In Love with Tchaikovsky’s “A Russian Affair”
A Review by Joan E. Kruger
Staff Writer
The final production of this season’s Sacramento Opera opened on a Friday night at the Sacramento Community Center to an enthusiastic audience. “A Russian Affair” was not a full-blown opera production, but a nice change by having a bill of two short concerts, featuring the works of Peter Tchaikovsky, in excerpts from Eugene Onegin (based on the classic Russian novel by Alexander Puskin), and excerpts from The Queen of Spades (after Puskin’s novella). The night opened with a surprise: Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson taking the stage to welcome the patrons and thank them for supporting the Arts, especially in these hard economic times, with lots of encouragement to the crowd to continue doing so, to which the audience (a bit sparse, it must be said) responded warmly.
For the staging of these two pieces, the orchestra moved from the pit to the stage, on a slightly raised platform toward the back. In front of them was a Spartan set that served for both works, featuring just a few pieces of period furniture: a chaise or two, a table and chair, a doorway, a garden bench. There were no elaborate backdrops nor costume changes, just the stories, pared down, with some narration (provided by Andrei Cordrescu, in his Sacramento debut) to string together the best songs from each opera, telling the complete stories in just an hour each. It was a sort of “opera light” that was refreshing and quite enjoyable.
The bill opened and closed with the same conceit of the Narrator (Cordrescu), as Puskin, seated at the table, quill pen in hand, writing out these tales, while he voiced the prologue (and later, the afterword). Thereafter, the narration was heard as voiceover, with only a few places where Cordrescu appeared onstage (as at the gambling table in The Queen of Spades). This device had mixed reactions from patrons, some enjoying the “filling in the blanks” aspect of it (as the entire opera, in either case, was not being seen), while some would have preferred to just hear the singing. While this reviewer has been a long-time fan of Cordrescu’s poetry and fiction, and especially spoken-word essays on NPR, the narration for this bill felt flat and unrehearsed. Cordrescu seemed to stumble on a couple of words; though a few glitches on opening night are more or less to be expected, this patron found the narration more distracting than helpful.
On the other hand, no fault can be found with the cast: Emily Pulley (soprano, the ingénue Tatyana in Onegin, and Liza in Spades), Dana Beth Miller (mezzo-soprano, Olga in Onegin, the Countess in Spades), Richard Crawley (tenor, making his Sacramento Opera debut as the poet Lenski in Onegin, Herman in Spades), and Malcolm McKenszie (baritone, Onegin in Onegin, Count Tomsky in Spades), with conductor Timm Rolek at the helm, in his twelfth season as artistic director for the Sacramento Opera. All performed admirably, as could be expected given their long list of impressive credits each, with Emily Pulley having the best acting chops (sure, it’s about the singing, but in opera one must also act!), and Richard Crawley having the fulsome emotional tone that is so necessary in telling these tragic stories, full of “gloom and torment” (those very words appear often the libretto), especially Eugene Onegin. Crawley has a voice full of tears when he sings a canon (as Lenski) with McKensie (Onegin), as each privately declares they would rather laugh together as bosom friends than meet as blood enemies in a duel. However, McKensie is also wonderful, especially in his impassioned duet with Tanya, pleading for her mercy, as she remains firm in her resolve to resist him (Onegin).
Of the women, Dana Beth Miller had the stronger voice, although Emily Pulley was excellent as well; unfortunately, it was sometimes hard to hear her (the same was true of Malcolm McKensie), for the orchestra overpowering the voices. That has been on ongoing problem for this patron, in several other shows as well (not just the opera), and is especially disappointing for the opera, where the voices are the reason you came! Further, of the two pieces, Eugene Onegin was by far the stronger (The Queen of Spades’ story too contrived for even the most willing to “suspend disbelief” as a requirement of theater!), and one wonders if it might not have been better to have that one last on the bill, rather than first. Nevertheless, all in all, it was a delicious bill, if sadly, only there for a scant two performances!
We shall eagerly await the 2010-2011 season, which begins on November 19, 2010 with Orlando and continues with The Magic Flute (Feb 25) and The Postman Always Rings Twice (May 6). Single tickets, or information call (916) 737-1000.
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