101821 805 AM MusicalAmerica - A New ltigtFidelioltigt That Succeeds on Every Front

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A New Fidelio That Succeeds on Every FrontOctober 18 2021 | By Thomas May Musical America

SAN FRANCISCOmdashSan Francisco Operarsquos Fidelio arrived nearly overloaded with expectations Originally plannedas last seasonrsquos inaugural production to celebrate the choice of Eun Sun Kim as new music director the showhad to be put on hold for a year On top of that the pandemicrsquos disruption has prompted a good deal ofexistential soul-searching about the role the performing arts should play in our societymdashall the whilesharpening the hunger for live performance

So the rousing C major chords that brought the curtain down on opening night (October 14) resonated with agenuine sense of triumphant vindication signaling more than the happy ending to the opera Beethovencomplained was his ldquoproblem childrdquo This Fidelio fires on all cylindersmdashorchestral vocal theatricalmdashandmovingly reaffirms both the power and the relevance of art

In Matthew Ozawarsquos staging Beethovenrsquos story of resistance to political abuse adapted from a French sourcethat involved an incident during the Reign of Terror unfolds as a taut high-stakes drama Updated productionssuggesting parallels with modern evilsmdashfrom 20th-century fascism to Guantanamo-style renditionsmdashhavebecome routine But Ozawa and his design team manage to balance the preaching-to-the-converted limitationsof that approach with a more complex vision of Beethovenrsquos ethical outlook in which the personal and politicalare inseparably allied

Elza van den Heever as Leonore and Russell Thomas as Florestan in SFOs Fidelio

To be sure the productionrsquos myriad details draw clear connections to such issues as immigrant detainees andthe brutality of the for-profit ldquocorrections industry Alexander V Nicholsrsquos daunting two-level cube lit by JAXMessenger and Justin A Partier is a unit set that rotates to reveal the cruelties taking place behind andbeneath the busy office space facade where the tamely comic opening scenemdashone of the most awkwardMacGuffins in operamdashplays out

Defined by bars of steel and cold stabs of light and occasionally walled with video monitors this sterilesurveillance state panopticon-prison is not exactly up to date The intentional mingling of temporal references(which extend to old-fashioned filing boxes office machines and handheld flashlights) together with JessicaJahnrsquos vividly colorful prisoner jumpsuits conveys a somewhat surreal atmosphere perhaps reminiscent of theworld of The Hunger Games The smudginess proves more effective than a simpler one-on-one correspondencewith a particular brand of tyranny

The setrsquos emphatic verticality serves as a neat metaphor for Beethovenrsquos musical drama which plunges intoprofound despair in Florestanrsquos solo scene before Leonorersquos soaring hope can be made reality Fidelio is the fullydramatized equivalent of the Fifth Symphonyrsquos abstract arc from darkness to light

Intently alert to every nuance onstage Eun Sun Kim made this transformation thrillingly persuasive Herthorough knowledge of the score was evident in telling tempo choices and finely punctuated details despite afew out-of-sync moments with the singersmdashlikely the result of opening-night jitters Kim showed specialsensitivity to Beethovenrsquos pivot-pointsmdashthe moments of epiphany on which the entire opera is built In theopening scenersquos quartet for example where the tone has to suddenly shift from the sitcom of mistakenidentity to a different level she elicited a warm lyrical glow The joyous reunion of Leonore with Florestan afterdanger has passed pulsated with Tristan-like ecstatic delirium

Elza van den Heever was an incandescent Leonore shaping her lines with controlled power and expertlydeployed richness of tone She displayed credible fear and anxiety as she learns what she is up againstmdashand

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101821 805 AM MusicalAmerica - A New ltigtFidelioltigt That Succeeds on Every Front

httpswwwmusicalamericacomnewsnewsstorycfmarchived=0ampstoryid=48825ampcategoryid=4 22

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courage that welled up from within neverseeming stagey Itrsquos a long wait before the firstappearance of the unjustly imprisonedFlorestan but Russell Thomas used his fullexpressive range to develop a complex portraitof the character in his solo scene giving voiceto his pain and despair and then blossominginto lyrical transport with his consoling vision ofLeonore The two singers moreover had thechemistry to make the finale truly cathartic

Though graced with less interesting musicGreer Grimsley was a thunderous imposinglyhateful Pizarro spitting out his contempt notjust for Florestan but all the prisoners at hismercy Anne-Marie MacIntosh brought a slightedge to her sweet-toned Marzelline seeming to

crave more than mere domestic security Ozawa emphasized the sense of tension between her and ChristopherOglesby (like MacIntosh part of the companyrsquos Adler Fellow young artist program) who sang the thankless roleof her suitor Jaquino with almost plaintive eloquence

As Marzellinersquos father Rocco James Creswell gave a revelatory performance that went beyond the routine ofthe hard-drinking materialist jailor He delineated Roccorsquos gradual realization through LeonoreFidelio of hisguilt in collaborating with a corrupt regime The just-in-time arrival of Don Fernando (Soloman Howard whosang with a riveting bass) brought a fresh sense of anger at the abuses his friend Florestan has endured

That denouement can seem all too complacentmdashhardly an abolishment of the inequities in the system Whatdeepened the emotional effect here was the intensity of the choral contributionsmdashprepared by Ian Robertsonin his farewell season after 35 years as chorus director The Prisonersrsquo Chorus in Act One was multihuedwashed with sadness alongside its expressions of frail hope while the final liberation chorus exploded with anode to joy that seemed to mirror the jubilation of this return to live performance

Bottom photo The set is a sterile surveillance state panopticon-prison

Photos Cory WeaverSan Francisco Opera

Law and Disorder by GG Arts LawCareer Advice by Legendary Manager Edna LandauAn American in Paris by Frank Cadenhead

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RENT A PHOTOSearch Musical Americas archive of photosfrom 1900-1992

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