Review: Exciting, heartfelt ‘Fanciulla’ another winner for Opera Colorado

Several stories can be told about the artistic and organizational resurgence of Opera Colorado, but arguably no development was more consequential than the naming of Ari Pelto as music director. There is no way to overstate it: Pelto is a wizard in the pit.

The 2016-17 season opened Saturday night at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House with Giacomo Puccini’s much-neglected masterpiece “La fanciulla del West.” The opera—based on David Belasco’s English-language play “The Girl of the Golden West”—doesn’t exactly make it easy on itself, asking as it does for a large all-male chorus, including numerous named—and developed—supporting roles.

The orchestration is also complex and colorful, and its demands push the limits of a small pit like that at the Ellie. Throughout the opera’s three acts, Pelto’s focus was intense. Puccini’s penchant for doubling rhythmically fluid vocal lines, often a nightmare for conductors, was handled with natural ease. Pelto’s simultaneous communication with players and singers is a marvel to behold. That is not to say that he ever draws attention to himself—far from it, and that is part of his artistry.

Aside from what is going on in the pit, what happens on stage is one of the most lavish Opera Colorado productions in recent memory. The special effects are glorious, especially the depiction of a mountain snowstorm. The sets are beautiful, but not overdone, and director Emma Griffin is meticulous about the placement of the vast supporting cast.

The opera was written to be set in the 1849 California gold rush, and the fairly easy transposition to the 1859 Pikes Peak rush in Colorado worked quite well, with minimal alterations to the libretto. Most notable among these was making the outlaw-hero Dick Johnson (a.k.a. the bandit Ramerrez) ostensibly from “Central City” instead of “Sacramento.” Aside from matching the syllables, this was a bit of an inside joke, as tenor Jonathan Burton, who plays Johnson, starred as Cavaradossi in the same composer’s “Tosca” this past summer at Central City Opera.

The array of supporting characters is balanced by a mere three lead roles, all taken by singers making their Opera Colorado debut. The titular heroine Minnie is one of only two women in the entire ensemble, but what a strong character she is! Soprano Melissa Citro is as utterly natural for the role as one could hope. Minnie must carry the entire drama on her shoulders in all three acts while negotiating some of Puccini’s most demanding vocal requirements. Citro did all of this while exuding grace and nobility.

As for Burton, he proved once again his credentials as a Puccini tenor. Johnson is not the easiest character to love, but Burton imbued him with sympathy, and his long scene with Citro in Act II is easily the high point of the evening.

Baritone Mark Rucker, as the quasi-villainous sheriff Jack Rance, has a powerful instrument and a strong presence. Rucker’s finest moment is the climactic poker scene with Citro at the end of Act II, where both singers and Pelto ratchet up the tension to an almost unbearable level.

The huge ensemble makes most of its mark in the long, expository Act I and the short but highly dramatic Act III. All of these singers deserve credit for making their characters real, but those who should be singled out are tenor Norman Shankle as the bartender Nick, baritone Jared Guest as the sympathetic Sonora, bass Harold Wilson as Wells Fargo agent Ashby, and baritone Michael Corvino, who plays both the camp singer Jake Wallace and José Castro, a gang member of Ramerrez/Johnson. Despite everything Pelto, Griffin, and the leads do, “La Fanciulla” would fail miserably without this vibrant supporting cast.

The other female character is Minnie’s servant Wowkle, played sympathetically by mezzo-soprano Danielle Lombardi. In the libretto, Wowkle and her fiancé Billy Jackrabbit (played by bass Nathan Van Arsdale) are early 20th-Century Native American stereotypes. Here, the racial aspect is quietly and completely removed without really changing any text and it is amazing how unnecessary it actually is.

The decision to dispense with the usual intermission between Acts II and III was a good one, and the film shown during the set change serves to bridge the narrative gap. It is still somewhat obscure — why the miners are able to capture and attempt to lynch Johnson after Rance’s bargain with Minnie is a problem in the libretto that remains unclear — but the film is gorgeous.