Opera Review: The Way the Big Wheel Spins

The New York City Opera bets the farm on Candide.

by Paul J. Pelkonen

The cast of Candide hoofs through "What's the Use?" in Act II of the Leonard
Bernstein comedy. Photo by Sarah Shartz © 2017 The New York City Opera. 

In 1982, the legendary Broadway director Hal Prince mounted Leonard Bernstein’s Candide at the New York City Opera. That show did much to salvage the reputation of the composer's most problematic stage work. Candide first came to life as a Broadway musical. It bombed, was rewritten (with a new libretto) and rebuilt an operetta with slight plot differences. The Prince solution was to present a sort of hybrid, a revised, two-act comedy that filtered Voltaire's cynicism through Bernstein's gift for a good tune supported by musical references to most of the major opera composers that had come before.

Opera Review: The Sword's Upside-Down

The Collegiate Chorale takes on The Mikado.
by Paul Pelkonen

Amy Justman, (Peep-Bo) Kelli O'Hara (Yum-Yum) and Lauren Worsham (Pitti-Sing)
on their way home from school. Photo by Erin Baiano © 2012 The Collegiate Chorale.

Huge vases of cherry blossoms stood at either end of the Carnegie Hall stage on Tuesday night. The plain white plaster panels at the back of that famous stage were adorned with a projection of Mount Fuji. The Collegiate Chorale was in place, behind the American Symphony Orchestra.

Then came the announcement. "Ladies and gentlemen, we regret to inform you that the part of Pooh-Bah, scheduled to be sung by Jonathan Freeman, will be sung by Jonathan Freeman."

This bit of wit was the perfect introduction to Tuesday's endearing, if sometimes sloppy performance of Gilbert and Sullivan's Mikado, the witty work that skewered Victorian British society by moving it to the absurdly named Town of Titipu in W.S. Gilbert's version of Japan.

Under the direction of Ted Sperling, both Chorale and Orchestra delivered a fizzy account of the overture and first scene. Mr. Sperling chose fast tempos, driving the famous themes forward. This set up the entrance of Nanki-Poo (South Pacific star Jason Danielly.) He emerged, instrument in hand from the brass section. But instead of the usual Japanese shamisen, Mr. Danielly carried the instrument from the libretto, a serviceable second trombone.

He was soon joined by a trio of fine comic baritones, well known on Broadway. Mr. Freeman (Roger Debris in The Producers)  as Pooh-Bah, Steve Rosen (Spamalot) as Pish-Tush and the energetic, loose comic Christopher Fitzgerald (Wicked) as Ko-Ko, the Lord High Executioner. In a loose black hipster suit, an enormous, shabby top hat and an (upside-down) katana, Mr. Fitzgerald cut a memorable figure as the former cheap tailor. More importantly, his comic energy drove the show, even if he occsionally flubbed a line.

In W.S. Gilbert's libretto, the Three Little Maids enter late in the first act. Here, they fared better than the men. Kelli O'Hara (also a star of South Pacific) was a strong Yum-Yum, bringing warmth and self-regard to "The Sun Whose Rays." City Opera veteran Lauren Worsham was even better as Pitti-Sing, stealing hearts with a flash of an eye and a whistling air. Amy Justman had less to do as Peep-Bo, but brought able support.

Katisha's entrance is always a brilliant piece of theater: Sir Arthur Sullivan's parody of several Wagner heroines (Brunnhilde, Kundry, Isolde) all at once. Victoria Clark brought the requisite voice, a full-powered dramatic soprano and stage presence to Nanki-Poo's would-be fiancée. She threw herself into the part of the vengeance-seeking diva, at one point decking Mr. Fitzgerald during "There is Beauty in the Bellow of the Blast." To his credit, he got up, recovered, and they finished the merry duet. 

The last character to enter in The Mikado is the title character, given the appropriate pomp and circumstance with a genuine Japanese chorus accompanying his procession. Chuck Cooper was comic and magesterial, evoking a psychotic glee in "A more humane Mikado" and letting out a giggle of pleasure as he listed both crimes and punishments. The finale proceeded smoothly, whipped up to a bubbling frenzy as the world of topsy-turvy righted itself and all was well in the Town of Titipu.

Concert Review: A Diva's Return...to Earth

"Anything you can do..."
Paulo Szot and Debbie Voigt at Carnegie Hall.
Photo by Erin Baiano © 2011.

Deborah Voigt Sings Broadway at Carnegie Hall.
by Paul Pelkonen


"It's good to be back among the mortals, and on a stage that isn't moving." So said soprano Deborah Voigt as she opened "Something Wonderful," a benefit for the Collegiate Chorale at Carnegie Hall on Thursday night.

Ms. Voigt's relief was audible at this concert, which also featured baritone Paulo Szot. The two Metropolitan Opera veterans led the audience on a 90-minute excursion through Broadway songbooks, backed by the American Symphony Orchestra and the 180 voices of the Chorale.

Although Ms. Voigt regularly powers her way over the giant orchestras of Wagner and Strauss without electronic help, she sang much of this concert with help of a microphone. The opera star seemed uncomfortable with the amplification for much of the evening. A voice of her power and magnitude does not need improvement, and she seemed to have difficulty adjusting to the lower volume levels required.

From the opener ("It's a Grand Night for Singing") Ms. Voigt chose not to announce the program, surprising the audience with numbers from Meredith Wilson's The Music Man, Jerome Kern's Sweet Adeline and the little-heard Rodgers and Hammerstein collaboration Allegro.

A number from Mame (accompanied by an anecdote of the diva's first high school stage appearance in the role of the secretary Ms. Gooch) was an early highlight. "Something Wonderful" floated beautifully, and Ms. Voigt seemed about to abandon the mic. "Can't Stop Loving That Man of Mine" (arranged for jazz quartet) was more problematic. A brief halt came in the middle, and Ms. Voigt was heard to gather herself with a murmured "hojotoho" before continuing.

Mr Szot made hearty contributions throughout the evening, and his obvious comfort level with the Broadway songs seemed to cheer and inspire Ms. Voigt. They were at their best in the excerpts from Annie Get Yor Gun, the Irving Berlin show that Ms. Voigt is scheduled to sing this summer at Glimmerglass. A rip-roaring performance of the title song from Oklahoma! brought out the best in all the singers--including the choristers.

The finest part of the 90-minute set was its conclusion, with soaring performances from "a show they'll never do onstage", Porgy & Bess. her best in the excerpts from Porgy & Bess.. It was fascinating to hear Ms. Voigt soar through "My Man's Gone Now", using her experience in the operas of Richard Strauss to bring out the long melodic lines in Gershwin's music.

The encores featured two tributes to Herbert von Karajan's 1960 recording of Die Fledermaus, with Ms. Voigt emulating another Brunnhilde, Birgit Nilsson, in "I Could Have Danced All Night." Mr. Szot then returned, and the two Met stars did the opera version of "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better," complete with a full-out, effortless Valkyrie battle cry at the peak of "I can sing higher."