Review of "Lucia" Kennedy Center 1989 . Jerry Hadley as Edgardo and me as Arturo

The best thing that happened for me in this production is I was the cover for Edgardo and got to sing a couple of rehearsals before Jerry arrived with Ruth Ann Swenson

OPERA
Thoroughly Old-Fashioned `Lucia'
Washington's Season Starter, Relying on the Melodies
[FINAL Edition]
The Washington Post (pre-1997 Fulltext) - Washington, D.C.
Author:	Joseph McLellan
Date:	Oct 30, 1989
Start Page:	b.01
Section:	STYLE
Text Word Count:	991
Full Text (991 words)
Copyright The Washington Post Company Oct 30, 1989 Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" received a five-minute standing ovation Saturday night at the Kennedy Center Opera House, launching a Washington Opera season that was 97 percent sold out before its first downbeat. The audience was-properly-particularly enthusiastic for soprano Ruth Ann Swenson and tenor Jerry Hadley, who did the best singing and acting of the evening. Its applause was also-less properly-warm for baritone J. Patrick Raftery, a perennial favorite in Washington, and bass Eric Halfvarson, who began the evening singing and acting rather stiffly but rose well to his duties in the later scenes. The unquestionable popular success of this production, which will have five more performances through Nov. 12, is a victory for the old-fashioned concept of opera as a sort of concert with costumes and scenery. This is an unhappy departure from a principle that (despite occasional lapses) has brightened Washington Opera productions throughout the 1980s: the principle of cultivating strong theatrical as well as musical values in its productions. It may be argued that this is the best you can do with "Lucia." The opera is a feast of great melodies, with occasional outbursts of frenzied activity. But it also has long stretches of monologue or ensemble singing that lend themselves with fatal ease to static staging. If "Lucia" cannot be made to fit a company's production principles, perhaps "Lucia" should be left for other companies. On the other hand, many opera lovers now believe there is more in this Donizetti opera than pretty tunes, even if it was largely unrealized in this production. For more than a century, until Maria Callas began to probe its intense emotional and psychological implications, there was a general feeling that "Lucia" could be made to work without any serious theatrical dimension if its big moments were well sung. These include primarily the sextet, the mad scene and the duet "Verrano a te sull'aure" ("The breeze will bring my sighs to you"); and less urgently Lucia's "Regnava nel silenzio" ("Darkness and silence prevailed") and "Quando rapita in estasi" ("Transported in an ecstasy"), and Edgardo's "Fra poco a me ricovero" ("Soon the grave will shelter me") and "Tu che a Dio spiegasti l'ali" ("You who have taken wing to God.") All of these were quite well performed here on opening night. And all except the sextet depend only on the soprano and/or the leading tenor. One has to hire a chorus and supporting soloists, of course, and to rent scenery and costumes, but in this production such necessities seemed to be given only secondary attention. If Hadley had not made such a distinguished contribution, this "Lucia" might have recalled the formula once given by a prima donna's proud husband for a successful bel canto opera cast: "ma femme et cinq poupe'es" ("my wife and five puppets.") Raftery and Halfvarson were more than puppets, of course. Both sang well and produced appropriate gestures at the proper times, but neither acted with the kind of conviction that might have generated real involvement and suspense in this drama of a woman subjected to intolerable stresses that finally destroy her sanity. Raftery in particular, a singer of perennial charm and real magnetism, simply did not make a convincing villain in the role of Enrico. This character is a greedy robber baron and murderer, willing to use his sister ruthlessly as a pawn in his political machinations. He does not hesitate to put any kind of pressure on her, and he is motivated only by self-promotion and self-preservation. If he were played to be someone like Darth Vader, it would give more coherence and a kind of plausibility to a deeply melodramatic plot that lunges from one extreme situation to the next. But Darth Vader isn't here, and when Raftery twists Swenson's arm, forces her to her knees, towers over her menacingly and shouts imprecations, we see it but we don't believe it. Raftery probably should not be singled out, except that his role is the key to the plot and the emotional development. His problems of characterization would be more evident to the audience if the production were otherwise more focused or he were surrounded by highly skilled singing actors, but in this "Lucia" he comes up to the average performance standard and the opera simply wanders amiably from one big number to the next. Fortunately, Swenson and Hadley are there for the big numbers. Swenson's Lucia is still not fully developed; this is the first time she has sung a staged performance. But she has the music well in hand, give or take a couple of pinched notes at the top of her range, and her characterization is clear and attractive, if slightly understated in the mad scene. Hadley, who dominates the final scene and is alone on stage for most of it, manages to avoid a sense of anticlimax after the mad scene-no small accomplishment. As he has in the past, he comes across as an excellent all-purpose tenor, able to handle repertoire that ranges from Mozart and bel canto to Stravinsky and Bernstein with style and ease. Robert Baker and James Clark both filled small roles capably. Mario Bernardi conducted on opening night with a good pace and-despite occasional passages where voices were drowned out-a generally effective sense of ensemble and balance. The chorus sang lustily and generally stayed together. It spent a lot of its time standing still, watching the action and singing occasional comments when it might have been more effectively deployed, but one can hardly blame the singers for that. The scenery and costumes, rented from the Greater Miami Opera, are not likely to make anyone very angry or very happy; they are decent, generic Romantic opera production materials-nowhere near the best this company has used-and a sad reminder that despite its success at the box office, the Washington Opera still runs on a limited budget. Joan Sullivan's lighting was, as always, excellent. [Illustration] PHOTO CAPTION: Ruth Ann Swenson in "Lucia di Lammermoor." Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.