Golden Cast Greets Fanciulla

By Truman C. Wang
Thursday, September 19, 2002

La Fanciulla del West

Opera in Three Acts by
GIACOMO PUCCINI
Sung in Italian with English titles

Simone Young, conductor
Gian-Carlo Del Monaco, director
Michael Scott, designer
William Vendice, chorus master

Performance of Thursday, Sept 19, 2002 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion

All photos by ROBERT MILLARD, courtesy of Los Angeles Opera

LOS ANGELES, CALIF –  Like the intrepid heroine of the opera, The Los Angeles Opera continued its trail-blazing season with another rarely heard Puccini gem, while everybody else was doing the usual Boheme’s and Butterfly’s.  This bittersweet tale of love and courage, set in the American Wild West of the Gold Rush era, seems uniquely tailored for the L.A. consumption, as its many less-than-flattering references of the north (“that bandit from Sacramento!”, “he seems to be from San Francisco!”) drew chuckles and smirks from the Angeleno audience. 

The beauteous production by Gian-Carlo del Monaco (whose father Mario del Monaco sings Dick Johnson to Renata Tebaldi’s Minnie on the finest Fanciulla on record.) drew waves of applause from the eager L.A. audience.  The ‘Polka’ tavern, the snow flakes, the log cabin and craggy hills all are rendered in painstaking details.  Puccini insisted on no fewer than eight horses for the 1910 premiere in NYC.  Here in L.A., two horses are all we get – in Acts One and Two only.  The lighting is appropriately dim and gloomy, reflecting the gold miners’ harsh everyday existence. 

Conductor Simone Young, reviled in other quarters, redeemed herself in Los Angeles with leading a fine cast in a well-paced performance.  Except for a dangerously slow 'Ch’ella mi crea' which audibly taxed the tenor Luis Lima, the orchestral playing was for the most part beautifully detailed and, in the final farewells, intensely poignant.  The Los Angeles Opera Chorus did an admirable job of singing and humming to Puccini’s haunting melodies, as well as pulling off the stunts in the boisterous bar room brawls. 

 

Substituting for an ailing colleague at the eleventh hour, American soprano Nina Warren came galloping (flying, actually) to the rescue.  Given the lack of rehearsals or a prompter, Nina Warren’s Minnie made a strong impression with her firm and powerful voice and an imposing stature that all but towered over Sheriff Jack Rance.   Her Act One solo 'Laggiu nel Soledad ero piccina' ended in a thrilling high B-flat.  Argentinean tenor Luis Lima gave a gallant portrayal as the bandit Dick Johnson, even though his voice gave out in the big Act Three aria.  German baritone Wolfgang Brendel had the weight of voice and manner to make an impressive Jack Rance (a sort of Wild West Scarpia).  Rounding off this ‘golden’ cast are bass James Creswell as the minstrel singer Jack Wallace, Suzanna Guzman as Minnie’s Indian maid Wowkle (“Ugh”-kle), and MET veteran Anthony Laciura as Nick.

Truman C. Wang is editor of Classical Voice.

[ previous | back to top ]