(from http://dev.vaopera.org)Caro was kind enough to invite me to the Virginia Opera's production of Don Giovanni. We had a vegetarian meal at Thai Pot in here in Williamsburg and then dressed up for the trek down to the Harrison Opera House in Norfolk.
There's good news, and there's bad news.
I'll start with the good news.
Caro and I had a decent time. I learned the practical art of pre-ordering your Intermission cocktail (It was so very "Frasier" of me). The temperature was comfortable despite the biting cold outside- I didn't need my coat in the theater itself.
The players were very talented. I was quite impressed (No easy feat). This was also the youngest, best-looking cast I've ever seen at this opera house. As I mentioned in my review of Turandot, often your most accomplished singers are not your most attractive people, making the parts they play a little hard to believe. In this group, Don Giovanni was handsome, the women were lovely (particularly the peasant girl, Zerlina... very striking eyes), and Leporello (Don Giovanni's man-servant) was good-looking, too.
Now, this is Mozart, so, it's not the most challenging music I've ever heard. However, this young cast nailed all the subtle (and not-so-subtle) emotions in this story of love and betrayal. The men especially could boom with vigor or determination as well as croon softly. Fantastic singing, really.
The set was minimalist... just some moving walls here and there... sort of boring, but at least not distracting...
...which leads me to the bad news...
The director chose to open and close the opera with the same silent background scene: A young woman removes her clothing provocatively as a man stands off to the side observing her. Once she's wearing nothing but her under-slip, the man approaches her, and the two embrace. Caro pointed out to me, when I initially complained about this, that the scene was likely meant to symbolize one of Giovanni's favorite activities (while he's not that picky, he does especially enjoy deflowering virgins). A large rose painted on a backdrop glows behind the scene emphasizing her youth and purity about to be corrupted.
Thing is, I don't feel that sorry for her. I mean, the girl undressing for her audience is clearly into this action, desiring her audience of one to look upon her. She is also unlike any of the actual female characters in the opera. The three relevant women who have somehow been wronged by Giovanni all want vengeance. One woman wants him dead for murdering her father (the father challenged him in her defense, but the man was old and no match for Giovanni). Another calls out threats and names, but misses her former lover and really wishes to reform him, to have him as her own. Lastly, the peasant girl wishes to see him punished for misleading her and beating up her fiancé.
Giovanni is a cad, it's true, and each woman is completely entitled to her feelings. He chases women, any and all women, has his way, and disappears. He also mistreats his funny, obliging man-servant.
And this is the actual bad news. Though, like I said, it was a remarkable production, I have never liked this story. It's hard for me to listen to a man I despise sing for three hours. Even when Giovanni is punished for his misdeeds (you watch him as he is swallowed into the fires of hell... very dramatic for a mostly lighthearted opera), no one is really happy in the end. The only exception is the young peasant couple (they just go home and get on with their lives). Donna Anna postpones her wedding another year (she's been stringing her poor fiancé along this whole time saying they can wed once he avenges her father's death, but still finds herself too upset to consider a happy wedding at the end of the tale). Donna Elvira, one of Giovanni's many scorned lovers, decides to join a convent rather than brave falling in love ever again. And Leporello, poor man, who was dragged from beginning to end as an accomplice in all Giovanni's schemes, he seeks out a new master who, from the looks of it, is just as bad as Giovanni. It's not the saddest ending to an opera, but, nonetheless, it's not very satisfying.
All in all, though I don't like the story, it was a good show and not at all a waste of a Saturday night. Though we walked through the cold for a block to get to the opera house (they're doing something weird with parking and we had to park in a neighborhood behind the venue), we enjoyed our evening.
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