CALGARY OPERA’S NEW FILUMENA SHOWS DEPTH
History-based show strongly stresses story’s human element, writes Kenneth DeLong.
There were bravos aplenty at the conclusion of Calgary Opera’s opening-night performance of Filumena, but the most vociferous bravos were for the creators of the opera themselves — John Estacio and John Morell.
And this is as it should be. The two Johns are now the most successful creators of new opera in the country’s history. And it is a happy thing that their first and most successful opera should be an Alberta story and a fitting offering by Calgary Opera to celebrate Canada’s 150th-birthday year.
Although much of the cast was new, there were a few veterans from the earlier Filumena performances (it was first staged in Calgary in 2003), including Robert Dean, the conductor of the equally successful Edmonton performances in 2005. As before, Kelly Robinson was the stage director, the staging essentially unchanged from the first performance.
Hearing and seeing the work again, I was struck by how much of it I remembered, especially the music for Filumena herself. Filled with memorable musical ideas, soaring melodies, catching Italian-sounding tunes, and powerful choral scenes, this is an opera that musically has it all, including a believable and compelling storyline.
While the opera is based in history (the fascinating exhibit in the lobby should not be missed), the work is nevertheless an opera, and not a sung version of a high school history lesson. I was struck again by the richness of the characters and the ways in which they are portrayed. This is especially the case with Filumena, an immigrant Italian woman, married against her will to an unsuitable husband, who attempts — ultimately unsuccessfully — to find happiness.
The musical ideas associated with her name, and with her efforts to establish her individuality and identity, are apt and memorable, as is the storm music, employed metaphorically to underscore her inner strength of character. The same can be said of the Italian music and the contrasting music for the English settlers in the Crowsnest Pass. Like Puccini, Estacio can find a good tune when it is needed.
The detailed plot, filled with incident and humour, needs a stage direction equal to the detail of the action — and this it certainly has in the imaginative, realistic stage direction by Kelly Robinson (with costumes by Sue le Page). The scenes at the Alberta Hotel, the crowd scenes and the split stage effects all made for convincing operatic theatre.
While for anyone who saw the first production it will be Laura Whalen’s Filumena that will remain indelibly associated with the lead character, Lida Szkwarek, this production’s Filumena, was fully up to the task. With a strong voice of lyrical type, Szkwarek was able to fill the role with emotion and fine singing; she also showed the stamina needed for a leading part.
Her storm aria at the end of the first scene, and even more the extended solo passage at the end, were the stuff of operatic thrills.
She was matched with a capable supporting cast, most notably Gregory Dahl as Emilio Picariello, the Italian strong man. Played less menacingly than in the previous production, Dahl brought to the role of Picariello a likability and sympathy that increased the pathos of the giant mistake that ultimately cost him his life.
Tenor Ernesto Ramirez was Stefano, Emilio’s son, and as the love interest he gets a good share of the big tunes — and he made the most of them. Ramirez’s warm-toned voice and lyricism were everywhere to be heard, especially in the picnic scene where the lovers fall in love.
The supporting cast were also up to the vocal and dramatic challenges of their roles, while the chorus has much more to do in this opera than just stand and sing. It is a tribute to the chorus to note how effective they were dramatically, and vocally they provided those powerful sceneconcluding passages without which no opera of a grand type can succeed.
Robert Dean, always on top of the job, led a willing Calgary Philharmonic through the challenging score, the powerful scenes scoring their points, and the moments of colour and shade nicely realized musically. Well paced and with a good balance with the singers, he is a superior conductor of opera.
Broadly similar to the first production, this new Filumena nevertheless has its own personality, one that stresses the human element perhaps a bit more than the previous outing: There is a fine attention to detail that always catches the eye and a certain human warmth. In the end, it is the sturdiness of the work itself that most commands attention, for this is, without question, a very fine opera.