Dicapo in the News

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April 16, 2007

Dicapo Closes Season with Stirring “ Manon Lescaut”

by Bruce-Michael Gelbert

Irina Rindzuner as Manon and Todd Geer as Des Grieux
Photos by James Martindale

The Metropolitan Opera, which first presented Giacomo Puccini's third opera and first major success, "Manon Lescaut" (1893), in 1907, has not given the opera since 1990, when Mirella Freni last limned its alluring protagonist, but will revive it, in the company's lavish 1980 production, next January and February for Karita Mattila and Marcello Giordani. In the meantime, the Dicapo Opera Theatre has been offering its smaller scale, but no less committed take on the work this month in its space downstairs from St. Jean Baptiste Church at 184 East 76th Street at Lexington Avenue. The first of six performances was on April 13; I heard the third one, on the 15th; and remaining hearings are on the 20th and 21st at 8 pm and 22nd at 4 pm.

Irina Rindzuner's dark-hued, sharply focused lirico spinto soprano and Todd Geer's burly, soft-grained lyric tenor, with hints of voix mixte-mixed voice-complement each other well in the duets between Manon Lescaut and her on-again off-again beau, Renato Des Grieux, that punctuate the piece. Persuasive as the pleasure-loving Manon, who never makes it to the convent where her father is sending her, Rindzuner lends a voice that is full and forceful to "In quelle trine morbide," when she is tiring of luxury without love, and "Sola, perduta, abbandonata," her death scene solo, and, unsurprisingly, rings out over all in the third act ensemble, but summons the delicacy for the quasi-18th century strains of "L'ora, o Tirsi," with which she entertains her wealthy and aged protector, Geronte's guests. Geer sings a lyrical, light-hearted "Tra voi, belle, brune e bionde," while still searching for love, and heartfelt "Donna non vidi mai," when he meets Manon, but musters the thrust for "No! Pazzo son! Guardate!," when he begs to join Manon in her exile, and for his other dramatic music in Acts Three and Four. The singers bring suitably unbridled passion and a wealth of sound to "Tu, tu, amore? Tu?," the searing second act seduction duet.

Mark Womack makes a solid lyric baritone Lescaut, Manon's brother. Gary Giardina cuts a colorful figure as Geronte. As the student, Edmondo, Hector Palacio displays a promising tenor. Mezzo-soprano Yuki Otsuka-Lowe, joined by Manami Hattori, Jennifer Valle, Sarah Lee and Stephanie Rodousakis, contribute a dulcet 18th century-style madrigal. Vaughn Lindquist is the over-the-top dancing master. Marcus Augér plays the lamplighter as a vagrant, brandishing a bottle-lit in lieu of providing light. Taking other parts are Chad Armstrong, Gary Ramsey, Bryce Smith and Dorian Balis.

Conductor Pacien Mazzagatti and his players proffer vivid accounts of both the lively and the dramatic pages here and shine in their showpiece, the intermezzo, played between Acts Three and Four instead of before Act Three, representing the arduous journey from Le Havre to New Orleans rather than the trek from Paris to Le Havre. General Director Michael Capasso calls for a cheerful scene at the inn at Amiens, with the Dicapo chorus making a lusty, youthful group of students, gamblers and so on; a stirring second act conclusion, with Manon and Des Grieux, urged on by Lescaut, hurrying to escape only to run right into Geronte and the police he has brought to capture her; and intense climactic scenes. Highlights of John Farrell's designs are a plush boudoir for Manon and, for the exiled undesirables' walk of shame, from prison to ship, a starlit sky and a wooden walkway, with a huge crate hanging ominously beside it. Angela Huff designed the period costumes and Susan Roth, the lighting, and Francine Harmon devised the choreography.

Olga Chernisheva, Arthur Shen, Richard Lugo, Juan Felix, Monique Pelletier, and Robert Hughes alternate with Rindzuner, Geer, Giardina, Palacio, Otsuka-Lowe, and Augér as Manon, Des Grieux, Geronte, Edmondo, the madrigal singer, and the lamplighter. For remaining tickets at $47.50, call 212/288-9438, extension 10, or go to www.dicapo.com. There will be staged, one-hour versions for children, of "Manon Lescaut," on April 19 at 11 am, and of Georges Bizet's "Carmen," on May 15 and 16 at 11 am. Tickets are $10 for children up to 12 years old and free for adults that accompany them.

Next season, Dicapo gives Charles Gounod's "Roméo et Juliette" (October 4, 6, 12 and 14); the New York premiere performances of Conrad Susa's "Dangerous Liaisons" (February 21, 23 and 29 and March 2, 2008); and Puccini's "La Fanciulla del West" (April 10, 12, 18 and 20, 2008). For information on subscriptions, at $150 each plus $5 handling charge per subscription, call Dicapo's business office at 212/759-7652 or go the web site. Subscribers are also entitled to tickets for performances of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "Der Schauspieldirektor" ("The Impresario"), paired with Richard Wargo's "The Music Shop," on December 8 and 9 at $25 per ticket plus $2.50 handling charge per ticket instead of the box office price of $35.

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