RIGOLETTO / New Opera Singapore / Review

 

RIGOLETTO 

New Opera Singapore 

Victoria Theatre 

Sunday (18 August 2024)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 20 August 2024 with the title "NOS puts on snappy staging of Rigoletto".

Western opera is in such a parlous state of state funding in Singapore these days such that the only fully staged opera production of the year was Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto (1851) presented by New Opera Singapore (NOS). Despite being one of the Italian’s most popular operas (after La Traviata and Aida), one has to go as far back at 1993 for its last production here. 

That was during the fledgling years of Singapore Lyric Theatre, fronted by conductor Lim Yau and the late producer Leow Siak Fah, where setting Rigoletto in stylish Shanghai of the 1920s was both audacious and creative. This latest production directed by NOS founder Jeong Ae Ree and conducted by her husband Chan Wei Shing was more traditional but no less edgy. 

A more contemporary noir setting with hints of Italian mafioso elements coloured this sorry tale of curses and vendettas. The hunchbacked court jester Rigoletto has been cursed, and as he vainly protects his secret daughter Gilda from the clutches of the lascivious Duke of Mantua, he dooms her instead. There were three shows featuring three different casts, and the final evening was none too shabby. 

Photo: New Opera Singapore

Front and centre was Korean baritone Min Seung Kang as the eponymous anti-hero, whose bitterness in life was as pronounced as his limp. He was the perfect antithesis to Korean soprano Renata Hann, whose Gilda was purity and innocence personified in her pure lilywhite dress. Her fateful mistake was being self-sacrificial for someone as unworthy as the Duke. 

That smarmy antagonist was sung by Latvian tenor Martins Smaukstelis, whose suaveness came through in the hit arias Questa o Quella (This Woman Or That) and La Donna e Mobile (Women Are Fickle). More important were the duets involving Hann and both men, which were heartrending and totally believable. She herself hit all the high notes in Caro Nome (Sweet Name), a favourite of coloratura sopranos. 

Photo: New Opera Singapore

Another highlight was the final act’s famous quartet Bella Figlia dell’Amore (Fairest Daughter Of Love), with mezzo-soprano Carolyn Holt’s Maddelena making the foursome, where the Duke’s infidelity is exposed to both Rigoletto and Gilda. 

The supporting roles were well cast, with cheap assassin Sparafucile (he charges 20 dollars a kill but operates a Harley?) portrayed by Fionn O hAlmhain attired as a biker, Shaun Lee (Borsa), Cai Xiaofeng (Count), Li Yang (Countess), Stefan Szkafarowsky (Monterone) and Jasmine Towndrow (Giovanna), a truly cosmopolitan team. 

Photo: New Opera Singapore

The choir led by Chong Wai Lun provided mostly light-hearted relief, the men donning masks as voyeurs and kidnappers being particularly comedic. The set and lighting design was simple but effective by setting the boundaries between groups of singers, making small spaces seem like fair distances. It took little for the storm / lightning scene leading to the opera’s fatal end to suggest bad weather and bad karma. 

Director Jeong Ae Ree and
Conductor Chan Wei Shing take their bows.

Ultimately, the story-telling through music was direct, well-paced and nothing was left to drag. All in all, a very successful outing for NOS, which could more than just tip the scales for a shout of being Singapore’s leading opera company today.

DVORAK'S RUSALKA / New Opera Singapore / Review

DVORAK’S RUSALKA

New Opera Singapore

Victoria Theatre

Sunday (20 August 2023)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 22 August 2023 with the title "Tragic, moving staging of Dvorak's Rusalka".

New Opera Singapore (NOS) has garnered an enviable reputation over the years with successful productions of operas that are not exactly household names. In the midst of the pandemic, it mounted online Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress, while Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Telephone and Francis Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine saw the light of day in 2022. This year brought out the Singapore premiere of Czech composer Antonin Dvorak’s opera Rusalka. Its fame outside of the old Czechoslovakia was long premised on a single hit aria.

 

Composed in 1900 with libretto by Jaroslav Kvapil, this was a variation of Hans Christian Andersen’s well-known Little Mermaid story, about a water nymph who sacrifices her identity and  voice for the love of a human prince. It makes for a ridiculous story but unlike Andersen’s (or Disney’s) version, this one directed by NOS founder Jeong Ae Ree has no happy ending. Sung in English rather than the original Czech, and with helpful English and Chinese surtitles provided, there was also no mistaking its tragic narrative.

 

London-based soprano Victoria Songwei Li as the titular Rusalka was a stunning presence. Her multi-faceted acting abilities, which navigated from lovesick longing, through frustration and confusion to finally grief, was as moving as her singing. The unforgettable Song To The Moon (Mesicku Na Nebi Hlobokem or Moon Deep In The Heavens), which came early in the first act, was beautifully rendered in Czech, setting the tone for the dramatics to unfold.   

 

Excellent Latvian tenor Martins Smaukstelis as the ill-fated Prince, towered over Li in physical stature, but as the story goes, would have made for a very poor Tinder match. Destined to hear her voice only in the third act’s final duet, his earnest yet misguided strivings would get no satisfaction except in death.

 

The supporting cast was just as good, particularly mezzo-soprano Rebecca Chellappah as the smarmily evil witch Jezibaba, who was balanced by baritone Martin Ng’s Water Gnome with his woe-laden lines. Soprano Joyce Lee Tung as the seductive Foreign Princess was the Prince’s principal distraction, her striking red gown a stark contrast to adversary Li’s pallid one.

 

Tenor Leslie Tay (Hunter/Gamekeeper), soprano Lara Tan (Turnspit), water spirits Ashley Chua, Rachel Ong and Wen-Yu Tseng provided added commentary, levity and comic relief to the otherwise dark tale. Members of Symphonia Choralis (Chong Wai Lun, chorusmaster) had multiple roles, including playing wedding guests, mysterious denizens and wave simulations of the watery realm.

 

The inclined stage designed by RT+Q Architects was simple yet evocative, providing the illusion of depth and added dimension. The NOS Orchestra, a chamber sized outfit, conducted by Chan Wei Shing supported the singers well, and there was little to no risk of them being drowned out in the lush late-Romantic score.

 

Despite a lean annual budget, NOS has always delivered. From the quality of singing, fresh ideas in presentation to honest-to-goodness production values, this sympathetic production of Dvorak’s Rusalka would be no exception.   

Concert photographs by Chrisppics+