By Sarah Kingsley
To close the season, Virginia Opera premieres a brand new traditional staging of La Traviata, directed by Lilian Groag. A classic Italian opera composed by one of the masters of the art form – Giuseppe Verdi – La Traviata is the most performed opera in the world today and remains an audience favorite on our stages since the inaugural season when it was first performed in 1975. Set in decadent mid-1800’s Paris, the story tells of a lovely courtesan who falls in love with a man she cannot have.
Sarah Kingsley, an ocassional performer for the Virginia Opera, the Generic Theater, the Little Theater of Norfolk, Little Theater of Virginia Beach, and Todd Rosenlieb Dance offers a unique behind the scenes viewpoint of the show throughout rehearsals and even the opening night. Kinglsey plays a one of the ghosts of cortazon in this particular production of La Traviata, currently playing with the Virginia Opera.
Cecilia Violetta Lopez completely blew me away. She was consistent and put herself wholly into this performance. The chorus and supernumeraries had not seen any of the solos and duets previously. We crowded around in fascination and saw what we would not be able to see once we were backstage in the dressing rooms. Miss Lopez has the most amazingly enormous voice. You wouldn’t think a petite woman could be so loud! She sang the scene of the confusion of falling in love with fantastically quick and acrobatic vocal runs and breathtaking dynamic changes. Her role required a huge amount of physical work including coughing and her character’s temporary moments of insanity with a mixture of sorrow, anger, frustration and all the other emotions of falling in love. As she took her bows in front of a standing ovation, I could see how moved she was, confirmed in later conversations with me in which she talked about how fully invested she was in the music, lyrics and emotions of her character – that it moved her to tears.
The physical work of the men who surrounded Ms. Lopez was subtle to the audience, but must be rehearsed like stage combat. The final scene was an intricate choreography of trust. Our Alfredo Germont, the man who falls in love with Violetta and makes her believe in love again, played by Rolando Sanz, did a wonderful job with a wide range of facial expressions to show his infatuation as well as his anger. His character became so upset that he seemed drunk with passion. His moods were varied and his acting ability did justice to the wide range of feelings and emotion that Alfredo experienced.
The audience absorbed his character’s pain and heartbreak, perhaps being reminded of times in which they had similar feelings. Sanz himself has acknowledged that he feels he is doing his job well if those moments “speak to someone about their own life”. Sanz says of this, “Isn’t that why we do this? Because art imitates life or is it the reverse?”
Malcolm MacKenzie played the role of Alfredo’s father, Giorgio Germont. His voice was powerful, yet soothing – the perfect sound for a father figure. MacKenzie commented that often during student performances, the audience booed his character during bows because Giorgio interferes with the affairs of his son, Alfredo. Young adults are known for disliking their parent’s opinions. His dynamic character is found to be to be old fashioned and narcissistic when first encountered, especially by a younger audience.
Lillian Groag is a wonderful director whom I’ve worked several times. She puts so much detail into the production and makes everything fun to watch. For her, no role is too small. Cast members who have only limited stage time still have their own character. The complete vision Groag had for the production came together beautifully.
Conductor Andrew Bisantz is a joy to watch on the video monitors back stage. He seems to dance with the music rather than conduct. Several times during rehearsal, I would hear someone gasp for breath, realizing later it was actually the Maestro – fully immersed in the moment, breathing in the rests and dramatically leading the ensemble into new sections.
With the lighting, sets and costumes , the chorus itself was a sight to behold. The colors were stunning. The lighting effects surrounding the ghosts made for some ethereal, even spooky moments.
One of my favorite memories was at the conclusion of the performance, when the technical crew and staff came on stage to take a well-deserved bow opening night, recognizing that they were a huge part of the team that the audience doesn’t get to see, but was so glad to recognize. Dressed all in black, they made sure the props were historically accurate and in place, assured the performers were safe when curtains and set pieces flew in and out, took delicate care of a huge amount of wigs and costumes, and made sure no one missed an all-important cue. The cast must put their trust in the crew hundreds of time throughout the production and Cody Symanietz, Production Stage Manager, as always, ran the entire performance like a well-oiled machine. You can listen to the complete performance on WHROFM coming up in April. Click for details on dates and tickets for La Traviata.