition established by Mr. Welser-Möst since his first year here. Next year, he’s promising us Der Rosenkavalier. It was truly fun to see the singers applaud the orchestra, and the orchestra applaud the singers, while the audience was cheering and applauding the entire collaboration.
For information about the orchestra at Blossom durng the summer, or the next season at Severance Hall, call (216) 231-1111, or visit the orchestra’s web-site: http://www.clevelandorchestra.com
From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz artswriterATadelphia.net
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