OPERACALYPSE NOW!! / L'arietta / Review

OPERACALYPSE NOW!!

L'arietta

Aliwal Arts Centre

Sunday (6 November 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 8 November 2016 with the title "Fun opera apocalypse keeps kids riveted".

Halloween has come and gone but its macabre spirit lingered on for newly-formed local opera company L'arietta's latest production, which cramped three short operas into a single act, not for the first time. 

Gravestones of the opera divas
and Al B Bach (1685-1750)

The black box space in the Aliwal Arts Centre was transformed into a spooky cavern with various Halloween paraphernalia and two wine bars, one of which was tended by the monosyllabic tenor Reuben Lai as the world comes to a cataclysmic end.

A newsflash announces that an asteroid is hurtling towards the planet and extinction is imminent in ten minutes, which was where tenor Leslie Tay's Figaro Montague and soprano Kristin Symes' Carmen Capulet came into the picture in the first opera, Figaro's Last Hangover by Patrick Soluri. Short snippets from the eponymous operas were relived, while old loves rekindled for one last time.

This was not so much a scena lyrique but an acted-out melodrama, where the singers' vivid characterisation of its comedic characters stole the show. Their voices were clearly projected and no surtitles were needed. As their surnames suggested, the couple soon began feuding over past amours and the romance unravelled to laughter from the audience.

The impending disaster is however delayed, which allowed for Michael Hurd's The Widow of Ephesus, the longest and most lyrical part of the trilogy, to be played out. Here the vocal qualities of the singers came to the fore. Symes' cynical Maid, Lai's unlikely Soldier, and soprano Angela Hodgins' grieving Widow all shined in this romance which took place outside a tomb.

What happens when the Soldier's dereliction of duty as a result of his tryst threatens to lead to a court-martial and possible execution? A neat solution provided by corpse-swapping saved the day, with all parties happy in the end. The Widow gets a new lover while the Soldier gets off the hook.

Whatever's left over from
the head of a music critic!

Mary Ann Tear's direction ensured that story-telling and interaction between performers, television screen and the informally seated audience (which included many children kept in rapt attention) remained paramount. This was vital in conveying the message that modern opera could be unstuffy, accessible and even fun. Music director Aloysius Foong was an ever-alert presence with his demanding part sympathetically helmed on the piano.

The asteroid has struck, the characters are still alive but Earth has been overrun by the living dead, which was the basis of the concluding opera, Soluri's Figaro and the Zombie Apocalypse. The lovelorn Figaro returned to the bar for one last fling, and so did Carmen, but never the twain shall meet as the squabbles began once again. As this entertaining production keenly alluded to, some things are destined never to change, even after the zombies have come home.    

Zombies and music critics meet
(frankly is there a difference?)

HONESTLY! 3 OPERAS, 1 HOUR / L'arietta / Review

HONESTLY! 3 OPERAS, ONE HOUR

L'arietta

10 Square, Orchard Central

Saturday (2 April 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 4 April 2016 with the title "Tapestry of life revealed in mini operas".

Say hello to L'arietta, Singapore's newest opera company. L'arietta, which means “little song” in Italian, was formed by local tenor Reuben Lai and Japanese soprano Akiko Otao to promote the niche genre of chamber opera. Both profess that opera is relevant to today's cultures and mores even in its most diminutive form, far removed from the grand spectacles of Wagner and Verdi. Its debut production showcased three such mini-operas in a single sitting, each refreshingly different and moving in their own way.

British composer Joseph Horovitz's The Gentleman's Island was a dark comedy about two stuffy Englishmen stranded on a desert island. They are initially distant because they have not been previously introduced, but readily bond when they know of a mutual friend Robinson. Jameson Soh's eloquent and effective stage direction had the gentleman marooned on separate wooden blocks but joined by a physical and metaphorical umbilical cord.

Tenor Lai and baritone Brent Allcock were excellent in their characterisations of self-consciousness and overriding pride. Their clear dulcet tones meant that the audience could catch their every single word and nuance. Even when rescue arrives in the form of Robinson, they reject him because he comes in a convict ship. The folly of death by pride is their ultimate comeuppance.

The second opera was Singaporean Chen Zhangyi's Window Shopping, about diametrically opposing reactions of two women when they enter a high-end shoe shop. Mezzo-soprano Angela Hodgins' older lady sings of regret and soured memories while soprano Otao's young waif is ecstatic on the choice of heels available to her.

Chen's score cleverly used a ground bass, which represented plodding footsteps people make when they go shopping, also symbolic of the trudges in life itself. While Hodgins' part was elegiac, Otao's was whimsical and jazzy. Ultimately both come to the realisation that life was not about acquiring assets (such as new shoes replacing old ones) but how to look after them.

The final opera brought back all four singers in Samuel Barber's A Hand of Bridge. What lurks in the minds of those who pit their wits in a game of small stakes? The scenario of failed marriages and dysfunctional characters revealing their innermost desires and fears were neatly encapsulated in four ariettas.

Angela longs for a hat of peacock feathers, while Reuben lusts after an extramarital affair. Akiko frets on her mother's frail health, and Brent craves for power and riches. Such is the flawed fabric and tapestry of life, where each individual has to come to terms with his or her own foibles and realities.

Accompanying this production was young pianist Wayne Teo, who more than coped with the disparate styles and complexities thrown at him. That the filled-to-capacity audience, with many children in attendance, sat in quiet and rapt attention throughout was ample testimony to the performers.

Clock watchers might like to note the durations of each opera: 28 minutes (Horovitz) + 21 minutes (Chen) + 10 minutes (Barber) = 59 minutes. Three operas in one hour? Mission accomplished.