By Craig Shapiro – The Virginian-Pilot
NO OTHER OPERA in the world was staged more often the last five seasons. It figures prominently in the Julia Roberts movie “Pretty Woman.” And Virginia Opera is putting it on for the seventh time, capping the company’s 40th anniversary.
So audiences probably feel like they have a handle on Giuseppe Verdi’s “La Traviata.”
Lillian Groag, directing the production opening today at Norfolk’s Harrison Opera House, isn’t so sure.
“Everyone has seen it a million times and thinks they know it. But they seldom pay attention,” she says. “That creates expectations I’m not necessarily interested in fulfilling.”
While the sweep and glamour of the opera are undeniable, Groag says, it is grittier and more serious than audiences sometimes realize. The heroine’s life had been one of squalor, and she made unsavory choices on her way to wealth, status and, against the odds, a shot at love. In that light, she often comes off as a victim.
“That’s not the case at all,” Groag says.
There’s little doubt about the familiarity of the story.
Violetta, a courtesan in 19th century Paris, is dying of tuberculosis. She is renewed, though, after meeting Alfredo. Torn by her freedom and the promise of true love, she chooses Alfredo. But his father intervenes, urging Violetta to leave forever; her reputation, he says, threatens his son’s engagement. At first, she refuses. The lovers are reunited before she dies in his arms.
With “La Traviata,” Verdi completed an unrivaled romantic trilogy that began with “Rigoletto” and “Il Trovatore.” Its taut plot, realistic characters and attuned music aligned in an unprecedented way that has made the work a cornerstone.
This will be Groag’s 21st production for Virginia Opera since 1993. She directed “La Traviata” for the first time last summer for the Des Moines Metro Opera, a co-producer of this run.
“I grew up with ‘La Traviata.’ It completely changed my point of view for attacking an opera,” she says. “But I avoid doing remounts with other people’s sets and costumes because you’re inevitably bound by circumstances not of your doing.”
Groag wanted to sidestep melodrama in her interpretation and stress Violetta’s nobility.
“She could have died comforted in the arms of this love she has found,” she says. “She takes a step back and allows someone who is not sick to have the full, long, happy life she didn’t have. She’s anything but a victim, and to see that in the context of this plot is philosophically very interesting. It’s not a soap opera.”
Groag also is going for something less tangible. Violetta’s selfless decision, she says, is a tonic – a reaffirmation of man’s better nature – for audiences bombarded by the horrors of the news cycle.
“What can you do? In my case, throw Verdi or Mozart or Faulkner back at them,” she says. “It’s always a gamble because you never know what people are going to assimilate. Any theatrical piece requires tremendous focus from the audience. I hope they take home at least a measure of civilization.”
Given its standing, “La Traviata” – it translates as “The Woman Who Strayed” – didn’t get off to an auspicious start.
The opening-night audience in Venice on March 6, 1853, jumped on the star early. She was deemed too old, and too well-fed, for Violetta. “I see no consumption, only dropsy,” someone shouted. They howled when she collapsed and raised a cloud of dust that obscured the stage. By the second act, the tenor and baritone were being jeered, too.
” ‘La Traviata’ last night a failure,” Verdi wrote to a friend. “Was the fault mine or the singers’? Time will tell.”
Cecilia Violetta López isn’t worried about falling short of expectations in her Virginia Opera debut. But, considering that “Verdi soprano” tops her bucket list, she does confess to feeling a little pressure “filling the shoes” of Maria Callas, Joan Sutherland, Renée Fleming and the other greats who defined the role.
“Every soprano out there wants to sing ‘Sempre libera,’ ” she says. “That aria, it’s one of those hurdles you want to jump over and not fall on your face. If you’ve got that stamina, you’re good to go.”
López, 33, sang Violetta for the first time last summer in a training program in New York. A flower, not Verdi’s heroine, she adds, inspired her middle name.
The role, though, is more than a showcase for vocal pyrotechnics, says López, who grew up singing mariachi music with her mom in Rupert, Idaho.
“I want to try to be the vessel for each word, note and feeling, for everything to be emitted clearly for the audience,” she says. “Violetta is a tough, confident woman. My stamp would be to embody the character and make her come to life in every scene. It’s such an amazing and real story.”
That attitude pairs with Groag’s interpretation. And if audiences get swept up in the story, that’s fine, too.
Groag quickly recalls the best audience she’s ever had, for an opera or play. It was the high schoolers at the 2002 student-night performance of Richard Wagner’s “Die Walküre” at the Harrison.
“They were glued to the story from the start. They cheered and talked back. They were noisy and passionate,” she says. “It’s OK. I look for that kind of audience wherever I go. Nothing makes me happier than to have people react like that.”
She does, however, have some advice for those who show up for “La Traviata” looking an evening of escapism.
“They can see an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical or watch ‘Honey Boo Boo.’ Don’t clutter my audience.”
Craig Shapiro is a former entertainment writer for The Virginian-Pilot. Reach him at shapiro1@cox.net.
If you go
What: Giuseppe Verdi’s “La Traviata,” presented by Virginia Opera
When: 8 p.m. March 13, 2:30 p.m. March 15, 7:30 p.m. March 17
Where: Harrison Opera House, 160 W. Virginia Beach Blvd., Norfolk
Additional performances:
When: 8 p.m. April 11, 2:30 p.m. April 12
Where: Sandler Center for the Performing Arts, 201 Market St., Virginia Beach
Information: (866) 673-7282; www.vaopera.org
$19-$99