The Opera Tattler

* Notes *

A staged production of Alcina (Nikola Printz and Courtney Miller pictured, photograph by Stefan Cohen) opened at Festival Opera in Walnut Creek on Friday evening. The singers were all perfectly cast and the playing clean and neat

The Hofmann Theatre at the Lesher Center for the Arts is a good fit for this Baroque opera, being a nice size but not too cavernous and having an orchestra pit. Conductor Derek Tam had the period ensemble sounding crisp and square, the intonation was good and the musicians together. It was nice to be able to hear the music as it is on the page, but perhaps a little more liveliness would have been welcome.

The performance had all of the recitative but many B sections and da capo returns of several arias were cut. This made the opera only 3 hours long with two intermissions. The result was somewhat unbalanced, though I do appreciate the narrative being somewhat more cohesive keeping all the recit, I really missed the fullness of the arias, as the music is so beautiful.

The production from Zachary Gordin is full of fun and absurdity. There is no real set, every scene is changed by the video projections on screens upstage, so there was not much spectacle in that sense. However, the costumes, especially for Alcina and Morgana, were elaborate. The direction as far as acting was strong. Contralto Sara Couden is hilarious as scorned lover Bradamante, she can simply lift an eyebrow or shoot a look and it made the whole audience giggle. Soprano Shawnette Suiker also garnered many laughs for her lovelorn and silly Morgana, who minces and titters.

All the singing was great, Couden has a rich depth and Sulker light and bird-like. The latter hit some low notes for comic effect, and this was hilarious. Bass Isaiah Musik-Ayala has a pleasant gravelly sound as Melisso. Mezzo-soprano Nina Jones (Oberto) sang with sweetness and warmth, while tenor Spencer Greene (Oronte) had a brighter warm tone.

Mezzo-soprano Courtney Miller is a convincing Ruggiero, with a clear, lucid voice and a masculine stage presence. Best of all is mezzo-soprano Nikola Printz in the title role, who has all the high notes for Alcina and a resonant lower register as well.

* Tattling *

There was some light talking from the people in G 1 and 3, and much unwrapping of cough drops at a certain point.