Word: gianni
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Student opera--the phrase is enough to unnerve the most stolid opera lover. Yet this year's Dunster House production of Puccini's Gianni Schicchi and La Rondine proves a delightful exception. With gratifyingly competent singing and acting illuminated by two stellar performances, the Dunster House production is a rare musical offering...
...frothy escapist fantasy composed in the shadow of World War I. The opera's interest stems from the emotional counterpoint between the longing for an unattainable past and a deep melancholy about the possibility of translating this past into the future. A similarly valedictory sense marks the humor of Gianni Schicchi, which responds to the tradition of opera buffa and becomes, in a sense, the terminus of this tradition...
...plot of Gianni Schicchi turns on the engaging protagonist, a wily peasant who thwarts the rapacious Donati, a family of Florentine landowners, in order to provide his daughter and her lover with the money they need to wed. All of the opera's characters are sharply delineated, with a delicate but mordant touch of satire--the greedy relatives (the Donati), the starry-eyed lover (Rinuccio), and the resourceful swindler (Schicchi...
...piece's comic possibilities suffer. The performance does not include a potentially hilarious scene with the Bolognese doctor, and the satirically repeated invocation of Simone's gravitas because he "was once Mayor of Fucecchio" slips by unnoticed. In contrast, Gianni's fingerless salute is just as funny the thirdtime 'round as the first. In addition, thepresence of Buoso's corpse allows for a nicecoup de theatre during the confusion of thelawyer's visit in the opera's final minutes...
Many of these flaws were partially overcome by the spectacular scenery, designed by Gianni Quaranta. Act I transpires before the backdrop of elaborate, orangeish, interlaced trees set against a vibrant blue sky; traditional German houses and a grape arbor complete the dramatic set. Act II begins with dry ice sweeping over the stage which, far from disappearing, is contained by a filmy curtain to create the illusion of snow...