Review: San Diego Opera’s funny ‘Falstaff’ pleases the eyes, ears

Feb. 19, 2017 10 AM PT

Giuseppe Verdi’s opera “Falstaff” turned 124 years old this month, but in some ways, its return to the San Diego Civic Theatre on Saturday night seems right on time.

Over the past two years, San Diego Opera has been reinventing and right-sizing itself for the 21st century and the just-opened “Falstaff” production is both a nod to the past and an embrace of the company’s future.

This “Falstaff” production, and much of its creative team, was contracted before the company’s near-shutdown in 2014. But its gorgeous and modern scenic design, lavish costumes, Olivier Tambosi’s eye-popping stage direction and Verdi’s unconventional score are more in line with where the company is headed.

“Falstaff” was Verdi’s final opera, composed when he was 79 years old and wealthy enough that he could afford to take chances. Based on William Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor” and “Henry IV, Parts I & II,” it’s a broad comedy about the Bard’s rotund knight John Falstaff and his failed attempts to woo two married women and steal their husbands’ fortunes.

The score — experimental for its time and composer — has no overture, no major arias, only brief choral sections and a multilayered fugue finale. It’s not hummable or familiar music, but it sounds sublime and the lack of repetition in the score helps the story move swiftly by operatic standards (a tight two hours, 38 minutes with intermission).

A big part of the production’s charm is its physical design by Frank Philipp Schlössman. It’s an all-wood half-shell Shakespearean theater/cityscape with dozens of surprise pop-outs and pop-ups that can be transformed in seconds.

Director Tambosi has found every kernel of humor in the story and has thoughtfully choreographed virtually each footstep and hand gesture to the cascading notes in the score. The singers don’t stand-and-deliver their notes in old-fashioned style. They turn full circle as they sing, they kiss, they run and they crawl on the floor.

Italian baritone Robert de Candia makes an impressive company debut as the vainglorious Falstaff. He’s full-voiced, funny and articulate in his delivery of the Shakespeare-inspired libretto and has a warm, endearing stage presence.

Falstaff’s romantic efforts are amusingly impeded by the big-voiced “merry wives,” soprano Ellie Dehn as Alice Ford and mezzo-soprano Kirstin Chávez as Meg Page. Soprano Maureen McKay stands out for her purity of voice and control as Alice’s daughter, Nannetta, and mezzo-soprano Marianne Cornetti gets as many laughs as De Candia as the wives’ clever trap-layer, Mistress Quickly.

The male ensemble is also rich with talent, including tenor Simeon Esper and bass Reinhard Hagen as Falstaff’s renegade servants Bardolfo and Pistola, respectively. Also solid are Troy Cook as Alice’s husband, Ford, and Joel Sorensen as the commedia delle’arte-style villain Dr. Caius. Tenor Jonathan Johnson has a nice tone and developing technique as Nannetta’s love, Fenton.

Conductor Daniele Callegari and the San Diego symphony glide effortlessly through the quicksilver score. Because a good portion of the opera’s libretto is sung quickly in a near-spoken meter, vocal projection is more difficult. Some singers were harder to hear than others, but the balance worked in the women’s quartets and finale with chorus.

While the tradition of grand operas like “Falstaff” will continue at San Diego Opera, the company is now embracing works with more experimental scores, modern stage techniques and up-and-coming American singers. This “Falstaff” may be a lush example of the company’s past, but it’s also a signpost for its future.