SEATTLE – Don Juan is history’s great seducer, a sexual predator of epic proportions.
Seattle Opera has a Don Juan for the ages in its new production of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” that opened Saturday. Polish baritone Mariusz Kwiecien gave a tour-de-force performance as the Don in the opening-night cast, seducing one and all with his sexual allure and menace, forceful singing and commanding stage presence. Only an artist with his gifts – and they include a limber voice that can purr and growl and a lean, muscular physique – could pull off this no-holds-barred performance.
It’s one of many rewards in this new “Giovanni,” which is from the team of director Chris Alexander and designer Robert Dahlstrom, who have created a string of hits for Seattle Opera. “Giovanni,” even with its glorious music, is a long opera that can drag, especially in the second act. Seattle’s production pulses with scenic delights and compelling staging that never drags.
It’s a big story to tell: Don Juan seduces and worse, even murders, without remorse, and for this, he goes to straight to hell. In this production it’s a great ride.
Dahlstrom’s stage-filling set is a dark, blank wall with sculptural elements that give it texture. Like a jewel box, various doors on two levels open to reveal different scenes – palm trees, an elevator, a balcony full of musicians. This quick-change approach moves the narrative forward at a brisk pace, maintaining momentum.
Among the clever stage elements is a split-second montage of iconic paintings of nude women by Renoir, Matisse, Goya and a host of others, a device that makes us laugh even as we get the point: Don Juan has one overwhelming interest in life.
The design is integrated with Alexander’s crisp, careful staging, a collaboration that is unified in its approach to give us an opera that is by turns hilarious and lighthearted, tragic and scary. Mozart with his collaborator, the librettist Lorenzo da Pointe, knew how to tell a story. So do Dahlstrom and Alexander and they are aided in this endeavor by Andreas Mitisek’s sensitive conducting.
Marie-Therese Cramer’s costumes span the centuries: men in powdered wigs, a retro wedding dress from the mid-20th century, Don Giovanni dressed in leather, making an exit on a motorcycle. This any-time approach may sound discordant, but here it makes the point that Don Giovanni is timeless and can be found in any era.
“Don Giovanni” is a treasure-trove of memorable music, and the opening night cast was up to the challenge (the opera is double cast with a second cast singing Sunday and Jan. 27). The three principal women, Donna Anna, Donna Elvira and Zerlina, all fall victim to Giovanni’s predatory ways. They were sung by Pamela Armstrong, Marie Plette and Ailish Tynan with great success.
Eduardo Chama was an agreeable comic and sympathetic as Leporello, Don Juan’s long-suffering servant, making the most of the aria in which he recounts for Giovanni just exactly how many women he has slept with to date.
Richard Croft and Kevin Burdette were effective in the roles of Don Ottavio and Masetto, and Vladimir Ognovenkno did stellar work in the limited but important role of Commendatore. He’s the guy who is murdered by Giovanni but returns as a walking, talking statue to escort the unrepentant Giovanni to his fiery end, Mozart’s climatic chords signaling the thrilling climax.
Rozarii Lynch photo
Mariusz Kwiecien (Don Giovanni), Ailish Tynan (Zerlina), Kevin Burdette (Masetto) and members of the Seattle Opera chorus in “Don Giovanni.”
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