DONIZETTI'S
RITA
New
Opera Singapore
Esplanade
Recital Studio
Wednesday
(13 April 2016)
This review was published in The Straits Times on 15 April 2016 with the title "Spousal abuse Punch and Judy way".
This seems to be the month for chamber
opera in Singapore
Created in 1841, it was not performed
until 1860, well after the composer's death. Comprising a cast of only three
singers and running for just 50 minutes, its farcical plot centred on one taboo
subject: spousal abuse.
Rita (sung by soprano Felicia Teo Kaixin)
takes perverse delight in berating and slapping her timid and ineffectual
husband Pepé (tenor Jonathan Charles Tay), but the table is turned when Rita's
abusive first husband Gasparo (baritone Sangchul Jea), orginally thought to
have died, unexpectedly returns. Pepe sees this as a chance for bailing out,
but learns a thing or two from Gasparo on how to love but keep a wife under
control.
 |
| Rita provides a new definition to the term "ballistic". |
All this sounds almost sado-masochistic
in a Punch and Judy way, and that was ironically what kept the audience mostly
in stitches despite the grim subject matter. Large credit has to go to director
Stefanos Rassios' simple yet brilliant staging, which saw spoken dialogue
trimmed off but retaining all the music. Gaustave Vaëz's French libretto was
sung with projected English surtitles which greatly enhanced the experience.
The classic bel canto singing to
be found in Lucia Di Lammermoor or La Favorita was not on show
here, but the short arias, duets and the final trio still needed agile and
expressive voices to pull off the dark comedy.
Teo's taunt of “When it comes to
husbands, simpletons are the best” came off as funny rather than cynical. Jea's
brash and booming counsel, “You can beat your wife, but don't knock her out”
seemed almost good advice in the self-confident way he put it. Even Tay's
declaration of glee in his aria when he thought he had seen the last of Rita
was genuinely sincere.
What equalled or even surpassed the
singing was the actual acting. Every singer rose to the test, particularly New
Opera debutant Teo, whose transformation from bored stage prop (she sat on
stage throughout all the preliminaries before any music began) to sadistic
husband-beater and ultimately submissive spouse was remarkable.
The casting of actress Carina McWhinnie
as the silent Cynthia seemed a luxury, but she added a further dimension to the
story by acting out the inner thoughts of each singer. Besides delivering an
excellent accompaniment, the casually outfitted pianist Kseniia Vokhmianina
also had a minor role, spouting phrases in Ukrainian, probably swear words.
Like all comic operas, all's well that
end's well. Or is it? Rita is rid of Gasparo (who wants to marry someone else
anyway) but gets to keep a “reformed” Pepé (who has been well taught by
Gasparo). A husband-and-wife detente is re-established, but like many a
workable or peaceable marriage, tensions still exist. But who has the upper hand
now?
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| The cast takes its bow together with New Opera Singapore founder Jeong Ae Ree and director Stefanos Rassios (centre). |
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