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Review: Edmonton Opera's Don Giovanni conjures up visual delights

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The real stars of Edmonton Opera’s new production of Don Giovanni, which opened at the Jubilee on Saturday (April 14), are the three designers who have conjured up such a compelling visual setting for Mozart’s opera: Bretta Gerecke (set), Deanna Finnman (costumes), and Barry Steele (lighting).

Together, they have created a dark Seville out of some timeless sci-fi dystopian nether-world. Gerecke’ s sets are stark, monumental, using the whole of the Jubilee stage, concrete back, sides walls, pipes and all, as if we were in some emergency hideout of the Resistance in Star Wars.

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This is brilliantly lit by Steele, making film-noir use of shadows and searchlights, and powerfully breaking the fourth wall by having that lighting stretch out into the sides of the auditorium. To describe any more would be to spoil the surprises that set, lighting, and costumes spring during the course of the three hours or so of the evening.

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Finnman’s distinctive costumes suggest Spain of some indistinct past (or future?), and are also, with a couple of exceptions, equally dark. There seems to be (consciously or unconsciously) some colour coding going on here, for among the overwhelmingly predominant greys and black, three colours regularly reappear.

The first is red — the bright red of new blood, the dulled red of the blood of death. The red of Donna Elvira’s dress has since time immemorial been associated with lascivious sex, and it reappears (appropriately) in one of Don Giovanni’s jackets, but also in the red socks of another putative lover in the opera, Masetto.

Edmonton Opera’s production of Don Giovanni – Photo by Nanc Price
Edmonton Opera’s production of Don Giovanni – Photo by Nanc Price Photo by Nanc Price /EDMwp

The second colour is yellow — the colour of cowardice, deceit, and betrayal. The only two wearing a dull yellow are Don Giovanni and his servant Leporello. And indeed, when there are chairs on the set, they have red or black backs, except for one, which is that dull yellow, suggesting it is waiting for the rake.

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And then there are the rare glimpses of white, the opposite of this largely colourless world, primarily associated with those who subscribe to a more ordered relationship between the sexes: Masetto and Don Ottavio, and (initially) in Zerlina’s white wedding dress.

All this suits director Oriol Thomas’ vision of Don Giovanni’s world, which is equally dark, in spite of the many comic moments inherent in Mozart’s own vision. Those moments drew considerable laughter from the audience, sometimes rather edgy, sometimes gallows laughter, but sometimes of sheer amusement, especially in the slapstick moments such as Leporello aping Don Giovanni.

That overall darkness was emphasized by using an ending that was the norm until the 20th century: the evening finished with the horror of Don Giovanni being hauled down into hell, rather than with the customary moralizing final ensemble.

Tomas had ostensibly turned Don Giovanni into a matador, but it mattered little and wasn’t really followed through, apart from the stunning opening tableau as the curtain went up. He also claimed that this production is more about Don Giovanni’s abuse of power rather than about his abuse of sex.

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That was also not really apparent, other than the fact that all relationships or sexual encounters have an aspect of power dynamics. For what really came across in this production was the driving force of sex, whether abused by Don Giovanni, craved by Donna Elvira, or used seductively by Zerlina.

Indeed, Tomas set the dinner scene at the end as a kind of Fellini-meets-Goth sex orgy, which entirely summed up the tone and (with Don Giovanni’s literal downfall) the message of the production.

All this was brought to life by a strong and even cast. Erik Anstine as Leporello combined being primarily responsible for the comedy with some fine bass singing. Soprano Whitney-Leigh Sloan successfully wooed the audience as well as Giovanni and Masetto in a lively, flirtatious portrayal of Zerlina. Michele Capalbo as Donna Anna was very affecting in her aria towards the end of Act Two, but less vocally secure — and rather theatrically subdued — earlier. Tyler Fitzgerald created a Masetto that contrasted well with Don Giovanni and Don Ottavio.

Edmonton Opera’s production of Don Giovanni – Photo by Nanc Price
Edmonton Opera’s production of Don Giovanni – Photo by Nanc Price Photo by Nanc Price /EDMwp

A special word must go to Edmonton soprano Cara McLeod as Donna Elvira. She stepped in as an understudy during rehearsals, after Miriam Khalil unfortunately had to retire from the production. This was one of the largest — if not the largest — professional operatic roles she has undertaken, and she pulled it off with a convincing character portrayal, vocally and theatrically.

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Perhaps the most interesting interpretation of the evening — and some of the best singing — came from John Tessier as Don Ottavio. His lyrical tenor is light and graceful, setting him apart from the heavier voices of most of the rest of the cast. But he was also physically set apart, in his costume but also in some of his blocking. Indeed, the other characters left during the middle of his aria telling them not to grieve, leaving him singing to no-one, suggesting the isolation of the one major character who doesn’t seem to be driven by sex.

Phillip Addis’ portrayal of Don Giovanni was perfectly acceptable, but less convincing. He lacked some of the charisma that makes the character credible, in a rather flat performance. Similarly, the conducting of Christopher Larkin was also rather ponderous — it was noticeable that at times the singers seemed themselves to be trying to urge the pace along. Although Larkin produced a sonorous sound from the orchestra, it could have done with some more colour and more dynamic range — the great orchestral strokes associated with the Commendatore were, for example, unremarkable.

None of this detracted from a theatrically and operatically interesting evening, worth experiencing for the compelling creations of those three designers.

Review

Mozart Don Giovanni

Company: Edmonton Opera

Conductor: Christopher Larkin

Director: Oriol Thomas

Starring: Phillip Addis, Erik Anstine, Michelle Capalbo, Cara McLeod, and John Tessier

Where: Jubilee

When: Sat April 14

Further performances: Tues April 17 (7.30 pm), Fri April 20 (7.30 pm)

Tickets: $40 – $165

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