In an unmicrophoned and intimate space behind the Agassiz Theater,
Harvard’s Early Music Society presents L’Orfeo, Monteverdi’s 1697
“fable in music.”
I went to the dress rehearsal tonight–real tickets have sold out for
all but opening night, and no wonder–Harvard has excellent word of
mouth. Music director Thomas Kelly and stage director Zoe Vanderwolk
(yes, that Zoe, the multi-talented blogger at Greenpass) have created a
seamlessly transparent, honest staging of this classic.
From the opening fanfare (sackbuts and cornettos baroque trumpets*) to curtain calls with
the young cast taking their bows, you are under the spell of Claudio
Monteverdi. Costumes and scenery are scaled to enhance the opera’s own
magic–nothing is pretentious, nothing is tricksy–if only the ART**
could stage classics so well!
Among many talented players, some are especially good. Lovely, grave,
clear-voiced Erica Brookhyser personifies “Music,” bare-armed and
bare-footed in heavy silk classical drapery. (It gave me a start to see
her at intermission in blue jeans and clogs, chatting with one of the
lutanists. “I only come onstage during the happy acts,” she explained.)
Paul Guttry as Charon (“Caronte”) maintains fine control of expressiveness and tone way down into some very deep bass territory.
Samantha Franklin sings an irresistibly flirtatious Persephone
(“Proserpina”)–and Nick Vines (“Pluto”) convincingly falls for her
wiles, going from pouty to patriarchal with dignified grace.
All in all, it was a marvelous evening of music and theatre–congratulations to all for a job well done!
* Memo to self: don’t blog at 2 a.m.
**Cambridge’s American Repertory Theater (ART) is famous for avant
garde productions of classics, an ultramontane version of bait and
switch where (for example) Uncle Vanya is performed by actors engulfed
in overcoats, or Pericles is enlivened by nude videos of its principal
actresses.