SF Opera's Merola Program: L'amico Fritz.
Sara Gartland, Nathaniel Peake and Maya Lahyani in L'amico Fritz. Picture by Kristen Loken Anstey
L'amico Fritz is a silly story of a man who vows to never marry, only to be defeated by the innocence of a teenage country girl, Suzel. It's a short opera, we were out of the door in two hours including intermission. The singers are all praiseworthy, giving their best, which makes it all the more surprising that it felt a tad stodgy and ponderous. Tenor Nathaniel Peake was Fritz. He is repeating as a Merolini, and we mostly noticed him last year for his skills at cleaning up messy lipstick. On the acting side, he seemed a bit overly concerned about how well glued his postiche'd mustache was, but mostly sang brightly, confidently and with plenty of heft. Suzel was Sara Gartland, a cute soprano who can wear a virginal white dress. Her voice had a metallic twang which we did not enjoy too much (but others did a lot, reserving for her the only yells of "bravo!" during the applause). Her higher notes would soar in a purer manner, and were the most pleasing. Her Rebeca aria was most beautiful, torn between her obedience to the bible and her nascent love. The duet with Fritz where they vow their love to each was hot hot hot.
Rabbi David puts the wheels of the story in motion, and baritone Aleksey Bogdanov played him all serious. Bogdanov is not related to Igor and Grichka, so his credibility is not challenged. Maya Lahyani, as the gypsy Beppe, was impressive. But we did not get what it brought to the story to make her a one-armed fiddle player, along with a one-eyed Yohan Yi (as Hanezò). This opera is definitely not Brechtian.
These odd choices, and a rather minimalist set, contributed to the lack of spark of the production. Still, we wouldn't mind the art deco furniture in our living room. Conductor Warren Jones conducts with his head as much as his arms, which is entertaining. He seemed to forget he was not buried in a pit, so we could hear his breathing. We'd never have guessed that conductors spend so many bars in apnea.
The audience was a rendez-vous of opera aficionados: SF opera director David Gockley was there, as well as a gaggle of bloggers, Adler Fellow (and former Merolini) Kenneth Kellogg, SFCV's Janos Gereben (who dug up the fact that L'amico Fritz hasn't been produced by SF Opera since 1924), and maestro Mark Morash.
Morash had conducted the Schwabacher concert that kicked off the Merola summer season, a hodgepodge of scenes ranging from Gluck (with an electrifying haute-contre, Ryan Belongie who stole the show) to Menotti (with a spooky-as-hell Suzanne Hendrix), including some more familiar stuff: Wagner (by a powerful couple of Kate Crist and Gregory Carroll), Rossini (we liked bass Yohan Yi, who had a few lines in Fritz as well), and La Boheme (Brian Jagde's scream of "Mimi!" pierced our heart). Oh, and Susannah Biller, an exciting soprano, seduced us with parts in all of these. Excellent singer and hardest working person of the evening.
The Merola program will present Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte, on August 7, 8pm and August 9, 2pm. And a yummy Grand Finale on 8/22 will conclude the season.