Giuseppe Verdi is the perfect composer for Boheme Opera NJ.
“Il Trovatore” might be the perfect Verdi opera for the company.
That’s because music is Boheme’s primary focus.
Acting in Boheme’s “Il Trovatore” was basic. Alison Bolshoi pulled out some stops as the emotional Azucena, and John Sun Park displayed passion and heartbreak as Manrico, but in general, the dramatic performances fulfilled the minimal needs of the show.
The singing?
That’s a different story.
To a person, whether a lead or a chorus member, the voices on the Kendall Hall stage, where Boheme did “Il Trovatore,” were glorious, and conductor Joseph Pucciatti and his orchestra sounded as meticulous.
Concentrating on music is the right choice when it comes to “Il Trovatore.” It has a complex plot that involves the death of one child, the stealing of another, the woman who took the children, that woman being branded a witch, and a love rivalry in which one woman is loved by two men, one a count, the other a troubadour working as a soldier in a revolutionary brigade fighting the count.
In the past, I’ve criticized Boheme when it’s done “stand and deliver” style of opera, putting direct performances and sound ahead of story and characterization.
In “Il Trovatore,” Verdi provides so many magnificent arias that stand and deliver is a legitimate option. A full presentation can be stirring, but no opera buff scoffs at hearing a melodious and passionate score sung to its fullest.
Especially when the singers are John Kun Park, Ashley Galvani Bell, Daniel Sutin, Alison Bolshoi, Farrah Chu, Charles Schneider, Mather Tartza, and Kevin Patrick, whose lovely expressive voices filled Kendall Hall while bringing enough life to Salvatore Cammarano and Leone Emanuele Bardare’s complicated libretto.
Stories and declarations of love dominate that libretto. The four major characters — Leonora, to whom two men who loathe each other pledged undying devotion; Manrico, the troubador whose ballads outside her window won her heart; Count di Luna, who will stop at nothing to satisfy his longing for Lenora; and Azucena, Manrico’s mother, who watched her mother burn at the stake for a crime she didn’t commit — each are given some of opera’s grandest arias to tell their side of the story and express a passion that consumes their lives.
Even the first character we meet, a soldier named Ferrando, weaves a spell with his recitation of how di Luna’s twin brother was abducted and is the subject of a lifelong search.
Azucena describes what she experienced as she watched her mother die on the stake and the revenge she enacted because of it. She does this to proclaim justification for being the one who stole di Luna’s brother in revenge. She also admits a horrible mistake that caused the death of another of her sons besides Manrico.
Leonora, from her first aria, “Tacea la notte placida,” speaks of her longing for Manrico and how yearningly she awaits his return to her. Manrico and di Luna sing alternately about love for Leonora, hatred for each other, or war.
Whatever the subject, whoever the singer, Verdi provides bravura music for them to express their inner feelings. The arias are lengthy and show off the prowess of the singers.
The Boheme company lived grandly up to the task.
Not only did the solos impress, but the two, three, and four-part harmonies among the leads were exquisite. The chorus, mostly men who wore red berets when they were part of Manrico’s revolutionary corps and black berets when they represented Count di Luna’s army, sang well and powerfully together.
The entire Boheme production was an auditory delight, so much so it’s difficult to choose who of the leading cast stood out from the others.
Alison Bolshoi as Azucena was a fierce and convincing Azucena who won the rebels fighting with Manrico to her side when she told of the horrors of death by fire (“Stride la Tampa”) and later movingly reported how she inadvertently killed her own child in a fit of blind passion.
Bolshoi found drama in everything she did, her motions showing what her confessions and pleadings cost her, her voice signifying the pain, horror, defiance, or pleading for her living son as she delivered some of Verdi’s most expressive music, possibly the flashiest in any opera for a mezzo.
John Kun Park was a staunch Manrico, resentful of what he sees as di Luna’s tyranny, avid in his bid for Leonora, and bold when Manrico has to choose whether to flee with Leonora or try to rescue his mother who is scheduled for execution at the stake.
When Park sings his final aria to Leonora, you see the sincerity on his face as much as hearing it in a sure, confident tenor voice you believe could win a young woman’s heart.
Ashley Galvani Bell, like Bolshoi a Boheme alumna, makes you confident her choice between the rival lovers is Manrico. When she thinks he might be about to be killed by di Luna, she sings again of her longing in “D’amor sull’ali rosee” and then makes di Luna a shocking offer in “Miserere” to potentially save his life.
Bell is plaintive and passionate in turn. Duets with Park as Manrico and the courage with which she stands up to di Luna show her character’s mettle.
Daniel Sutin’s rich bass-baritone is so commanding, you can’t always accept him as a villain. As with others who tell stories, Sutin’s di Luna makes his case. When Sutin sings about Leonora, you can tell she is more than a token love to him. When he vows revenge or scolds Leonora for her obvious betrayal of him, Sutin can muster contempt that Leonora and Manrico should fear.
As noted, Charles Schneider began Boheme’s sensitive and powerful performance of Verdi by letting his fellow soldiers know about the count’s search for his missing twin and the role Azucena is accused of playing.
Mathew Tartza makes the most of his aria as one of Manrico’s fellow rebels. Farrah is touchingly empathetic and helpful in her early duet with Leonora, her character’s best friend. Kevin Patrick, another of Boheme’s reliable corps, does well with his aria.
Boheme’s marvelous singing did not occur in a vacuum. Large slides designed by J, Matthew Root excellently set the background scenes for where “Il Trovatore’s” action takes place. The castle where di Luna lives, Leonora’s window, a convent, an encampment, and the prison where Manrico and Azucena are held provided visual context and added to the drama of the opera.
“Il Trovatore” ran on March 21 and 23 at Kendall Hall on the campus of the College of New Jersey. For upcoming Boheme Opera events, visit www.bohemeopera.org.
