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A first-rate 'Cav' and 'Pag'
By JOHN FLEMING, Times Performing Arts Critic
TAMPA -- When it comes to Italian opera, it doesn't get any more basic than Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, two short operas invariably paired together and dubbed Cav and Pag. Premiered in 1890 and 1892, respectively, the two recount illicit affairs, jealousy and murder. Along with Puccini's operas, they launched the realistic movement called verismo. The perennial double bill opened Opera Tampa's eighth season with performances Saturday and Sunday in Morsani Hall of the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. One of the interesting things about the first-rate production was how singers cast in both operas were better in one or the other. Allison Charney was more persuasive as Santuzza, the pregnant and excommunicated peasant girl of Cavalleria, than as Nedda, the wayward ingenue of Pagliacci. As Santuzza, Charney's passionate duet with Turiddu, the Sicilian Lothario who did her wrong, was gripping drama. However, the soprano lacked the radiance of tone needed for Nedda, such as in her lilting song to the freedom of birds. Paul Hartfield, a burly tenor, was also more effective in Cav than Pag. He had the right louche demeanor for Turiddu, and his lustrous voice was on fine display in an offstage ballad in praise of Lola, the married woman with whom he is having an affair. However, as Canio, head of the traveling players of Pagliacci, he was drably generic in the tears-of-a-clown aria, Vesti la giubba. Baritone Theodore Lambrinos, on the other hand, was stronger in Pagliacci as Tonio, a role that suits his talent for comedy and pathos, than as Alfio, the vengeful husband of Cavalleria. As the two-timing Lola, mezzo-soprano Christina Sale made the most of her brief appearance with sexy flair. In Pagliacci, tenor Nathan Granner had a colorful turn as the Harlequin. Opera Tampa is thinking about scaling back next season because of spotty ticket sales (Saturday's attendance was pretty good but not a full house), which would be unfortunate. It would also be ironic because Cav and Pag demonstrated that the company is improving with more productions per season. The Italian village sets by Constantinos Kritikos from New Orleans Opera were wonderfully atmospheric. The final scene of Pagliacci, vividly lighted by Joseph P. Oshry, was especially eye-catching. David Morelock's direction was crisply efficient. The Opera Tampa chorus has gone from being a liability to a genuine asset with increased activity the past few seasons. It would be a shame not to continue building on the progress made. The chorus had some excellent moments, notably in the Easter hymn and other numbers in Cavalleria Rusticana. This season, the company is going with a pickup orchestra in the pit instead of the Florida Orchestra, which played for most previous operas. Saturday, under Anton Coppola, the orchestra performed well. The lush intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana was a special treat, recognizable as a motif from Godfather III, the movie in which Coppola appeared conducting Mascagni's opera for his nephew, director Francis Ford Coppola. Coppola got a much-deserved standing ovation after Saturday's performance. Opera fans can count themselves as lucky to hear the venerable maestro's treatment of music by the likes of Leoncavallo, for whom he has an affinity. For one thing, Leoncavallo wrote both score and libretto for Pagliacci, as did Coppola for his opera,Sacco & Vanzetti. Incidentally, musical theater and opera composers and librettists on the lookout for possible source material for adaptation should consider Pagliacci. The backstage story of a touring theater troupe and ingenious play-within-play structure make it a good candidate for updating, as La Boheme was transformed into Rent.
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