United States Rossini, Le comte Ory: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of Lyric Opera of Chicago / Enrique Mazzola (conductor). Civic Opera House, Chicago, 26.11.2022. (JLZ)
Production:
Original Director – Bartlett Sher
Revival Director – Kathleen Smith Belcher
Sets – Michael Yeargan
Costumes – Catherine Zuber
Revival Lighting – Chris Maravich
Choreographer – August Tye
Fight Director – Chuck Coyl
Chorus grasp – Michael Black
Cast:
Ory – Lawrence Brownlee
Adèle – Kathryn Lewek
Isolier – Kayleigh Decker
Ragonde – Zoie Reams
Raimbaud – Joshua Hopkins
Alice – Lindsey Reynolds
Tutor – Mirco Palazzi
First Courtier – Lunga Eric Hallam
Second Courtier – Wm. Clay Thompson
Rossini’s Le comte Ory (1828) at Lyric Opera of Chicago was a real delight, a celebration of vocality with Lawrence Brownlee and Kathryn Lewek and their virtuosic skills topping the gifted forged. Bartlett Sher’s manufacturing of the comedian opera as a play inside a play enhanced the work, making a framework for the sometimes-silly plot turns.
Sher’s method brings to thoughts Thornton Wilder’s dictum that ‘One way to shake off the nonsense of nineteenth-century staging is to make fun of it’, and Sher did it in good humor. This works operatically, since some parts evoke Richard Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos. The onstage theater workers interacted with the singers and, in doing so, contributed unscripted humor to the genial presentation.
The units have been good, with clichéd props organising the scenes successfully. For instance, a suspended window body served effectively for Ragonde early within the opera and, when the scene ended, it neatly disappeared into the fly tower. This witty stagecraft, together with colourful, over-the-top costumes, supported the rating masterfully.
The forged is on the coronary heart of the manufacturing, and so they delivered with exceptional ability. As Ory, Brownlee gave his normal flawless efficiency, his vocal pyrotechnics balanced by an impeccable sense of fashion. He facilitated the ensembles by modulating his dynamic ranges to assist his vocal companions, like Kathryn Lewek of their duet ‘En proie à la tristesse’ within the first act and, particularly, the duet ‘Ah! quel respect, Madame’ in Act II. His solo passages have been notable for the even tone and pitch-perfect melismas that characterize his portrayals of Lindoro in The Barber of Seville or Arturo in I puritani. It was much more exceptional right here due to the quantity of stage motion. Brownlee made all of it appear straightforward with out ever lacking a observe.
Kathryn Lewek was the right Adèle and created a convincing character. Her even vary, clear sound and clean, nearly instrument-like, melismas have been a deal with for the viewers, which cheered as strongly for her virtuosic supply as they did for her comedian timing. Lewek’s consciousness of the vocal fireworks made it all of the extra pleasurable, and he or she by no means misplaced management within the relentless runs that Rossini gave to the half.
Complementing these two, Kayleigh Decker made the position of Isolier come alive from the beginning, and her facility with bel canto resulted in a chic efficiency. She matched the opposite principals notably effectively within the Act III trio, ‘À la faveur de cette nuit obscure’, which concerned a masterful little bit of blocking as Isolier thwarted Ory’s makes an attempt to seduce Adèle within the lavish, outsized mattress on the middle of the stage. An alumna of Lyric’s Ryan Opera Center, she is slated to sing the position of Ruggiero later this season in Handel’s Alcina by Les Violons du Roy.
Mirco Palazzi was partaking because the Tutor, and his resonant bass stuffed the corridor in ‘Veiller sans cesse’. Baritone Joshua Hopkins was equally spectacular as Raimbaud, each vocally and in his comedian timing. As Ragonde, Zoie Reams did a stupendous job which added to the general high quality of the manufacturing.
The staging couldn’t succeed with out the deft contact of the refrain, which benefited from the very good management of Michael Black, and the orchestra responded with care to the nuanced route of Enrique Mazzola. This consideration to element on each degree made the efficiency stand out amongst different choices within the present season.
James L. Zychowicz