BLUEBEARD’S CASTLE by Bela Bartok and ERWARTUNG by Arnold Schoenberg (Canadian Opera Company). At the Four Seasons Centre (145 Queen West). Runs to May 23. $12-$424. 416-363-8231. See Continuing. Rating: NNNNN
The Canadian Opera Company‘s revival of one of its most admired shows, a double bill of Bela Bartok‘s Bluebeard’s Castle and Arnold Schoenberg‘s monodrama Erwartung, glows more brightly than it ever has before.
That’s because this time the production plays at the Four Seasons Centre, which is sonically and visually superior to the barn-like Sony Centre, where it previously ran. Now we’re properly drawn into the two dramas and the nuances of the rich scores, the action of both literally presented within a shiny golden frame that offsets the dark tales.
Bluebeard is the more accessible work, in part because of its familiar narrative about a new bride, Judith (Ekaterina Gubanova), who insists on unlocking every door in the castle of the secretive, commanding Bluebeard (John Relyea) and makes unhappy discoveries in the process.
Francois Racine‘s direction, following Robert Lepage‘s original, includes a prelude and epilogue to the central action. Bluebeard leads his wife to the castle, a whirling image that spins in the distant darkness, before we enter that mysterious fortress, a wonderful forced-perspective set by Michael Levine.
The castle moans and drips tears and blood, almost becoming a character in its own right. Robert Thomson‘s lighting suggests what lies behind each of its doors: a treasury, a torture chamber and so on. The opening of the final door seals the bride’s fate, though its secret isn’t what she expects.
Power passes back and forth between the characters, and both performers prove themselves strong, though Gubanova’s voice is occasionally lost in the lush orchestration. Relyea, with a coal-black voice, is both chilling and mesmerizing as the man who seems unable to find a partner who lacks curiosity.
Erwartung is more abstract, a psychological drama in which a female character (the excellent and committed Krisztina Szabo) searches in the darkness for her lover. We enter her mind and see all from her sometimes twisted perspective, including her doppelganger and psychiatrist. Associative, atonal and disturbing, the score’s surprises are reflected in the production’s visuals.
Johannes Debus‘s exemplary conducting gives pungency to the Bartok score’s forte sections as well as its eerie sighs, groans and slithering sounds, and a properly unearthly quality to the Schoenberg.
A must-see evening of theatre, even if you’re not an opera fan.
