In the field of opera, I have very decided likes and dislikes -- and among my most decided dislikes are some of the great warhorses of the past, particularly from the Italian repertoire. I tend to approach opera with some caution, and usually confine myself to works that I already know and love.
Why, then, did I overcome my normal distance to attend this one? It was because I did something else I normally don't do -- I read a couple of reviews from other writers, and decided that this was a piece that would repay my efforts.
It most certainly did.
The Overcoat: A Musical Tailoring is a new work, co-produced by Canadian Stage, Tapestry Opera, and Vancouver Opera. But I have to qualify that right away. It's a new work in its current form. In fact, this project has evolved over many years through a number of different theatrical versions before arriving at its present operatic state.
In the programme notes, there are a couple of mentions of the blurring of the boundary lines between opera and musical theatre. I was most aware of that blurring in terms of the staging, highly stylized, farcically overplayed at times, with mime and clown elements harking back to the commedia dell'arte style. In the music, the parts that came closest to musical theatre were librettist/director Morris Panych's wittily rhyming text and James Rolfe's adoption of a musical style not far from the patter-song world of Gilbert and Sullivan.
But this is only a patter-song comic opera in part. Other areas included some seriously challenging operatic ensemble and solo pieces that would drive many theatrical singers to distraction with their strange combinations of totally different melodic materials crossing each other's path. The music, then -- key element in any opera -- is sophisticated and modern, but in a very melodic and approachable vocabulary. Orchestration is intriguing, and word-setting felicitous. Although a Surtitle screen was included, it was scarcely necessary given the nature of the music and the clarity of diction from all the cast.
The plot, derived from an absurd short story by Nikolai Gogol, tells a story of Akakiy Akakiyevich Basmatchin, a government clerk who is a nothing and a nobody until he buys a beautiful new overcoat. When the coat is subsequently stolen, he goes mad and winds up in an asylum. After his death, his ghost haunts the streets, stealing overcoats from various people.
Baritone Geoffrey Sirett created an intriguing portrait of a nobody, with his perennially gaunt face and worried expression -- not to mention his skill at ignoring all the people who perennially ignored him. His drunk scene in the second act was unusual too, more of a stylized drunk than a realistic one, which fitted better with the overall stylization of the piece. Vocally, his performance was excellent, particularly in his slow recitals of lists of numbers to be added up.
Mezzo-soprano Andrea Ludwig did fine work as Akakiy's landlady, veering wildly across the entire spectrum of possibilities from 1920s flapper girl vamp to concerned mother substitute. I loved her seductive voice in the earlier scenes, just as much as I loved her multiple different ways to bring in and offer Akakiy a bowl of cabbage soup.
Baritone Peter McGillivray was bureaucratic pomposity to the life as the Head of the Department where Akakiy works, a dominating presence both physically and vocally from the raised gangway across the rear of the stage.
He then appeared again as Petrovich, the drunken tailor, and created a totally different character, wild in his eccentricity and physically ludicrous in his manner of taking snuff (totally abetted by a specific motif in the orchestra each time). As for his voice, it could almost as easily have been a different singer in each role, so wide was the variety he brought to his tone colour and production.
Erica Iris Huang, Magali Simard-Galdes, and Caitlin Wood sang with delightful blend and clear, soaring lines as the Mad Chorus. Huang also presented a totally different appearance and presence as Petrovich's hard-headed, efficient wife.
And who could forget the fantastic mime work of the two movement performers, Colin Heath and Courtenay Stevens?
Ken MacDonald's set simply but clearly set the time-frame of the story. The wall of dark-wood frames with old-style domestic stained glass in them proved equally effective as a backdrop to an office and as a streetcar. The upper walkway, and the portable stairway wheeled in to connect at centre stage, also were well-used for many key moments. Portable scenery elements were moved on and offstage quickly and smoothly and were well-chosen to highlight the essentials without added cluttering the stage picture.
Morris Panych's stage direction was always clear as a bell in intention, and supported the singers in the right degree without becoming either overbearing or over-obvious.
The Overcoat: A Musical Tailoring is a fun show, musically rewarding, theatrically entertaining, and marked with fine performances right across the cast. The show continues at the Bluma Appel Theatre in Toronto until April 14.
The plot, derived from an absurd short story by Nikolai Gogol, tells a story of Akakiy Akakiyevich Basmatchin, a government clerk who is a nothing and a nobody until he buys a beautiful new overcoat. When the coat is subsequently stolen, he goes mad and winds up in an asylum. After his death, his ghost haunts the streets, stealing overcoats from various people.
Baritone Geoffrey Sirett created an intriguing portrait of a nobody, with his perennially gaunt face and worried expression -- not to mention his skill at ignoring all the people who perennially ignored him. His drunk scene in the second act was unusual too, more of a stylized drunk than a realistic one, which fitted better with the overall stylization of the piece. Vocally, his performance was excellent, particularly in his slow recitals of lists of numbers to be added up.
Mezzo-soprano Andrea Ludwig did fine work as Akakiy's landlady, veering wildly across the entire spectrum of possibilities from 1920s flapper girl vamp to concerned mother substitute. I loved her seductive voice in the earlier scenes, just as much as I loved her multiple different ways to bring in and offer Akakiy a bowl of cabbage soup.
Baritone Peter McGillivray was bureaucratic pomposity to the life as the Head of the Department where Akakiy works, a dominating presence both physically and vocally from the raised gangway across the rear of the stage.
He then appeared again as Petrovich, the drunken tailor, and created a totally different character, wild in his eccentricity and physically ludicrous in his manner of taking snuff (totally abetted by a specific motif in the orchestra each time). As for his voice, it could almost as easily have been a different singer in each role, so wide was the variety he brought to his tone colour and production.
Erica Iris Huang, Magali Simard-Galdes, and Caitlin Wood sang with delightful blend and clear, soaring lines as the Mad Chorus. Huang also presented a totally different appearance and presence as Petrovich's hard-headed, efficient wife.
And who could forget the fantastic mime work of the two movement performers, Colin Heath and Courtenay Stevens?
Ken MacDonald's set simply but clearly set the time-frame of the story. The wall of dark-wood frames with old-style domestic stained glass in them proved equally effective as a backdrop to an office and as a streetcar. The upper walkway, and the portable stairway wheeled in to connect at centre stage, also were well-used for many key moments. Portable scenery elements were moved on and offstage quickly and smoothly and were well-chosen to highlight the essentials without added cluttering the stage picture.
Morris Panych's stage direction was always clear as a bell in intention, and supported the singers in the right degree without becoming either overbearing or over-obvious.
The Overcoat: A Musical Tailoring is a fun show, musically rewarding, theatrically entertaining, and marked with fine performances right across the cast. The show continues at the Bluma Appel Theatre in Toronto until April 14.
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