Puccini rules. Italian composer Giacomo Puccini may not have pumped out the operas as frequently as some, but he certainly knew how to write a hit. In fact, three of the six most frequently performed operas nowadays are by Puccini: “La Boheme,” “Tosca” and “Madama Butterfly.” But one of his that doesn’t even crack the top 50 is “La Fanciulla del West,” a 1910 tale of romance and robbery during the 19th-century gold rush.
Why is that? Well, some clues can be found in Minnesota Opera’s season-opening production of “La Fanciulla del West” (often translated as “The Girl of the Golden West”), but it might just be because it’s so different in sound and style from his trio of smash successes. It’s less linked to the romantic era and its heartrending, showstopping arias and duets, leaning instead on one long, flowing scene for each act and orchestrations that often echo Puccini’s French impressionist contemporaries, Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel.
But it’s an opera that grows increasingly rewarding in both story and score. Over the course of three hours, Minnesota Opera’s production takes audiences more deeply into its conflicted characters and Puccini’s evolving sound world. With some very impressive performances and three eye-catching set designs, this staging makes a strong case that “La Fanciulla del West” deserves to be on the boards more often.
It takes place in a mining town in the mountains of Northern California, where our heroine, Minnie, is a beloved saloon owner who’s not afraid to shoot a gun out of a man’s hand. Many vie for her romantic attentions — including the married sheriff — but she’s holding out for true love. She thinks she may have found it in a handsome stranger who saunters into the saloon, but he might be a fugitive bandit out to rob the place. Nevertheless, she risks all to be united with him.
While you won’t find too many arias that soar both musically and emotionally, the characterizations and rich voices of tenor Rafael Davila as the kissing bandit and bass-baritone Greer Grimsley as the vengeful sheriff invariably impress. They bring both power and subtlety to their singing, supported well by a town full of very individual characters (most memorably, John Robert Lindsey and Gerard Michael D’Emilio). Claire Rutter also has some strong solos as Minnie, but, at least on opening night, she was too often swept into the swells of the orchestra and chorus. And I found myself wishing for a more charismatic stage presence that might help explain the intense devotion the miners have for her.
Doug Scholz-Carlson’s direction is often too stiff and static, keeping movement to a minimum. But that gives you an opportunity to offer your undistracted admiration to Raffaele Del Savio’s excellently executed designs of a rustic, multitiered saloon, a cabin amid a snowy mountain vista and the elaborate above-ground portion of a mining operation. They make this a production as engaging to the eyes as to the ears.
Rob Hubbard can be reached at rhubbard@pioneerpress.com.
What: The Minnesota Opera production of “La Fanciulla del West”
When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday
Where: Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, 345 Washington St., St. Paul
Tickets: $200-$20, available at 612-333-6669 or mnopera.org
Capsule: A relatively unsung Puccini opera gets a production worth hearing … and seeing.
