As the old song says: When an irresistible force meets an immovable object, something’s gotta give.
In Jules Massenet’s ultra-Romantic opera, “Thais,” that irresistible force is the title character, a woman who worships Venus, sees sex as sacred and oversees orgies while making a very lucrative living as a courtesan. Immovable is the priest Athanael, a Christian ascetic who’s come in from the desert to convert her.
This struggle between the flesh and the spirit is the conflict at the core of Minnesota Opera’s first production of “Thais” in its 55-year history. And it drives the most successful combination of singing, acting, design and dancing that the company has presented in the past several seasons. Full of color in its sets, costumes and characterizations, it makes a case for this being a neglected gem of French Romanticism, one that sets dueling quests for fulfillment to some lovely music.
So rarely produced is “Thais” that most classical music lovers have only heard its “Meditation,” a second-act orchestral interlude that’s proven a swoon-ready showpiece for violin virtuosos, a popular encore for inspiring rapturous sighs. But Massenet wrote many fine tunes for “Thais,” including other absorbing instrumental interludes, and he clearly knew that he had a hit on his hands with the “Meditation,” for he reprised it at the opera’s conclusion.
Why isn’t “Thais” produced more often? Well, primarily because the title role is one of the operatic canon’s most challenging for a soprano. But Minnesota Opera has just the woman for the job. Kelly Kaduce performs with this company so frequently – for example, during the 2015-16 season, she was the female lead in “Rusalka,” “Tosca” and “The Shining” – that it might be easy to take her gifts for granted. To their credit, Minnesota Opera audiences don’t let that happen, their affection for Kaduce always palpable in the theater.
And they’ve never experienced a performance from her as captivating as this one. Kaduce not only brings beauty and power to Thais’ demanding vocal lines but makes her a smooth seductress who seems genuine in her love of the pleasures of the flesh, not a devious femme fatale but an open-hearted voluptuary.
The story is set in fourth-century Egypt, when Christianity was still relatively young and the worship of gods from Greek mythology was the old-time religion. Athanael grew up in Alexandria and feels called to return there to bring the “pagan” priestess to his bare-bones brand of faith. They sing about their positions at a feast of physicality, and Thais soon begins to reconsider her path. But, eventually, so does Athanael.
Both characters undergo transformations, and Kaduce and baritone Lucas Meachem make them eminently believable, their chief tools being voices rich in texture and passion. Also doing fine things with Massenet’s music are tenor Gerard Schneider, bass William Clay Thompson and the Minnesota Opera Orchestra, under the direction of Christopher Franklin. Splendid solos pour forth from the pit during those wordless interludes, most notably violinist Allison Ostrander’s sumptuous, yearning take on the “Meditation.”
Also making much of these instrumental sections are the members of Zenon Dance Company, who gracefully execute scenes of dreams, visions and bacchanals. Choreographer Heidi Spesard-Noble and director Andrea Cigni have created dances that bring us into our leads’ inner lives, doing so amid the imaginative sets of Lorenzo Cutuli and the evocative lighting of Marcus Dilliard.
Coming in at a little over three hours, “Thais” is in danger of being too much of a good thing. But the performers never let it lag, permeating their characters with energy and making the concluding triumph of the spirit a satisfying destination.
If You Go
What: Minnesota Opera’s “Thais”
When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday
Where: Ordway Music Theater, 345 Washington St., St. Paul
Tickets: $200-$25, available at 612-333-6669 or mnopera.org
Capsule: Flesh and spirit have it out in a richly satisfying production.
