Worcester Opera Works performed The Marriage
of Figaro on June 15-17, 2007 at Warner Theatre
(Worcester Academy, 81 Providence Street, Worcester).
CAST:
Figaro: Brian Ballard Susanna: Rebecca Grimes (Beth Grzegorzewski- cover) Count Almaviva: Jonathan LaBarre (Rick Mahoney- cover) Countess Almaviva: Elaine Crane (Rebekah Alexander- cover) Cherubino: Jacque Eileen Wilson (Stephanie Mann- cover) Marcellina: Lisa Woods (Paulette LaBarre- cover) Dr. Bartolo: Miles Rind (Dan Swanson- cover) Basilio: Michael Belle (Stanley Wilson- cover) Barbarina: Janet Poisson (Erin Conley- cover) Antonio: John Healy Don Curzio: Stanley Wilson (Michael Belle- cover) Country Men and Women: Karen Amlaw, Samantha Centerbar,
Priyasha Chaturvedi, Hadley Crane, Paige Crane, Holland Crane, Lauren
Cook, Kate Elysia, Dan Freeman, Kenneth Gagne, Brhianna Jerome, Carol
Pelletier, Robyn Tarantino
Production staff:
Music Director: Michael Lapomardo
Stage Director: Margaret Tartaglia
Lighting Design: Shawn Boyle
Assistant Lighting Designer: Andrew Andrews
Set Design: Charles Crane
Costume Design: Martha Deering
Producer: Elaine Crane
Venue: Warner Theatre, Worcester Academy (81 Providence
Street, Worcester)
Dates: June 15, 2007 (7:30 p.m.) and June 17, 2007 (2:00
p.m.)
This program is supported in
part by a grant from the Worcester Cultural Commission, a local
agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council,
a state agency.
Our thanks also to our corporate
sponsors: Bose Corporation and Leominster Credit Union.
Review:
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Opera Works’ ‘Figaro’ has stark set, lush singing
Local talent puts texture
into a classic
MUSIC REVIEW
By John Zeugner Telegram & Gazette
Reviewer
Sopranos Grimes and Crane
bring clear-toned dignity
and elegance to their roles,
and LaBarre conveys the
cunning, confusion and
ultimate powerlessness of
the count.
Evidence of a strengthening transformation of
Worcester’s local classical music scene
continues to pile up. Case in point: Worcester
Opera Works, a 5-years-young outfit that began
as an outreach to students in the area and has
evolved to a fully staged production of Mozart’s
“The Marriage of Figaro” on Friday night, with a
repeat performance this afternoon at 2 p.m. at
the Warner Theatre on the campus of Worcester
Academy.
(Yes, there is still time! Set aside that last
bagel and hasten over to the Warner Theater,
itself an intimate, columned venue worth
seeing.)
The performance is ingeniously staged with a
minimalist set — a chair, a closet, a doorway, a
raked slightly elevated walkway surrounding the
stage. By way of stunning contrast, the costumes
are lush, brilliantly colored flowing hoop
skirts, long coats in tan and black, capes in
red and blue, with nifty faience on the stark
set.
In the pit, five string players anchored by Ian
Watson’s always vigorous, impeccable keyboard
work, accompany 11 first-class singers. Musical
director Michael Lapomardo keeps Mozart’s
glorious “singspiel” spinning steadily forward,
cresting into those unbelievable golden
quartets, quintets and sextets that climax each
of the four acts.
Mozart’s singable melodies seem spread evenly
among the cast, but the ultimate impact of the
performance swings on the competence of the two
lead couples, Figaro and his would-be bride,
Susanna (Brian Ballard and Rebecca Grimes),
Count and Countess Almaviva (Jonathan LaBarre
and Elaine Crane), and the epicene,
hyper-innocent, hyper-hormonal, aptly named
Cherubino (Jacque Eileen Wilson).
These five rise beautifully to the occasion.
Ballard brings authority, command and a sturdy
voice to Figaro, as well as comic adroitness to
the some of the slapstick, while at the same
time suggesting through the dark texture of his
singing that this opera buffa, for all its
frolic and misfired assignations possesses a
lyric music that in Maynard Solomon’s words can
“disturb the sleep of the world.”
Sopranos Grimes and Crane bring clear-toned
dignity and elegance to their roles, and LaBarre
well conveys the cunning, confusion and ultimate
powerlessness of the count. Ms. Wilson emerged
the audience favorite in the final standing
ovation curtain calls, as Cherubino, sweetly
delivering the arias, “Is it pain, is it
pleasure …” and “Tell me, fair ladies …” and
broadly mugging her way through the required
double cross-dressing.
As the recent closed-circuit broadcasts of the
Met in New York indicate, opera may be the best
vehicle for rescuing classical composition from
its aging aficionados. This splendid production
by Worcester Opera Works demonstrates the depth
of the talent in the area.
So does the appearance of the Worcester
Collegium at the recent St. Paul’s Festival.
Both entities are tied to student proselytizing.
Such home-grown magical music-making deserves
celebration, support and, most of all, profound
gratitude.
Cast photo by Lars Olsen
Please
consider a tax-deductible
donation- your support is vital and appreciated!
