Review: 'Tosca' lightly? -- No! No! No!
Kallen Esperian up to challenge of a belle belting out bel canto
By Christopher Blank
(November 8, 2004)
For opera soprano Kallen Esperian, every note offers an opportunity to showcase that rich bel canto mastered through years of carefully chosen roles.
Now a star of New York's Metropolitan Opera, Esperian is putting her voice to the test in a challenging recent addition to her sizable repertoire.
Saturday at the Orpheum, when the Germantown resident made her North American debut in "Tosca," audiences heard a performer who is not only comfortable with the music, but confident in the direction she wishes to take the famed character.
Floria Tosca is far from the girlish, submissive geisha that Esperian portrayed in her last Memphis appearance, the nearly sold out "Madama Butterfly," (also by composer Giacomo Puccini) which she sang while battling a cold.
Esperian's Tosca has the unflappable hardiness of a Southern belle. She is proper, dignified and quick witted. She devoutly worships a God that doesn't impose submission upon women, has a healthy distrust of men, and takes her independence seriously.
Tosca's only problem is falling in love with a painter arrested for shielding an escaped political prisoner. If Scarlett O'Hara were a singer, she might try to steal Esperian's crowning moment, the second act "Vissi d'arte, vissi d'amore" aria in which she pitifully rebukes God for bringing bad things down upon a woman who has righteously dedicated everything to art and love.
It's one of the few truly vulnerable moments in Esperian's portrayal. Moments later she seizes her chance, murders the bad guy and erects an altar at his body. "And now I forgive him," she says, walking out the door in a beam of heavenly light.
Now, that's how a Southern lady makes an exit from a rascal's room. Opera Memphis's staging is thick with grand opera tradition, including what looks like an ancient and well-worn set rented from the Seattle Opera.
The production's state director was originally Charles Nelson Reilly, the manic celebrity perhaps best known for his wacky quips on television game shows such as "Match Game." Reilly canceled at the last minute due to illness and was replaced by tag-team directors John Hoomes of the Nashville Opera and Michael McConnell, who has worked with Esperian in five previous Opera Memphis productions.
Conductor Michael Ching led members of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra with only a few rough spots, most audibly in the opening horn fanfare of the third act.
Baritone Luis Ledesma played Scarpia as a crafty but surprisingly even-tempered villain, singing his signature arias with a calm arrogance. Francesco Petrozzi was a widely emotional Mario Cavaradossi, offsetting Esperian with his visceral, lyrical tenor. |
