New theater is double-edged sword
for Austin Lyric Opera's "Carmen"
April 20, 2008Austin Lyric Opera's move to an intimate, acoustically excellent new theater makes it possible for the established regional company to ratchet up its standards. To judge from the April 18 opening of "Carmen," ALO's inaugural effort in the new Dell Theater, the possible is also mandatory.
Since its debut production in 1987, ALO's primary venue had been UT-Austin's Bass Concert Hall, a 3,000-seat multipurpose, multicompromise theater that was designed in the 1970s and is typical of that Brobdingnabian period. Its acoustics for both opera and symphony orchestra were dicey, and the overscaled stage seemed distant even from the middle of the main floor. It wasn't nearly as bad as the much-larger Fair Park Music Hall in Dallas, home of Dallas Opera until next year, but it was far from ideal.
The new theater, centerpiece of the recently completed Long Center for the Performing Arts in the bones of the former Palmer Auditorium, is something else entirely. Configured for opera the hall seats about 2,300, three-quarters of the Bass capacity, but the space feels much cozier than a numerical comparison would suggest. Even from the most-distant seats, there is a bond between stage and audience that Bass could never approach. The sound for opera, with acoustically absorbent curtains fully extended on the side walls, is outstanding. Voices project cleanly, with good presence, and the orchestra in the pit benefits from a wide, high, three-dimensional soundstage with a pleasing overall resonance (and an occasional disconcerting stray reflection), but not so much as to muddy things. The acoustical consultant was JaffeHolden. (I'll have to defer judgment of the acoustics for an onstage orchestra until May. I'll post an evaluation of the Long Center's architecture in the next week.)
The new space places a high premium on aspects of performance that were less important in Bass. The old venue demanded big voices; the new one requires expressive nuance, excellent diction and solid acting. Broad brush strokes in stage direction, decor and lighting might have been serviceable in Bass; Dell's intimacy rewards and requires much greater care.
ALO principal conductor Richard Buckley, no slouch in Bass, proved even more impressive in the revealing acoustic of the new space. The performance was luxuriously shaped, astute in its theatrical gestures and splendidly played by the orchestra. An unexpected bonus was the interpolation of the "Carillon" and adagietto from Bizet's "L'Arlesienne" Suite No. 1 during a long and sometimes noisy scene change. (From the smugglers' camp to the bullring in Seville via Provençe? They must have flown Southwest.) There were occasions, however, of uncharacteristic (for Buckley) lapses in ensemble precision among the singers, especially the chorus.
"Carmen" depends mainly on the title role. Beth Clayton's glossy, elegantly upholstered instrument was easy on the ears, despite a tendency to flatten notes at the top of a phrase. Her persuasive French diction was especially welcome in this production, which preserves the spoken dialogue. But Clayton's singing seldom conveyed her character's feral, amoral, essentially innocent earthiness. Her movements made Carmen a sit-com seductress. She seldom exploited her color resources or allowed a breach in vocal composure. Even in the third act's Card Song, when Carmen confronts the prophecy of death for herself and Don José, Clayton seemed to be confronting nothing more serious than split ends.
The Don José, tenor William Joyner, was vocally troubled, though he did a fine job of portraying his character's inexorable descent into madness. Baritone Luis Ledesma was a sturdy Escamillo, but not a commanding one. The Micaela, soprano Barbara Divis, sang with attractive warmth, especially in her third-act aria. Bass Timothy McDevitt was a virile Zuniga. Some of the smaller roles were very nicely filled, most notably the Frasquita of soprano Cara Johnston and the Remendado of tenor Doug Jones.
David Gately's stage direction was serviceable but not particularly thoughtful or carefully detailed, and too often the principals were singing to the figurative footlights. The new theater's close relationship between stage and audience demands much greater directorial intelligence.
Though now owned by ALO, the set was designed (by Allen Charles Klein) for the narrower stage of Philadelphia's Academy of Music. The angled side panels used in all four acts, bullring walls celebrating Escamillo's name in giant letters, created a deep sense of perspective but also made the playing space seem cramped at times. And why should the scenery make such a big deal of Escamillo from the very beginning? "Carmen" is about Carmen. Well, it's supposed to be, anyway.
Mike
Greenberg
Additional performances are scheduled for April 24 and 26 at 7:30. For
tickets, see austinlyricopera.org.
