NY City Opera's Don Giovanni

Imagine the large multipurpose room in a Catholic school, convent or other facility - a large meeting room with plain walls, a large cross on the wall, squared-linoleum floors and plain white lights hanging from the ceiling.  Imagine this is in Italy, and that the congregation, with the assistance of visiting celebrities, will put on its own version of Don Giovanni.  The ordinary congregants who make up the chorus will dress up in their best out-of-date suits and dresses, while those playing leading roles will have carte blanche to dream up costumes from whatever period suits their fancy.  The Don dresses in a snappy modern suit, but his Leporello is dressed like an ordinary working man - perhaps a slight step above ordinary.  But the Masetto is in a neat black velvet peasant's costume suitable for Hallowe'en and all the women wear interesting gowns... and on and on.  There are few props beyond a very movable collection of chairs, a large wooden dining hall table (on wheels) that gets to carry a coffin in the second act, and so on.  "Let's do an opera...."

I wasn't convinced by the first act - somehow, the mixing and matching of costumes, the lack of sets or any attempt to simulate the settings described in Da Ponte's libretto, all seemed to let me down, despite the decent performance going on down on the stage with the proficient leadership of Gary Thor Wedow from the pit.  But then in the second act things took off, the action heated up, some of the men took their shirts off (these guys work out, especially the Leporello), most of Mozart's most inspired arias put in their appearance, reasonably well sung and the whole thing finally jelled for me.

Who was responsible for this concept?  Was it a team effort by director Christopher Alden, set designer Paul Steinberg, costume designer Terese Wadden, lighting designer Jane Cox and conductor Wedow?  Or was the vision controlled by one, most likely director Alden?  In any event, it was certainly innovative, the chairs put to good use, and the decisions taken on the penultimate scene of the Commendatore's arrival for dinner were most effective.

As to the cast, I found much to admire about each, not just the muscular charms of Leporello (and Masetto, who rivaled him for musculature as far as one could see) and - slightly less - the Don.  The important thing is the singing and the acting, and there the company was terrific all told.  Daniel Okulitch made a very convincingly caddish Don Giovanni, although one or two pieces of business went a bit over the line - like clicking his fingers at the pit to get the music started for the second act.  Jason Hardy's Leporello was convincingly athletic and on top of his notes, and Kelly Markgraf's Masetto stole the show, as far as I was concerned.  Gregory Turay's Don Ottavio, the only tenor among the leads, seemed a bit stolid, but that's the character to a T - and he sang his bits quite well.  Brian Kontes' Commendatore was suitably commanding.

The women matched the men in musicality and acting.  Stefania Dovhan's Donna Anna was particularly touching in her grief and expressions of betrayal.  Keri Alkema's Donna Elvira impressed as well, and Joelle Harvey's Zerlina was a sheer delight.  Also delightful, if not heard, was Alexandra Hastings in the non-speaking or singing role of Donna Elvira's sluttish maid, who really throws herself at the Don! 

This was the last performance of the run, and if the turnout was any indication of the entire run, there is enough demand for this opera in this production to urge bringing it back next year as part of the longer season one hopes is contemplated.