September 29, 2011
Lucrezia Borgia
Kevin Mark Kline READ TIME: 3 MIN.
At the end of the long, impassioned final-act duet between Gennaro (extremely handsome tenor Michael Fabiano) and his male lover, Maffio Orsini ("trouser-clad" mezzo-soprano Elizabeth DeShong), in Donizetti's gem of an opera Lucrezia Borgia, director and production designer John Pascoe has the couple lock in passionate embrace. As the two warriors engage in what to the audience's eyes comes across as deep French kissing with an Italian bel canto twist, it's clear that we've come a long way, baby.
Lucrezia Borgia has come a long way as well. It only took San Francisco Opera 79 years since the opening of the War Memorial Opera House, and 178 years since the opera's La Scala premiere, to find a reason to mount it here. The reason, of course, was not the gay element that Pascoe brings to the fore in his three-year old production, but soprano Renee Fleming in the title role. The superstar, who first sang Lucrezia Borgia in 1990, has built her international career by interspersing essentially lyric roles and glamorous star turns with forays into bel canto repertoire whose writing tends to lie lower in the soprano range.
At age 52, Fleming looked gorgeous onstage. She sang very well, and moved with feeling. If her mildly florid coloratura lacked some of the risky flourishes and extra-high notes that opened ears on her 1999 recording of the opera's third-act finale, she nonetheless sang with admirable steadiness, well-executed trills, and an abundance of vocal beauty. What Fleming lacked was brilliance. Although she capped Act I with a high D-flat, and, unless she transposed down, crowned the opera with a high E-flat, her singing lacked the sparkle and inner tension that make for a great Lucrezia. There's a lot of reason beyond her character's secret motherhood of Gennaro to feel sympathy for this famed dispenser of poison wine and death decrees, including what Pascoe suggests may have been sexual abuse at the hands of her two brothers and her father, the future Pope Alexander VI. If only Fleming were capable of putting all of that into her singing.
This made the artistry of Fabiano and DeShong all the more telling. The young tenor, whose string of awards includes the grand prize in the 2007 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, possesses an extremely beautiful voice whose shining edge and substantial body meld masculine heft with a fair amount of sweetness. "Substantial" also applies to his slim, toned body, whose chest and abs progressively came to light as his suffering intensified. Moving with passion commensurate to his voice, he looked stunning in striped tights and a gold, pseudo-leather outfit that bore more than a passing resemblance to characters from Star Trek or any number of sci-fi epics. His was a wonderful performance.
The extremely short DeShong sings like a vocal giant. Her lowest notes have body and depth, if not earth-shaking gravity; her midrange is rich and compelling; and her highs are dispensed with a freedom that many a mezzo daily prays for. Her duet with Fabiano was nothing short of sensational, and her famed "Brindisi" in the final act elicited deserved cheers. You've got to hear her.
Right behind this winning duo was bass Vitalij Kowaljow (Duke Alfonso). Despite misplaced accolades from a few audience members that interrupted his first-act aria on opening night, his voice took awhile to warm up. Once his monotone yielded to more color and the edge smoothed out, he made for an authoritative, vengeful sadist.
The performance also benefited from the presence of a number of Adler Fellows and members of the excellent San Francisco Opera chorus. Most notable was tenor Daniel Montenegro (Rustighello), a first-year Adler Fellow who previously shone as Nemorino in the Merola L'Elisir d'Amore (also by Donizetti). If the voice continues to open up and increase in body, a major career may be in the offing.
Although debut conductor Riccardo Frizza has shepherded at least 10 bel canto operas through major houses, much of his work lacked pliancy and freedom. In Act II, he conducted like a misappropriated Muni driver, determined to leave every stop on time even if meant leaving passengers on the curb. Rather than granting Donizetti's music the dynamism it deserves, he robbed it of sufficient space to breathe. Thankfully, he eased up in the finale of Act III, allowing Fleming to evoke as much tragedy as she is capable from Lucrezia's loss of her son and her own life.
Through Oct. 11. Tickets at (415) 864-3330 or www.sfopera.com.