Singing and dramatic intensity were at fever pitch. At the intermission, it was announced that Michael Hendrick (Lennie Small) was indisposed, a condition that he had gamely concealed during Act I. Nonetheless, Hendrick sang with plenty of power and gusto, a bit restrained in his acting but turning in a most powerful performance throughout.

With the arrival of David Roth as general director, Kentucky Opera is enjoying a new lease on life. Roth combines a keen ear for young voices with a strong facility for programming well-balanced and interesting repertoire. Three operas are now concentrated into a three-month fall season; KO has also returned to the newly renovated, elegant and intimate Brown Theatre, its original home, a nearly perfect performance venue. Inside, the theater is cozy and aglow with Southern hospitality and gentility, all backed up by strong production values. Public interest and excitement have been at an all-time high.

A gala La Traviata (Elizabeth Futral, Sébastien Guèze, Donnie Ray Albert) opened the season in September. October’s offering was even better: a stunningly dramatic production of Carlisle Floyd’s Of Mice and Men (seen Oct. 30). A bare-bones set from Utah Opera allowed stage director Michael Cavanagh a clear performance area, pushing the singers downstage for an even closer intimacy with the audience. Each of his singers delivered a clear delineation of character, all with excellent diction. Cavanagh effectively marshaled his forces with clever invention and clear intent (and sightlines too).

Singing and dramatic intensity were at fever pitch. At the intermission, it was announced that Michael Hendrick (Lennie Small) was “indisposed,” a condition that he had gamely concealed during Act I. Nonetheless, Hendrick sang with plenty of power and gusto, a bit restrained in his acting but turning in a most powerful performance throughout. The strongly sung and acted George Milton of Rod Nelman was a triumph. Nelman pumped out the vocal power, dark, cavernous and sumptuously beautiful, emotionally grand, achieving a great deal with an economy of means.

Vocal power from the other singers added to the excitement. Tenor Daniel Weeks is usually cast in the romantic leading-man roles, but here, as the cruel ranch boss, Curley, he had the opportunity to use his vocal laser beam and intensity of characterization to create a fierce, nasty bastard. Jonathan Stinson (Slim), acting with grace and realism, produced some laser high notes of his own, subtly restraining his voice for an intense, sensitive singing of Slim’s Act II aria. Vocal beauty was the mark of John Stephens’s Candy, musically sensitive, sturdy and hearty but a bit shy on the unrestrained emotions needed. Deborah Selig, as Curley’s Wife, more than held her own against the forceful singing of the men. She coped easily with the role’s high tessitura, acting up a storm as a real slut of a character, yet projecting the emotional desperation behind the façade. As the “ill-tempered ranch hand” Carlson, Daniel Anderson was not ill-tempered enough, emerging pretty much a cipher. Clark Sturdevant seemed oddly cast as the Ballad Singer. He sang well, but his complex tenor voice lacked the sweetness and emotion associated with the role. Let a dog onstage and the pooch will steal the show. Professional pup Archie, a real charmer of a ham actor as Candy’s dog, shamelessly demanded tummy-rubs onstage.

The KO Chorus and the Louisville Orchestra backed up the singers with plenty of power of their own. The thirteen men of the chorus were savagely ringing, and with clear diction, too! Compliments go to chorus master Phillip Brisson for achieving such stunning effects. The Louisville Orchestra was an impressive lot. Conductor Joseph Mechavich elicited lots of drama, inexorably turning up the tension, underscoring each dramatic moment, yet in full support of the singers.

http://www.kyopera.org/review-mice-1.html

by Charles H. Parsons

Opera News