Word: aria
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...much for him in the third act. Rubinfield is a fiesty flirt who uses the low dramatic energy around her to her advantage; she draws every eye to her, both on stage and off, with admirable seconda donna tactics. The conviction and simplicity of Josh Benaim's cameo "coat aria" in the fourth act place the aria closer to Puccini's original intentions than many a bass who overplay the fact that they are singing to a coat and end up looking, well, goofy...
...other hand, Jamila A. Roos's Lauretta is winsome. She draws the first spontaneous applause of the evening as her voice rises to the challenge of the opera's most famous set-piece, the aria "O mio babbino caro." Unfortunately, as she sings in Italian, most of the audience misses her tender appeal to her dear father, and her vow to drown herself in the Arno if her love for Rinuccio is thwarted...
...stripped-down accompaniment soundrepetitive, and the occasional thinness ofPuccini's idiom, denuded of its instrumentalsparkle, is betrayed in passages such asRinuccio's aria--eerily reminiscent of Sir ArthurSullivan--or Gianni's unveiling of his plot, whichsmacks of cabaret music...
...limits of translation appear, however, inthe decision to leave Lauretta's famous aria inGianni Schicchi, the vocal gem of theevening, "O mio babbino caro" in Italian.Understandably, the translators have balked at therisk of mangling an operatic favorite, but thisentails a sacrifice of clarity and dramatic unity.As a result, the character of Lauretta remainsopaque...
...role and the Hungarian baritone ``Fodor Szedan'' as her nemesis, Baron Scarpia. A much-brandished leg joint of a roast pig, a servant with an infectious body twitch and the wicked baron's narcolepsy (which becomes most pronounced during the heroine's stupendous singing of the work's signature aria Vissi d'arte) all figure heavily in a send-up that shatters every cliche in the trunk. Opera buffs can delight in spotting references to great, legitimate performances--from Tosca's tigerish poses a la Maria Callas to Cavaradossi's Castilian lisp, a dig at Spanish tenor Jose Carreras...