The question coming into the opening night of Julius Caesar was whether the Fort Worth Opera Company could live up to their standard of producing high-quality, entertaining shows that appeal to mass audiences? After all, this was the company’s first fully staged Baroque opera, and let’s face it, baroque opera is not for everyone.
The orchestra went to great lengths to make this a (what-is-known-as) historically-informed-performance, with incredible new costuming for an authentic “look” (accurate for Baroque-era costuming), two harpsichords with Daniel Beckwith conducting behind one of the two, and a host of period instruments. And speaking of the instruments, bravi to the orchestra, and an extra-special bravo to the horn section. “Wow” doesn’t even come close to cutting it. At one point the first horn player upstaged Caesar himself with sailing high-horn runs and absolutely, jaw-dropping (pun intended) lip-trills. It was inspiring to say the least.
The set from this production is historic itself, as it is the same refurbished set that legendary soprano Beverly Sills launched her career from in her role as Cleopatra. The set coupled with just fantastically done tapestries not only helped set the stage, but also kept the opera and plot moving along. It was almost as if the audience was seeing a staging of the iconic Rome scenes from the Oscar-winning film Gladiator. And the ingenious decision to drop golden flakes of confetti during the coronation scene at the end was extremely well received, and sent the whole production over-the-top. Which is entirely appropriate for a historically accurate portrayal of Baroque opera.
While praising the historical accuracy of the production, one cannot skip over the performers. Handel might have been one of the first composers to really enable the role of the prima donna, but the eighteenth century still belonged to the castrati (if this is unfamiliar to you, please look it up), and as such, there were no “pants-roles” in Fort Worth on Saturday night. So while the women were indeed a major element (Meredith Arwady as Cornelia was probably one of the strongest performers of the night), Julius Caesar was a vocal battle between the three counter-tenors Randall Scotting (Julius Caesar), Michael Maniaci (Sextus), and José Álvarez (Ptolemy).
All three brought something equally praise-worthy to the Bass Hall stage. Mr. Scotting showed technical brilliance with his delivery of spot on lines of coloratura within his many arias, and Mr. Álavarez brought the role of Ptolemy to life with his wonderful acting and delivery of the character. But in the end (as in the story), the unsung hero was Michael Maniaci in the role of Sextus. He proved that counter-tenors could have just as much power and resonance as any other voice-type. In fact, he was really the only male that could come close to competing volume-wise with the remarkable, bass-baritone, Donovan Singletary (Achillas).
There were a few moving moments within the performance. Most notably was the scene when Cornelia stops her son Sextus from committing suicide. The two of them (arguably the best performers) on stage together just floored me. In Act 3, as Caesar is revealed to be alive and he sings his prayer (Dall’ondo...Aure, deh, per pietá spirate) for Cleopatra, Randall Scotting shows off not only his technical abilities to pull off the ridiculous florid ornamentation in absolutely spot-on Baroque style, he also uses the aria as a way to show off his downright impressive range. The pleasant surprise of the night came at the very end as Mr. Scotting performs the ending duet with the gorgeous Ava Pine (Cleopatra), and the two of them together create a most exciting ending to a lavish evening.
So what about our question of whether or not the Fort Worth Opera Company could produce a high-quality, highly-entertaining, historically-informed production, that could be enjoyed by the general audience? The answer was a resounding yes!
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