Lest anyone think Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” is an anachronism in our #MeToo age, Lyric Opera’s production – which opened Thursday night – argues sharply to the contrary.
For though the score obviously has not changed since its 1787 premiere, we have.
The spectacle of the title character using his power, wealth and sometimes brute force to take what he wants from women seems still more repellent today than before the widely publicized falls of Harvey Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein, Bill O’Reilly and so many more. Viewed through contemporary sensibilities, “Don Giovanni” emerges not only as a landmark opera but a prescient one.
The Lyric production emphasizes exactly this point, in the form of Robert Falls‘ direction of this revival of his 2014 staging. Operagoers willing to consider the title character more cad than criminal have no such option this time around. For while Leporello – Don Giovanni’s manservant – sings his first aria, we witness Donna Anna in the background, in silhouette, struggling to fight off Don Giovanni’s overpowering physical attack.
From this point forth, the title character – regarded by some as a charming monster – here emerges as far more monster than charmer.
That makes this a rather dark “Don Giovanni,” yet one streaked with moments of bleak comedy, in the form of Leporello’s buffoonery (slyly acted by bass Matthew Rose), baritone Lucas Meachem’s menacing Don Giovanni and Lorenzo Da Ponte’s characteristically knowing libretto. As in the other Mozart-Da Ponte operas, real-life motivations and scenarios drive the story (except, of course, for the singing statue toward the end).
Director Falls, artistic director of Goodman Theatre, has pushed the opera’s time-frame forward, setting this production in the 1920s and otherwise sharpening Mozart and Da Ponte’s message. To see the title character and his sidekick perpetually snorting cocaine, for instance, enhances the sense of dissolution that pervades Falls’ view of the opera. The way both men gorge on food and drink, freely tossing both about as their debauchery reaches a climax, further fleshes out their cravenness.
None of this would amount to much, however, without singing worthy of the score and of Falls’ shrewd direction, and this cast has one spectacular voice, plus several very good ones.
From the moment Rachel Willis-Sorensen, making her Lyric debut as Donna Anna, escapes the grip of Meachem’s Don Giovanni and appears in the spotlight to excoriate him, we are hearing a huge instrument of uncommon precision and expressive nuance. True, she therefore vocally dominates most of the rest of the cast, as in her duet with tenor Ben Bliss, making his Lyric debut as Donna Anna’s betrothed, Ottavio. Even so, there’s no missing the tonal sweetness and emotional openness of Bliss’ work in their duet “Fuggi, crudele, fuggi!”
Soprano Amanda Majeski, a Ryan Opera Center alumnus, doesn’t produce as much voluptuous sound as Willis-Sorensen but very nearly makes up for it with the snarl and hiss of her performance as Elvira, one of Don Giovanni’s harshly betrayed lovers. The ferocity and tonal edge she brings to “Mi tradi quell’alma ingrata” – revealing the anguish Don Giovanni has caused her – is a dramatic highlight of the second act.
Soprano Ying Fang and bass-baritone Brandon Cedel, making their Lyric debuts as the battling lovers Zerlina and Masetto, help lighten matters with their whimsical portrait of on-again, off-again romance. Fang proves particularly disarming in “Vedrai, carino,” the suppleness of her voice and delicacy of her top-note pianissimos quite affecting as she expresses her love for Masetto, despite everything. Bass Mika Kares, making his Lyric debut as Donna Anna’s father, the Commendatore, conveys an aristocratic presence (and ample terror as the singing statue). Conductor James Gaffigan leads the Lyric Opera Orchestra and Chorus, the latter prepared by Michael Black, with verve.
And director Falls’ surprise ending, which makes the most of Duane Schuler’s telltale lighting design, breaks the fourth wall in a way that places responsibility for the way women are treated on all of us.
Exactly where it belongs.
3.5 stars
“Don Giovanni” plays select dates through Dec. 8 at Lyric Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive; ticket prices vary; 312-827-5600 or www.lyricopera.org.
Howard Reich is a Tribune critic.
