Star’s vocals lead opera production to triumph
Anna Bolena
(out of 4) By Gaetano Donizetti and Felice Romani. Corrado Rovaris, conductor. Directed by Stephen Lawless. Canadian Opera Company. Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. Plays to May 26. coc.ca Opera should not be only about the lead singer.
But the Canadian Opera Company’s season-closing production of Gaetano Donizetti’s Anna Bolena is worth the 31⁄ 2- hour commitment for the sake of soprano Sondra Radvanovsky alone.
There are other attractions: The whole cast is excellent, the traditional production is clear and sturdy and the always-superb Canadian Opera Company Or- chestra plays at its best.
But Radvanovsky at the peak of her powers is something extraordinary to behold.
The soprano imbues her role as King Henry VIII’s doomed second wife, Anne Boleyn, the mother of the future Queen Elizabeth I, with every fibre of her being. There is no nuance that isn’t animated by some aspect of her face or body.
She does the same for the singing, which is sweetly soft one moment and raising full-throated goosebumps the next.
Although opera is usually larger than life and Donizetti’s bel canto style of florid vocal passages is totally over the top, none of it feels or sounds excessive in Radvanovsky’s hands.
This artist’s skills charm us into sympathy for a queen who is no longer loved by her king, and who will pay the ultimate price for being in the way of the latest object of his desire, Giovanna (Jane) Seymour.
Felice Romani’s libretto acknowledges that Boleyn rose to the throne in much the same way as her successor.
Much of the opera centres on the tension between the two women, who have more interesting things to sing than the men.
American soprano Keri Alkema is compellingly tormented as Seymour and American bass-baritone Christian Van Horn is an excellent, menacing cad as Enrico (Henry VIII).
Canadian mezzo-soprano Allyson McHardy is in wonderful voice in the pivotal trouser role of Smeton.
The only weakness in this unusually fine cast is American tenor Bruce Sledge, who has a fine, ringing voice, but lacks dramatic presence as Boleyn’s first love, Lord Percy.
Italian conductor Corrado Rovaris does a magnificent job of shaping Donizetti’s evershifting dramatic score from 1830.
The opera company’s Chorus, arrayed as spectators, is strong throughout.
We have seen elements of Benoit Dugardyn’s Globe Theatreinspired set since the COC pre- sented Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda in 2010. It’s a simple design augmented by multipurpose, folding wooden panels that redefine the stage as needed.
Mark McCullough and Reinhard Traub’s lighting is unfussy yet clever, and director Stephen Lawless adds movement and visual interest without ever distracting from the story.
Anna Bolena has more dramatic meat than many operas, but it is a bit odd to enjoy an episode of English history being sung in Italian. Then along comes someone like Sondra Radvanovsky to make us forget such details and remind us why — and how — people get hooked on the magic of opera.
You might even lose your head over it.