Last month,
a radical reorganization, compressing upcoming seasons into a festival format over three months in late spring and summer beginning in 2016. The move represents a bold gambit to stay alive in dire financial times that have already doomed other companies, including New York City Opera, and forced the Portland company to cut staff and operate under austere budgets for several years.
Yet at the opening of the Portland Opera's 50th anniversary season Friday night, the mood reflected not a trace of doom and gloom, just high-spirited celebration. The piece was Johann Strauss II's operetta "Die Fledermaus," a rom-com romp drenched in Champagne and gemütlichkeit. It was the fledgling company's first production, back in December 1964 at the Madison High School auditorium, and this time around came with richly detailed sets from Seattle Opera, elegant period costumes from Washington National Opera, and an English translation from English National Opera.
Highlights:
Given that the operetta is intended be an all-highlights-all-the-time affair, it's worth mentioning that two of the key driving forces weren't to be seen onstage. Music director George Manahan led the orchestra with gutsy dynamics and unflagging tempos while paying acute attention to the singers, and Chas Rader-Shieber was his counterpart in stage direction. The action flowed energetically with an abundance of smart comic touches that never seemed over the top even at their most madcap.
Low notes:
Keller Auditorium is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad place for all but the biggest operas with the mightiest voices, precisely the kind of fare that Portland Opera can rarely afford to put on (and that only a portion of the audience has much interest in, frankly). So while Manahan adeptly managed the sound and Rader-Shieber wisely kept most of the singing near the front of the stage, moments of compromised balance and overwhelmed voices inevitably happened, and nuance that might have carried in a more intimate room was lost.
Most valuable performer:
A show with a big cast should have no clear MVP, and such was the case Friday night; the cast was well-matched, a youthful bunch with strong, agile voices and keen comic timing. Daniel Belcher sang the role of the philandering Gabriel von Eisenstein with a focused, nimble baritone and a sympathetic stage presence that made the happy ending less implausible than it ought to be, while Mary Dunleavy gave a warm, supple voice and strength of character to his wife, Rosalinde. Susannah Biller was delightful as their maid, Adele, with a coquettish presence and some of the night's finest vocal pyrotechnics, and Jennifer Rivera was deliciously ennui-striken as Prince Orlofsky.
Biggest surprise:
During the run, Portland Opera is welcoming a variety of guests, including sometime collaborators BodyVox Friday night. Introduced by Rivera, still in character during the party scene, co-founder and co-artistic director Jamey Hampton danced a solo ("Moto Perpetuo," set to the Paganini tune of the same title) and then two other dancers did a pas de deux ("Twins," to the duet "Parigi, o cara" from "La Traviata"). The interlude was a bit incongruous, to be sure, but both numbers were thoroughly in keeping with the spirit of the production (a couple of patrons nearby were giggling so much throughout, I thought they might fall off their seats).
Moment of the night:
Standing atop a desk in the jail in the third act, Biller threatened to steal the show in the aria "Spiel ich die Unschuld vom Lande," the only German-language number, as the supertitles switched to a gothic typeface and the dancers did a hilarious routine in office chairs.
Takeaway:
General Director Christopher Mattaliano has led Portland Opera in perhaps the most difficult period of its 50-year history, but he's not going to let hard times get in the way of maintaining high standards and having fun.
Repeats:
Sunday at 2:00 p.m., Thursday and Nov. 15 at 7:30 p.m., Keller Auditorium, 222 S.W. Clay St.
Tickets:
—James McQuillen