Don Giovanni

Photo by Cory Weaver
San Francisco Opera
War Memorial Opera House

In keeping with my goal of seeing as many opera houses in my lifetime as possible, I managed to get in a night of opera at the tail of end of vacation this past weekend.

Since I haven't seen all the operas once, I try not to see any twice, yet... But, I only had one real night in San Fran and even though I saw a production of Don Giovanni several years ago at the Met, there was no real decision. I ordered tickets. Good tickets. Chicago's Lyric has taught me to not cheap out if you aren't certain how well you can hear in the back row and you've only got one shot.

Everyone knows Don Giovanni. My Mom asked at intermission, "Is this related to the Don Juan story?" Why, yes it is. So, I'll mainly give some thoughts on this production and what I thought I gleaned about the San Francisco Opera from just one night, just one opera.

First, the production:

The production had a modern elegance. I've seen that sort of elegant, somewhat minimalistic, currently popular style recently in the new production of Hansel and Gretel at the Met and in Alcina in Milan. Oh, and Jenufa, too. The style tends to take one or two ideas and string them out over the course of the evening, providing plenty of space for the music to dominate and ideas to slowly fester for the audience member. The stage is clean and there don't tend to be a lot of set changes, moving pieces on stage - yes, but you won't see several entirely new sets. And, about 45 minutes from the end you'll desperately crave something new visually. Well, I did Saturday night, but I was pretty tired and most of the real plot line had been played out in Act I already.

This production had a lot of mirrors. They weren't crystal clear, they were a little darker, a little hard to see yourself in. I'll just take a shot at what they represented. I think I'm ignoring the obvious, but this is what I was thinking for three hours. And, I should mention that Don Giovanni was wearing sunglasses, too, as part of his costume.

My Mom has said that addictive people see mirrors where other people see windows. Don Giovanni, through conquest, never saw anything but himself. He was using people as objects, as means to an end. Finally, the mirrors trapped him. He was so addicted to it, he couldn't see when he needed to stop. His escape was blocked and he finally paid his dues.

This production was also successful in getting the message across that this story was about class. The opera has characters of three distinct classes: nobility (Don Giovanni, Donna Anna and her fiance), sort of a middle class (Donna Elvira) and a peasant class (Zerlina and Masetto). The consequences and what Giovanni can get away with are somewhat related to the class of his conquest.

The cast:

We had a very, very good night. It wasn't that magic night where everything is perfect, but it was a very, very good night. I am disappointed because I think we had a cast change notice in the program and now I can't find it. Maybe Masetto?

Well, at any rate - the singer who really grabbed me was the lovely Ellie Dehn, in the role of Donna Anna. She had a voice both beautiful and strong and I will rush out to hear her again any night of the week. Marco Vinco (Leporello) and Kate Lindsey (Zerlina) were very, very good singers and great comic actors, perfectly cast. Our Don Giovanni, Lucas Meachem, had a really good voice but wasn't the best singer of fast words I've ever heard. He just didn't own those fast numbers and throw them out. He sort of had to keep up, which he did, but he didn't make it look terribly easy. Our Don Ottavio (Shawn Mathey) - beautiful and he sang really, really well with Ellie Dehn. It was a good, good night.

The Opera House:

It was totally different from Chicago or New York. Elegant and warm and rich and more traditional than New York. And, not quite as messy or pink as Chicago.

San Francisco Opera:

The casting seemed different than the Met or Chicago. There was more of an international reach. Not that the Met doesn't have an international reach, but their singers have usually been on the international circuit long enough to have shed a tiny bit of their nationality. How do I explain it? They can do a radio interview in English - no problems. Like tennis stars who travel globally all the time, people who are on the road as much as they are home. The feel of the casting for this was: we're searching for talent and we don't care where we find it or what your name is.

The Met feels more resume beholden. The Lyric tries to grab big names to get everyone in the door. The feeling of this production was that they were trying to do good opera, with knowledge of the opera world, but on no one's terms but their own.

Also, with the freshness of the surroundings there seemed more an ability, perhaps, to take risks. New productions don't seem like they should be too big a deal, even though they are expensive. The crowd didn't seem likely to throw a fit if something long beloved got thrown out. I'm sure the audience loved opera, but not in the way New York loves opera (or the Yankees).

So, it was nice. It felt aged enough to be respectable, but young enough to still be fresh. Before I went, I thought the US might be ranked as New York, Chicago and then San Francisco. But, I think I've revised that - I think it is New York, San Francisco and then Chicago (well, I do have hopes in the next few years for the new director, but...) New York will be first as long as they have ambitious seasons with opera almost every night during the school year. A season of 8-10 operas can't possibly compete against an institution that big and that global - well, and that wonderful.