Dicapo in the News

IN REVIEW
La Périchole, Dicapo Opera Theatre, 12/21/03

Manhattan’s Dicapo Opera Theatre presented Offenbach’s La Périchole in December, with new lyrics by Gene Scheer and book by Michael Capasso, the company’s general director, and actor Bill Van Horn, who also portrayed the Old Man in Act III (seen Dec. 21). Scheer’s contributions (when they could be heard distinctly) were occasionally topical, sometimes clever, but for the most part conservative: “The wretch may now surrender; / he is a vile offender.” This Périchole flirted with political correctness — “Le conquérant dit à la jeune indienne” became “The Conquistador and the Indigenous Maid” — but not for long, serving up a pointlessly swishy gay character in the chorus and plenty of Viagra jokes. (The latter elicited laughs from Dicapo’s notably elderly matinée audience.) Curiously, the libretto came closest to the playful, corny spirit of the original (by Meilhac and Halévy, uncredited here) when Capasso and Van Horn strayed from the Bois de Boulogne and wound up nearer the Borscht Belt, as in Panatellas’s inventory of parrots, or in the Old Man’s “walk this way” shtick. In these roles, Larry Raiken (Panatellas) and Van Horn offered expert delivery and a satisfying hint of shamelessness.

The real find of the show was soprano Michele McConnell, in the title role. Graced with a megawatt smile, she looked like a Broadway baby, but her slender, shapely voice flew with ease and accuracy through the lyric-coloratura stratosphere. An exuberant comedienne, she brought down the house with her “Ah! quel dîner”; when assigned Olympia’s aria in Act II (here recast as a celebration of Périchole’s newfound status as a baroness: “I always knew that I had class, / Was a diamond, not a piece of glass”), she exulted in the ornate vocal line, periodically interrupting herself with her “lapdog,” a hand puppet. Graham Fandrei was her Paquillo, singing with a zesty, full-bodied tenor voice. Though he flubbed his timing in spoken comedy, his drunken pratfalls were truly impressive. Gary Giardina, a Dicapo stalwart, never revealed the Viceroy’s menace, even when he was imprisoning the heroes, but he brought to the stage an easy manner and a clear, dry, lightweight baritone voice.

The ideal Offenbach orchestra combines the attributes of a feather duster and a runaway train; conductor Elaine Rinaldi seldom achieved the proper lightness and sparkle, never the inevitable momentum, though she and her robust ensemble of twenty-five managed a rousing finale to each act, abetted by the large chorus. Capasso provided the proficient stage direction, John Farrell the handsome sets. Angela Huff’s costumes ranged from apt (the wedding outfits worn by Périchole and Paquillo) to unflattering (the recycled upholstery worn by the Notaries) to careless (the Renaissance gowns worn by several ladies of the chorus).

– William V. Madison

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