|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Rice Thresher
Phone:
|
Laura Love and Steve Kellogg for the thresher
As the lights dim at the Houston Grand Opera, the bayou city's finest dutifully tuck their furs and feather boas under their seats, reassure each other that their Porsches and Bentleys are safe in the hands of the 17-year-old valet and rearrange themselves in order to see around the big hair in front of them. Doctors, tax attorneys and other River Oaks denizens hold their breath and prepare to behold Aleksandr Borodin's Prince Igor - a three-hour opera whose music saves the stale and rehashed plot. Fortunately, there is much more to Prince Igor than a disappointing story; you don't go to any opera expecting to be floored by the story line. Borodin's style is beautiful and easy to understand, with broadly sweeping lines, dazzling woodwind and string sonorities, and towering brass cadences. The orchestra's performance is impressive, and the mostly Russian cast exhibits technical and artistic brilliance. The singers, comfortable in their roles, prove skillful actors as well under the direction of Francesca Zambello. The costumes are inconsistent at times, ranging from simplistic to superfluous. The curtain opens on the bare, starkly decorated Russian town of Putivl (pronounced "pitiful," I think). Prince Igor (baritone Sergei Leiferkus) is setting off to lead an army against the invading Tartars, to his wife's (soprano Zvetelina Vassileva) lament. Nevertheless, Igor departs, entrusting the town to his brother-in-law, Galitsky (bass Vladimir Ognovenko). Igor's wife Yaroslavna continues to lament. To make matters worse, the city council arrives with bad news: Igor and his son Vladimir (Vsevolod Grivnov) have been taken prisoner, and the Tartan army is marching toward Pitiful to turn the bare and stark set into a bare, stark and crumbled set. Right on cue, the splendidly costumed Tartan army arrives, burns the city and attempts to shoot Igor's wife. The evil Galitsky jumps in front of the bullet, however, and promptly dies. With the town in ruins, Yaroslavna laments some more. Act II opens in the exquisitely detailed and lavishly designed Tartan encampment where Prince Igor's son and the Tartan Khan's daughter have fallen in love. Igor, besieged with offers to leave captivity peacefully, feels honorbound to remain miserable. And the Khan, noticing that it is tax season and that several of the exhausted attorneys in the audience have drifted into slumber, orders a feast complete with a Russian Riverdance takeoff to liven things up. The Khan's plan works admirably, but some of the dance choruses could use some polish. Like so many Rice students, the Tartars on stage drink themselves into a stupor. A renegade guard offers Igor a getaway horse, which he accepts because although his honor does not permit him to run away, leaving on horseback is just fine. Igor departs, leaving his son to die at the hands of his captors. Tough love. Upon Igor's arrival in Putivl, Yaroslavna is elated to see her husband and stops lamenting to sing happily about his return. No mention of the missing son. Yaroslavna nuzzles up to Igor, eager for her long-anticipated nooky, but our hero's thoughts have already turned to raising a new army to defend Putivl. Throughout the production, Leiferkus and Vassileva deliver outstanding performances as Igor and his wife. The contrasting Russian and Tartan sets, designed by Zack Brown, effectively transport the audience into the middle of the old-time Old World. Duane Schuler's lighting also adds to the atmosphere. Technically, it's a solid production all around. As the opera closes, Yaroslavna realizes that Igor is an incorrigible warrior and begins to lament anew. Meanwhile, I lament that nobody tried to close the gaping holes in the plot. Houston's finest, however, are in full standing ovation while simultaneously digging out their feather boas and furs, hoping to trade their valet tickets for a Mercedes in roughly the same shape as the one they left.
- back - |
|||
|
Search the Thresher pages:
This document may be distributed electronically, provided that it is distributed in its entirety and includes this notice. However, it cannot be reprinted without the express written permission of: The Rice Thresher, Rice University MS-524, PO Box 1892, Houston, TX 77251-1892, USA. The Thresher Online Project -- ethresh@listserv.rice.edu |
