SEATTLE — Seattle Opera pours on the drama in its new production of “I Puritani,” an opera with spectacular melodies and a wooden plot. But this opera is all about the music, and the superb opening-night cast could stand on the stage in their street clothes and sing and the result would be a wonderful night at the opera.
Bellini’s “Puritani,” presented for the first time in Seattle, is difficult to cast because of its vocal demands: It requires singers with voices of range, flexibility, heft and tremendous breath control enabling them to spin out the long, elegant lines of this bel canto gem.
Seattle Opera met the challenge with a first-rate cast that, at Saturday’s opening performance, offered a long evening of beautiful singing across the range of opera voices, from gravity-defying high notes to room-rattling lows. Together, alone, with full chorus and without, this quartet of opera superstars rocked the room. The final curtain ovation and bravos were prolonged, loud and well deserved.
Written in 1835, “The Puritans” is a historical drama set at the time of the English Civil War, the mid-1600s when the forces of Oliver Cromwell — known as the Puritans because they supported a strong Parliament — clashed with the Cavaliers, who were loyal to King Charles I.
The stage direction by Linda Brovsky makes the most of the story, a swashbuckling tale of stalwart men, political intrigue and swordplay and a big cast that fills the stage.
The opulent costumes by Peter Hall range from the billowing creamy froth of Elvira’s wedding gown to the Pilgrim-style garb for the large cast of Puritans. Robert Dahlstrom’s sleek set, a steel castle, is a soaring skeletal affair with stairs and elevated ramps that help pump up the action while bringing the singers front and center. Conductor Edoardo Muller brought his years of experience and precision to the score.
Elvira, a Puritan, is an innocent caught up in politically treacherous times who goes mad but regains her sanity — twice — when she thinks her true love, Arturo, a Cavalier, has left her. Turns out he’s only trying to be a good guy. Riccardo, a Puritan, is a rival for Elvira’s love. Giorgio, Elvira’s kindly uncle, is … well it doesn’t really matter.
After Elvira’s wedding plans go awry in Act 1 and she goes mad, that’s pretty much it until the lovers are reunited in joyous song at the end.
As Elvira, lyric soprano Norah Amsellem had to stand up to a trio of superb male singers. Her voice, sounding tight in Act 1, blossomed after the first intermission and she sang with increasing confidence and beauty, invested the part with all the dramatic muscle and passion one could hope for, singing two mad scenes with conviction and stamina. Her acting was sometimes overly mannered, but she won me over.
The men supplied plenty of vocal firepower, and if anyone could have stopped the show it was tenor Lawrence Brownlee. As the ardent Arturo, he sent jaw-dropping high notes of soaring beauty into the stratosphere with pinpoint accuracy and ease. His career, jump-started in the Seattle Young Artists Program, has taken off like a rocket and he’s more impressive at every performance.
Baritone Mariusz Kwiecien and bass John Relyea were on fire as Riccardo and Giorgio. Kwiecien, who sang “Don Giovanni” in Seattle, has a charismatic stage presence, macho good looks and a burnished, elegant baritone voice with a big range. Relyea, tall in stature, possesses a towering bass voice with a range of dark colors.
For all the great singing of the night, the rousing martial duet at the end of Act II was the highlight of the evening, one of the great moments of Italian opera.
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