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Anna Noggle |
I can not sing the praises of the cast highly enough. Most notable was the Governess of Anna Noggle, about whom I've written in glowing terms before. Her singing was beautiful throughout, showing expressive range and color where appropriate, and she inhabited the character of the Governess quite effectively. From the innocent young girl full of doubts to the young woman who knows more than she wants to and becomes slightly unwound, Miss Noggle never disappointed. She and Mr. Leonard left the distinction between fact and fantasy, the boundary between sanity and insanity, deliberately unclear, for the audience to reason for themselves.
The Miles of young Benjamin P. Wenzelberg was astounding. His singing was beautiful, which is of course a given, and his acting was quite powerful, either as a normal, mischievous boy or as the eerie, zombie-like agent of Peter Quint. Using the name Benjamin Perry, this was the Amahl in Chelsea Opera's 2009 Amahl and the Night Visitors, which was actually my first review. I noted at that time that there seemed a noticeable break between head and chest registers, but it appears that has been worked out. Flora, young sister of Miles, was sung and acted quite effectively by grownup soprano Vivian Krich-Brinton. She and young Mr. Wenzelberg had a lovely chemistry on stage, and reacted well to each other. In the moments when they moved in unison, they were quite effective.
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Glenn Seven Allen courtesy glennsevenallen.com |
Conductor and Music Director Pacien Mazzagatti deserves praise for wrangling the pick-up orchestra effectively. With the exception of a few tuning issues in the strings, they seemed to play rather well together. They seemed well rehearsed, which is a rarity, small opera company budgets being what they are. Costumes by Angela Huff and hair and makeup by Miss Greenstein also deserve praise.
Minor quibbles. I'm not a big fan of using titles for opera in English, but if doing so, please rehearse with them. 'nuff said. UPDATE: I was reminded that Symphony Space required performing organizations use its own union A/V team, which explains the chaotic supertitles. Opera Moderne personnel hijacked the supertitle function after halftime, and they were much better.
Also, I have a few fierce words for the audience member who shattered the final moments of the opera by shouting "Bravo!" a few moments too soon, while the rest of us were stunned by Miss Noggle's last utterances and needed those few moments to begin breathing again.
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