Libretto by
Giovacchino Forzano
Music by Giacomo
Puccini
Directed by Stephanie
McAlister
Musical Director: Liz
Collier
Canberra Opera
Wesley Uniting Church,
Forrest to 24 July
Review by Len Power
15 July 2016
The Puccini opera, ‘Suor Angelica’, was first performed in
1918 at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, as part of the first complete performance
of ‘Il Trittico’, an evening of three contrasting one act operas including ‘Il
Tabarro’ and ‘Gianni Schicchi’.
Banished to a convent as punishment for bearing a child
while unmarried, Suor Angelica is asked by a family member to renounce her
inheritance in favour of her sister, who is getting married. At the same time, she learns to her horror that
her infant son had died two years previously.
Canberra Opera’s production, staged on the altar of the Wesley
Uniting Church in Forrest, gains much from the atmosphere and acoustic of the
church. Director, Stephanie McAlister,
has kept the production simple and focussed on the all important music. It was pleasing and surprising to see the use
of projected surtitles to keep the audience abreast of the story, which was
sung in original Italian.
Karyn Tisdell gives a heart-felt performance as Suor
Angelica, singing and acting the role very well. Her performance of the difficult aria, ‘Senza
Mamma’, was especially notable. Janene
Broere was imposing and effective as La Zia Principessa with her aria ‘Nel
Silenzio’. Louise Keast, Vivian
Bachelier and Doreen Robinson sang well in the other principal roles. The group singing of the chorus and principals
was nicely done with pleasing and clear harmonies. Italian pronunciation was also fine. It was good to see the inclusion of the men’s
and children’s chorus at the end of the opera.
The sound produced by the combined voices provided an emotional finale
to the show.
Acting performances were a bit uneven amongst the cast. There was a tendency to drop out of character
and just stand there while not actually singing. More individuality of character, given the
uniformity of the nun’s costumes, would have provided added interest and it was
not realistic having everyone walk slowly all the time as if in a procession.
Musical direction by Liz Collier was fine and her small
orchestra played the score very well. The
sound produced by orchestra and singers was well balanced and quite beautiful
to listen to throughout the one hour production.
Overall, Canberra Opera have done nice work here. It’s a good opportunity to see a Puccini opera
that isn’t done very often.
Len Power’s reviews
can also be heard in ‘Artcetera’ on Artsound FM 92.7 from 9am on Saturdays.
