A man and a woman from rival factions fall passionately in love. A sibling betrayal leads to murderous madness. Throw in vocal lines that soar and boom like fireworks, and you have the makings of a marvelous opera.
And Gaetano Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor” can certainly be one, especially when the soprano singing the title role transcends its daunting demands with a thrilling tour de force, as Susanna Phillips does in the Minnesota Opera’s current production. Her Lucia is a charmer whose tragic turn proves deeply touching, thanks to Phillips’ rich, realistic characterization and supple, roof-raising voice.
But her outstanding performance is one of the only things that makes ripples in this stagnant pond of a production. Director James Robinson keeps movement to a minimum, with physical expressions of the passion professed in the lyrics rare, the characters and chorus too often like singing statuary. Save for Phillips’ flamboyant Lucia, it’s a staging with an absence of action.
Phillips pushes against the production’s inertia at almost every available opportunity, beginning with an opening aria that overflows with bubbly joie de vivre then brings chills with a tale of a ghostly encounter. While the soprano doesn’t employ many showy coloratura pyrotechnics, she makes up for it in purity and power.
Lucia eventually loses her bearings in a bloody manner, but conductor Leonardo Vordoni chooses to play up the incongruities between the score and the action. Buoyantly dancing tones emanate from Vordoni’s orchestra as Phillips compels the audience into Lucia’s happy delusion, making it seem a comfortable place for her to land. When bitterness surfaces in her flashes of lucidity, Phillips makes it hair-raising.
As Lucia’s devious brother, James Westman bursts with menace, hostility and a thunderous lower register, while Michael Spyres, as her lover from an enemy clan, sounds like a classic Italian tenor, his reedy tone swept up on waves of emotion. His love duets with Phillips were expertly executed Saturday night – their tones rising and falling in tight tandem – yet he proved no match for her in volume.
Christine Jones’ crumpled corrugated set is quite intriguing, but one can only wish that the cast were given more to do in front of it. Much as this production engages the ears, one’s eyes likely will be left wanting.
Rob Hubbard can be reached at rhubbard@pioneerpress.com.
What: The Minnesota Opera’s production of “Lucia di Lammermoor” by Gaetano Donizetti
When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday
Where: Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, 345 Washington St., St. Paul
Tickets: $200-$20, available at 612-333-6669 or mnopera.org
Capsule: The staging is stagnant, but Susanna Phillips saves it.
