[Editor’s note: CNY Café Momus is pleased to provide its readers with two different perspectives on the identical (July 18 opening première) Glimmerglass Opera production of Handel’s Tolomeo: one by David Abrams (preceding this review), and the present one by David Rubin]

By David Rubin
http://cnycafemomus.com/David_Rubin.html

The American Handel Society might consider bestowing a special award of merit on Glimmerglass Opera for its dedication over the past 15 years to staging his operas.

Since its 1995 production of Tamerlano, Glimmerglass has put on the boards eight different Handel operas. In the 36 years Glimmerglass has existed, an equal number of Mozart’s operas have been produced.  Six have come from Puccini, only three from Verdi.  Glimmerglass has earned a reputation as a Handel house.

The latest entry is Tolomeo, which opened Sunday afternoon, July 18, in a sold-out Alice Busch Opera Theater.  General and Artistic Director Michael MacLeod told the audience that he believes this is the very first staged performance of the work in North America.

It premiered in 1728 at King’s Theatre in London; was revised for a 1730 production; and revised again in 1733.  It then did not see the light of day until 1938 in Gottingen, Germany.  It was not staged in Britain until 1973.

This is quite strange.  The opera deserves a better fate.

Handel wrote it for his superstar rival sopranos Francesca Cuzzoni and Faustina Bordoni. The famous castrato Senesino took the title role.  With only five characters in the opera, hearing these three in the most important roles must have been a thrilling experience.

It has much beautiful music in it, although most of the arias lack vocal pyrotechnics. There are only two duets.  The five characters sing as a chorus once, at the close.  It’s a simple piece.  Anthony Hicks in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera describes most of the arias as being "decent but unexceptionable examples of Handel’s Royal Academy manner."

True, it’s not as thrilling as Giulio Cesare, which Glimmerglass staged so well in 2008.  But the audience on Sunday warmed to the music, which was beautifully played by the Glimmerglass Opera Orchestra and expertly conducted by Christian Curnyn.  Curnyn, a Scotsman, is an expert in this repertoire.  He is director of the Early Opera Company, and he has led Semele and Tamerlano for Scottish Opera.  Tempos were well judged and the opera never sagged.

Curnyn had three outstanding young singers with whom to work in the Senesino-Bordoni-Cuzzoni roles.

Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo sang Tolomeo, a feckless, woe-is-me monarch exiled by his mother Cleopatra to Cyprus.  He spends much of the opera searching for his wife, Seleuce, also exiled, and actually right under his nose on stage. (The plot, best ignored, is a typical 18th century farrago of disguises, missed connections, and false identities.)  Costanzo’s soprano is as clear and inviting as spring water, with a penetrating sound on top. The bottom of the voice is not so forceful, but he delivered those lower notes doubled up on the floor, far stage right, so it’s best to suspend judgment.

Tolomeo’s wife Seleuce (the Cuzzoni role) was sung by Joélle Harvey, a real find.  This is a part of almost constant lamentation.  Harvey must deliver long, arching melodies with a steady line and a melting quality. She does.  She is secure throughout the range.  The top is very attractive and not at all shrill. She also looked like a monarch’s wife, even in the skimpy satin slip that is her costume at the end (more about which later).

Bordoni’s role is Elisa, sister to the tyrant king of Cyprus. This is the fun part.  Elisa is the scheming, vengeful, sexually hungry woman who chews up the scenery but, for a change, actually gets a man in the end, although not the man she wanted.  Julie Boulianne was terrific in this part.  Whenever she was not on stage, the temperature cooled to a simmer.  When she was on stage, she dominated the proceedings in a red wig and stylish red ankle boots.

Last season Boulianne seemed lost as Cinderella in Glimmerglass’s chaotic production of Cenerentola. Here she ruled the roost. She matched Harvey in voice quality, although her part is more varied and requires more mood swings. Boulianne proved she is a first-rate comedian with a mezzo voice capable of handling the entire range (Handel wrote it for a soprano).

The other two roles are smaller. Both were sung by members of the company’s Young American Artists Program.

