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About the production
By JOHN FLEMING
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 15, 2001
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Opera and politics
Maestro Anton Coppola brings his lifelong fascination with Sacco and Vanzetti to the stage, but don't expect him to solve the case.
A case of inspiration
Anton Coppola's opera Sacco & Vanzetti joins a crowded field. There have been quite a few other artistic treatments of the case known as the "trial of the century."
Young fan sings opera's praises
If you're under 40 and you've never seen an opera, "recruiter" JL Wagner wants you. |
Anton Coppola's Sacco & Vanzetti is a two-act opera with 13 scenes and a prologue. The libretto proceeds in chronological order, starting with a meeting between Bartolomeo Vanzetti (Emile Fath) and Nicola Sacco (Jeffrey Springer) at the Italian Anarchist Club in Boston in 1917 and ending with their cremation a decade later.
The crime, the arrest and the trial are covered in Act 1; Sacco and Vanzetti's years in prison, the appeals on their behalf and the execution take up Act 2. Carlo Tresca (Theodore Lambrinos), leader of the Italian anarchist movement in America, serves as the narrator, opening and closing the opera and commenting throughout.
Directed by Matthew Lata, Sacco & Vanzetti has a large cast, with 24 principal singers. Major characters include Nicola's wife, Rosina Sacco (Faith Esham); Ermanno "Manno" Bianchini (Raul Melo), Rosina's childhood sweetheart; Fred Moore (Vernon Hartman), the California lawyer who defended the pair; and Mary Donovan (Deidra Palmour), a devoted anarchist.
John Farrell's scenic design features projections of vintage photography. Kathryn F. Grillo was in charge of coming up with about 160 costumes. The libretto is in English as well as Italian -- a reflection of characters such as Sacco and Vanzetti who spoke little English -- and there will be supertitles in English above the proscenium.
Coppola will conduct the Florida Orchestra in the pit. His score calls for somewhat reduced woodwinds and brass with a full complement of strings, about 60 players in all. There also is a five-piece Italian band -- flute, clarinet, bass, accordion, guitar -- that plays onstage in a Christmas Eve party scene.
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