Don Giovanni by Opera Cleveland @ State Theatre, Playhouse Square 11/1/09

Opera Cleveland’s Don Giovanni combines an abstract setting, 18th-century costumes, and a fetching cast to create a brief escape into a darkly comic vision of unbridled ego--that is to say, the story of Don Juan, master seducer.

In director John Hoomes’s version the sheer number of conquests (1,000s) is made visual by banners inscribed with the names of the “lucky ladies.” Mozart’s great score (good job Opera Cleveland Orchestra) renders it all harmless and silly and provides a great escape without belaboring either Don Juan’s character or the moral.

Not to give away the surprise ending, but just to say, we were told that at the end of an earlier performance, 14-year-old boys stood on their seats to cheer. (I loved it too). Robert Gierlach’s Don Giovanni had seductive presence, both physically and vocally. The women who fought romantic wars with him were fetchingly portrayed by Alyson Cambridge (in turns touching and irritating as Donna Elvira), Fenlon Lamb (a giddy Zerlina), and Janinah Burnett (demure and vindictive). Matthew Burns’ Leporello seemed just the kind of servant Don Giovanni deserved.

The Opera Cleveland production has one more performance on Sat 11/7 at 8PM.

Laura Kennelly is a freelance arts journalist, a member of the Music Critics Association of North America, and an associate editor of BACH, a scholarly journal devoted to J. S. Bach and his circle.

Listening to and learning more about music has been a life-long passion. She knows there’s no better place to do that than the Cleveland area.