Baritone Steve LaBrie was cast as the raging tyrant of Cyprus, Araspe. Handel wrote the part for a bass. LeBrie’s voice is too light to deliver much of the music with the power and resonance required. The voice is tight, not well projected. His performance was honorable, but it didn’t thrill. This is probably not a part for such a young singer whose voice has not entirely developed. A veteran such as David Pittsinger, a bass-baritone who sang in the Glimmerglass Orlando in 2003, would have done justice to the part.

Karin Mushegain, a mezzo, sang Alessandro (Tolomeo’s brother), with skill and a feel for Baroque style. She has little to do before the single intermission, but she is a full participant in the action in part two, holding her own with the other ladies on stage.

Which brings us back to that satin slip, or really two satin slips, since Julie Boulianne was also wearing one at the end, while Araspe had stripped to his boxer shorts and a tank top, and Tolomeo was in underwear, one sock on and one off.

Staging a Handel opera seria straight is probably no longer in the cards in the 21st century. Directors feel the pressure to provide stage business, sight gags, and all manner of decorations to liven up the da capo aria format and static plots. The question is how seriously to take Handel and how much decoration to provide.

Chas Rader-Shieber directed. He also directed the previously-mentioned Orlando. That prepared me to expect a production with some clever sight gags, lots of energy, and an irreverent spirit. He delivered all of that. But he also delivered stage business that slighted the singing, and the singers. At times I wished he had the faith in Handel and in his young artists to let them work the magic in this piece.

His approach was particularly damaging to Joélle Harvey as Seleuce, who has the saddest and most tender music. Rader-Shieber kept stealing the audience’s attention from her with stage nonsense. She should sue for non-support.

Despite the foolish plot that truly deserves to be sent up, Handel must have meant this as a piece to be taken seriously. Rader-Shieber signals to the audience immediately that this will not be the case. Comedy tonight. After the attractive overture, Tolomeo is staring into a fish bowl while a huge swordfish, hanging from guy wires, swims into the middle of the back wall. The shipwreck that brought Alessandro to Cyprus is illustrated with a toy boat split in two. Elisa sticks it back together with her chewing gum. Araspe is decked out in a ridiculous top hat with a feather, forcing him to duck through doorways. In his red costume with a goatee, he looks like a Mephisto out for a night of trick-or-treating. The breeze suggested in the poetry for one of Seleuce’s arias is produced by five electric fans. And so on.

Most of this works in an anxious sort of way. What hurts, however, was Rader-Shieber’s interpolation of three "servants" dressed in 18th century garb and gray wigs. They seem to have wandered in from Faninal’s palace in Rosenkavalier, except that they are disheveled and stooped. Worse, they are on stage all the time, moving furniture, pushing brooms, blocking doorways, and otherwise distracting the audience from the singers. On first appearance they are intriguing, but once it is clear they are not going away, they are annoying.

At the conclusion, when Tolomeo and Seleuce finally identify each other, and Elisa settles for Alessandro, Rader-Shieber has all of them lustily rip off their outer garments for some love-making. But he lacks the courage of his directorial convictions. Had this been Europe, the slips would have gone, too.

Rader-Shieber’s contributions, such as they are, should not deter lovers of Handel and of terrific Baroque singing from seeing this production. It’s not as good a piece as Cesare, Acis, or Agrippina, but it rivals Orlando and Partenope. Boulianne and Harvey will be heard again on stages elsewhere in a wide range of repertoire, and Costanza will take his place as a leading countertenor. All three are very talented.

This might also be the end of the Handel era at Glimmerglass. The experienced director Francesca Zambello takes over the company next year. Her website lists more than 180 productions she has created between 1984 and 2008, but only two are of Handel operas: a 1990 Xerxes for young artists in Antwerp, and a 2003 Alcina for New York City Opera. Handel has not played an important part in her art.

All the more reason to see this Tolomeo. It deserves a victory lap.

Details Box:

What: Handel’s Tolomeo
When: July 18, 2010 (première performance)
Who: Glimmerglass OperaTime: 2 hours and 45-minutes, with one intermission
Call: Glimmerglass Box office: (607) 547-2255
Ticket prices: $26 to $126
Website: www.glimmerglass.org 

Remaining performances: