Review: Moody pictures painted in San Diego Opera’s ‘Maria de Buenos Aires’

Jan. 27, 2018 3:25 PM PT

Ástor Piazzolla’s “Maria de Buenos Aires” has three characters, but in San Diego Opera’s new production of the tango “operita,” there’s a fourth character who never leaves the stage.

Death haunts, death stalks, death dances, death tortures and death may ultimately redeem the title character in the moody, lyrical and well-directed staging that premiered Friday at the Lyceum Theatre downtown.

Piazzolla’s surrealistic, 90-minute opera, playing through Sunday, Jan. 28, in a mostly sold out production (there were still some tickets available to the 10 p.m. Jan. 27 performance at press time). It’s the latest of the company’s Detour Series of smaller-scale, nontraditional works.

The original story for “Maria,” with a libretto by Argentinean poet Horacio Ferrer, is unremittingly dark and strange. For this production, director John de los Santos has crafted a thoughtful, clear narrative that needs no supertitles, though translations of the often-confusing Spanish text are projected on screens above the stage.

In the original story, Maria is born cursed by God, becomes a prostitute and is murdered, then wanders the streets of Buenos Aires as a spirit who gives birth to another “Maria” in a depressingly endless cycle. Her story is told in spoken word by El Duende (a fairy or goblin) and in song by Maria and El Payador (a minstrel).

In de los Santos’ visually rich staging, El Payador is Maria’s devoted first love, her “sweet sparrow,” who she discards for a flashier guapo who pimps her out for a soul-destroying gang-rape. The cynical El Duende shape-shifts from a homeless woman to a tango dancer, a blind beggar, a drunken bishop and finally a devil-like businessman.

Maria is a neglected child whose unrequited craving for her father’s attention leads to a misplaced trust in men who use her. She is broken but she seems to survive, and in a angelically-lit beatific moment, she outsmarts the greedy El Duende.

Death itself is everywhere: In the tango-dancing skeletons performed by twins Laurence Gonzalez and Lester Gonzalez of California Ballet; the corrugated tin angel that rises over Liliana Duque Piñeiro’s set and the flickering ofrenda (altar) votives that cover the stage and scenery. Ingrid Helton’s period costumes and Jason Bieber’s golden lighting contribute to the production’s feel of a time long past.

As Maria, mezzo-soprano Audrey Babcock gives a moving, haunting performance and her dusky, flexible voice soars, especially in the famous aria “Yo soy Maria.”

Ear-pleasing baritone Paul La Rosa is both masculine and tender as the heartbroken El Payador. Actress Celeste Lanuza is a charasmatic and versatile trickster as El Duende.

The opera’s six vocal ensemble members are all from San Diego: Sarabeth Belon, Bernardo Bermudez, Laura Bueno, Sandra Camarena, Walter DuMelle and Rodolfo Ruiz-Velasco.

From the piano, Bruce Stasyna confidently conducts a onstage 11-piece orchestra of San Diego Symphony musicians accompanied by David Alsina, a master of the bandoneón, a South American concertina (similar to an accordion but with buttons instead of keys).

Piazzolla, a bandoneón player himself, was known for his lively “nuevo tango” music that’s infused with jazz and classical elements. In “Maria,” his only opera, the score is more dark and subdued than Piazzolla fans may expect.

“Maria” marks San Diego Opera’s premiere in the underground Lyceum space. The wide thrust stage is an intimate, ideal setting for the gritty, urban story. But its acoustics must not be ideal for opera, which is usually sung without amplification. The lead performers wore head mikes on opening night, but thanks to Ross Goldman’s subtle sound design, the singing and spoken words were undistorted and not too loud.