‘Italian Girl’ delivers lots of laughing, great singing
Published 9:00 pm Thursday, October 19, 2006
SEATTLE – “The Italian Girl in Algiers,” Rossini’s effervescent comedy now playing at Seattle Opera, is jewel box pretty. But the beauty is more than skin deep: Open the box and you find musical and comic gems galore.
We’d expect lots of comic invention from the genius behind such popular operas as “The Barber of Seville.” Rossini was a master of the Italian bel canto style (literally “beautiful singing”), 19th century opera that’s lyrical and smooth with brilliant vocal technique and beautiful tone.
“The Italian Girl” delivers the musical goods and the laughs in Seattle Opera’s production with a superb cast and the deft staging of Chris Alexander, whose hand with comedy has made him a Seattle Opera favorite.
The opera’s good looks come courtesy of Santa Fe Opera, which created the costumes and the hinged set that unfolds like a child’s pop-up book. The colors are comic-book bright and the production nicely frames the opera with just enough stage wizardry to make the show fun without overwhelming it.
Rossini’s 1813 opera, set in the 1920s here, goes for the laughs even before the curtain rises when a tiny airplane wobbles from one side of the opera house to the other. Soon we see the plane take a nosedive into the ground and from the wreckage emerges Isabella, the plucky Italian girl who crash-landed in Algiers and into the clutches of Mustafa, the Bey of Algiers.
Mustafa is a bored despot who would like to ditch his wife, Elvira. He’d gladly hand her over to Lindoro, his Italian slave, and get a nice Italian girl instead. Isabella looks like she will do just fine.
Or maybe not.
Before he was kidnapped, Lindoro and Isabella were lovers, and when they are reunited in Algeria, their efforts turn to outfoxing Mustafa and escaping. Mustafa is no match for their inventive plan. All this action unfolds in broadly comic fashion with a regular stream of gags and guffaws.
But it’s the music that vaults this production into the must-see category. Seattle Opera has assembled two casts of principal singers to alternate in the performances. Saturday’s opening night featured Stephanie Blythe as Isabella, and if you want to hear one of the great voices of our time, here’s your opportunity.
Blythe, who has performed here in “The Ring” and in “Carmen,” is a mezzo soprano of astonishing vocal beauty. Her voice is all velvet and cream, with a big, secure range, warmth and impeccable presentation. Her singing is effortless and direct. She can caress a phrase until it nearly melts, and deliver the fast notes of the coloratura with ease.
Blythe is a gifted actor with a flair for comedy, underpinned by an extraordinary voice that gives her complete stage assurance. Helen Schneiderman sings the role in the second cast on Saturday and Wednesday.
William Burden made a dashing and handsome Lindoro on opening night. The American tenor has a high, bright voice, supple and great reserves of power. “The Italian Girl” gives each of its principals some beautiful arias in which to shine, and Burden made the most it. Lawrence Brownlee, a rising star in the opera, sings the role in the second cast.
The scene stealer of the evening was Simeone Alberghini, an Italian-born bass-baritone who got the biggest laughs of the night as Mustafa in his Seattle Opera debut. American bass Kevin Burdette sings the role in the second cast.
Kudos to Sally Wolf as Elvira and Earle Patriarco as Taddeo, the aging admirer of Isabella, who round out the cast in all performances, as well as to conductor Edorado Muller and members of the Seattle Opera Chorus.
