By producing an iconic Grand Opera like Il Trovatore, an opera company takes a great risk. There is a lot of pressure when most of your audience has probably already seen some version of the opera, and is probably doing constant comparisons while they are watching.Trovatore audiences almost always have high expectations for the singers, but the real responsibility for a good performance relies with the director. That responsibility comes from the fact that the most important question coming into a performance of Trovatore is usually, “Did it make sense?” Il Trovatore features an incredibly rich plot with lots of twists and turns, and many spots where the audience is left to fill in gaps, and it is the director’s role to make sure the story still comes through in both a clear and entertaining manner. Luckily for the Fort Worth audience, director David Lefkowich navigated the story’s tricky waters beautifully. There wasn’t anything remarkably shocking about Lefkowich’s production, as it was fairly straightforward, but with Trovatore, simple is usually best. However, there were a couple of unique and interesting additions that brought out a little different element to the story than normal. But I’ll get to that at the end.
The bulk of the pre-performance buzz centered around the Il Trovatore set, as it is largest the Fort Worth Opera Company has mounted since the Festival started. And it was indeed lavish. With large castle walls, huge hanging fixtures to drive home the theme of each scene, each time the curtains arose, there was something new and exciting for the audience to see. However, for myself, this ended up being a little bit of a drawback. For all of their gorgeousness, the sets were so grandiose that moving them took considerable amounts of time. There were multiple pauses throughout while the set changed, leading to lots of downtime besides the two intermissions. The audience member behind me kept getting confused about what was or wasn’t an intermission (even though FWO clearly put “Pause” across the top of the stage), and the hall would get a little noisy between curtain pulls. Also, with the long and numerous breaks, I felt the plot suffered slightly. However, I am sure to be in the minority, as any awkwardness from these pauses was surely forgiven once the curtain rose and a new, beautiful scene unfolded. And the sets definitely added some great elements. Specifically, I found the ending quite moving as the Count slowly moves towards the front of the stage in front of a hell-fire backdrop as a looming, shadowy figure.
In the end though, Il Trovatore is not about the plot or the set, or anything else, it’s about the singers. You could do an incredibly stripped down version and go crazy with the direction, but as long as you have four talented singers, you can have a successful production. All of the four main characters have iconic arias within the opera, and none of them are easy. I’ll reference the oft-quoted Enrico Caruso line that “Trovatore is easy, you just need the four greatest singers in the world.” and let that tell you the kind of pressure this opera puts on a singer. The Fort Worth Opera Company has been consistently lauded for being a platform for young up-and-coming vocalists, and the young cast of Trovatore did a remarkable job handling the pressure and vocal gymnastics of Verdi.
The obvious main character is Manrico, sung by Dongwon Shin, as he is the title-character (The Troubadour), and is closely followed by his arch-rival Count di Luna, sung by Malcolm Mackenzie (making his Fort Worth Opera Debut). These two roles are incredibly visceral, and usually work together to make Trovatore quite the “macho” affair. It’s the oldest story - two powerful men fighting over the love of one woman. In this performance, Mr. Shin’s training and already vast experience was quite apparent. He was one of the most talented singers on the stage. He possessed all the tools necessary for a tenor to navigate through Verdi and come out on top. My only qualm with his stellar performance was that he doesn’t seem to have the power yet to cut through the orchestra or other performers and sometimes gets a little lost, especially when paired with the bombastic Malcolm MacKenzie. But I will not be surprised if in five years we are seeing Dongwon Shin’s name more and more, and we here in Fort Worth will be able to say, “We saw him when...”.
But as important as the male voices are, the focus always seems to turn to the iconic female roles of Leonora and Azucena. Two of the most well-known Verdi arias come from Leonora’s role (Tacea la notte and D'amor sull'ali rosee). This production’s Leonora, Marjorie Owens, has already begun receiving acclaim as one of the most exciting young dramatic sopranos, and it is well-deserved praise. It is all there, and her Tacea la notte demonstrated vast amounts of ability, power, and range. My only complaint was that she kept it a little too controlled and played a little safe. This complaint, was short-lived however, as she came out in full force in the later half of the opera and delivered an incredibly moving and unbridled performance of D’amor sull’ali rosee that brought the house to a rousing applause.
The real star of this production, however, is the simply awe-inspiring Victoria Livengood in her role as Azucena. I probably could have done the entire review singing her praises. Having recently heard Dolora Zajick give a rousing performance of the role for the Metropolitan Opera, I was incredibly surprised to hear a mezzo-soprano top that performance so soon, and in Fort Worth. The role of Azucena is one that requires the singer to bring out their inner-crazy. It is by no means a dainty, femme-fatale character, because in the end, everyone is simply acting according to Azucena’s plan. Ms. Livengood brings out the role like I’ve never heard. Her ability to utilize her chest-voice and bring out her extended lower range sends the character over the top. The audience almost gets the sensation that two women are singing. The earthy quality of the sound not only invokes fear and mystery, it demonstrates the true power of the character. It allows the audience to see the two sides of Azucena - the one telling Manrico she loves him, and the one plotting the continued pain of the Di Luna family. Everytime Ms. Livengood took the stage, you could feel the excitement level rise in the hall. I’m still shouting “Brava!” today.
While mentioning Azucena, we can now bring up the little extras that director, David Lefkowich added to really bring out a different feel to this production. The additions were minor, and could potentially be lost on many, but to me it was an integral inclusion in this production. As I mentioned before, the character in the opera that is actually in a position of power, is the gypsy-woman, Azucena. Beyond being a gypsy, she is also supposed to be a witch. This point can be lost throughout productions, and it causes one to miss who is actually in control. But Mr. Lefkowich adds a couple of interesting elements, most notably, that every time Azucena takes center-stage, she “freezes” everyone around her other than the characters she is addressing. To me this not only demonstrates her “witchiness,” but also serves as an ingenious form of foreshadowing. These moments were also brought to a head from the well-done lighting work led by Chad R. Jung.
While Trovatore is emphatically a singers-opera, that doesn’t mean that Verdi left out places for the orchestra to shine. Conductor Joe Illick took advantage of every one of those opportunities, and shine they did. There were many orchestral “wow” moments, and that isn’t always something that gets said during an opera. So hats off to the musicians, because it was thrilling.
So far in the festival season, the Fort Worth Opera Company is two-for-two with highly entertaining and high value productions. For traditionalist opera fans who might not be excited by modern opera or modernized opera, the company has put forth quite the treat and showed that they can produce it all. For those that didn’t make it on Saturday, Il Trovatore can also be seen on Sunday, May 29 at 2pm and Friday, June 3 at 7:30pm at Bass Performance Hall.
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