'Postcard from Morocco' from Portland Opera has no linear plot but much to ponder (review)

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Portland Opera presents "Postcard From Morocco" at the Newmark Theatre, March 21-29. Dominick Argento's opera about seven strangers who converge in a waiting room premiered in 1971.

(Cory Weaver/Portland Opera)

“Postcard from Morocco” begins with the shrill blast of a train whistle, but is the waiting-room setting of Dominick Argento’s surreal opera merely a train station?

Characters sing, perhaps metaphorically, of travel by boat, and a sign on Portland Opera’s set reads “Departures.” A ferry terminal? A funeral parlor?

Baggage, literal and figurative, is present, but no one seems to be going anywhere. An airport where the flights are canceled? Purgatory?

The ambiguity is maintained in Kevin Newbury’s staging, unveiled Friday night as the annual Portland Opera Resident Artists production in 880-seat Newmark Theatre, which, it bears repeating, for most operas is a much friendlier space than 2,992-seat Keller Auditorium.

Without changing music or text, Newbury eliminates the alternate identities that the score assigns to five of the seven singers and the concomitant costume changes, as well as non-singing extras, indicated puppetry and general busyness. He and his cast achieve clarity, focus and poignancy and avoid heavy-handed whimsy; one can imagine that other stagings might be more funny or bizarre.

In the score, the characters are voice types first – Coloratura soprano, Soprano, Mezzo-soprano, Lyric Tenor, Tenor, Baritone, Bass – and people with props second, which is how Portland Opera identifies them: Lady with a Hand Mirror (Lindsay Russell), Lady with a Cake Box (Caitlin Mathes), Lady with a Hat Box (Melissa Fajardo), Man with Old Luggage (Ian José Ramirez), Man with a Paint Box (Ryan MacPherson), Man with a Shoe Sample Kit (Alexander Elliott), Man with a Cornet Case (Deac Guidi).

They sing of their pride-and-joy props and the contents of their suitcases, propping up their egos and dreams. Just one item is opened, and it’s empty – or, in this staging, nearly so. One suspects that others are empty too.

“Postcard” is an ensemble opera to such an extent that, as in Verdi’s “Falstaff,” multiple characters simultaneously sing different texts that have little chance of being understood or adequately supertitled. If there’s a central role, it’s the Man with a Paint Box and a name, Mr. Owen, sung by MacPherson with both strength and sensitivity. In a duet with him, Mathes steadied after some uncharacteristic tremulousness; her stage presence was riveting. Russell sang brightly up to high D and traded trills with the clarinet. Guidi’s singing and acting were solid.

Of the current Resident Artists (Mathes is a former one), lush-voiced Fajardo produced piercing tones toward the end of her aria of linguistic gibberish, Ramirez sang with affecting lyricism, and Elliott sported a smooth physicality and a handsome baritone that should take him far. Missing was Nicole Haslett, slated for Russell’s role until she won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Northwest regional auditions in January; she has been in New York City preparing for the national semifinals.

Conductor William Vendice and his eight musicians make a convincing case for Argento’s eclectic score, which ranges from jazz to Viennese operetta, from coloratura showpiece to Wagner: the interlude “Souvenirs de Bayreuth,” a title that alludes to piano pieces by Emmanuel Chabrier, Gabriel Fauré and André Messager, quotes Wagner themes in a rousing ragtime.

Curt Enderle’s set is simple and effective. Sue Bonde’s costumes look so Portland that you probably can find them at Union Station. But what is the point of the sudden shifts in Connie Yun’s lighting?

With no linear plot, no all-out passion and no solo bows, “Postcard” drew brief applause. Those who applaud briefly may well ponder at length.

--Mark Mandel

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"Postcard from Morocco"

When

: 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 21, Thursday, March 27, Saturday, March 29; 2 p.m. Sunday, March 23

Where

: Newmark Theatre, 1111 S.W. Broadway

Tickets

: from $53, 503-241-1802,

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