Florida Grand Opera: "The Tales of Hoffmann"

[cubanmiamiboy]

Tonight I saw one of the weirdest opera stagings I've EVER witnessed in my entire life. FGO's production of Offenbach' opera was extremely strange and surreal. The whole thing-(sets, costumes, lighting)-was more like a colorful nightmare. Still, I wasn't terribly upset, and even managed to enjoy it-(well, at the end this is not "Tosca", you know...?). Cheers for dazzling soprano Elizabeth Futral as Olympia/Antonia/Giulietta/Stella. The orchestra was beautifully conducted by Cuban-American Lucy Arner in her FGO debut.

From the FGO website.

CAST

Hoffmann

David Pomeroy

Olympia/Antonia/Giulietta/Stella

Elizabeth Futral

Counsellor Lindorf/Coppélius/Dr. Miracle/Dapertutto

Bradley Garvin

The Muse/Nicklausse

Katherine Rohrer

Offenbach/Cochenille/Frantz/Pitichinaccio

Matthew DiBattista

Luther/Crespel

Philip Skinner

Andrès/Spalanzani

Neal Ferreira

Antonia's Mother

Courtney McKeown

Conductor

Lucy Arner

Stage Director

Renaud Doucet

Set and Costume Designer

André Barbe

Lighting Designer

Guy Simard

Production

Original co-production of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Opera Colorado, and Boston Lyric Opera

Sung in French with English and Spanish projected titles

[Mel Johnson]

Ever Stop to Think Dept. (Ballet Desk) - In regard to Hoffman's sidekick Nicklausse; there's a sidelong parallel to ballet in him, too. Ever read "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" and about its hero, Nicholas ... Drosselmeyer!?

[cubanmiamiboy]

Ever Stop to Think Dept. (Ballet Desk) - In regard to Hoffman's sidekick Nicklausse; there's a sidelong parallel to ballet in him, too. Ever read "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" and about its hero, Nicholas ... Drosselmeyer!?

[bart]

My impression is that the trend in Hoffman productions everywhere is to move towards a kind of hallucinatory magic realism. The Met HD/Live's production (2009-10 season) is an example of this. Maybe the origin of this approach lies in a the 1951 British film (the one with Moira Shearer) which has a unity of feeling and tone that transcends the differences between the three acts.

[Mel Johnson]

Given today's fascination with the neo-Gothic, Hoffman, as a founder of the 19th-century Gothic, makes an appealing subject for directors.

[cubanmiamiboy]

They went too crazy with this production though...; there was no boat in sight during the barcarolle section. Instead Giulietta sang the aria while the chorus women were brought in four wheeled stairs that later on were put together to form the complete stairs that Giulietta used to get down from her platform...very weird... . Olympia the doll looked more like a female version of Star Wars' C3-PO...

[Mel Johnson]

Clearly, this is a de gustibus item, but if it didn't work for you, then there was room for improvement.

[richard53dog]

My impression is that the trend in Hoffman productions everywhere is to move towards a kind of hallucinatory magic realism. The Met HD/Live's production (2009-10 season) is an example of this. Maybe the origin of this approach lies in a the 1951 British film (the one with Moira Shearer) which has a unity of feeling and tone that transcends the differences between the three acts.

I see where you are going with this and tend to agree. More and more Hoffmann is played as a series of delusions within Hoffmann's mind. I think it works pretty well, it is a fantasy piece.

Actually I think the British film works pretty well, it certainly captured the surreal elements of the piece.

I wasn't all that thrilled with the current Met production. Sher couldn't seem to make up his mind exactly what he wanted to present; the delusional elements were there but so was a ton of other stuff, we had Hoffmann as a Chaplinesque figure searching for his identity on top of dealing with his delusions. I think it diluted down the focus.

Plus it just looked cluttered to me; a whole stage full of Olympias is a bit much. Delusion is one thing, this Hoffmann was incoherent. But that's my own taste. I can admire imagination and innovation but I like to be able to see it as a focused effort.

We didn't hear which of edition was done by the FGO but another issue I had with the new Met Hoffmann was that in 2010, they were still doing an old, corrupt edition filled with music that Offenbach didn't write and ignoring much of the scholarship that has been done in the previous DECADES on an authentic version of the piece. That's a black mark against James Levine. The final, Venetian scene was the most inaccurate, still using a low female voice for Giulietta.

(Although the film presented an even more disgraceful version of the score; but that was in common use in the mid 20th century)

Cristian, which order were the acts given in Florida? Did they present it in the old Olympia/Giulietta/Antonia sequence? Did Stella have music to sing?

[cubanmiamiboy]

I found the playbill with my notes...! -(keep loosing them...it's chronic, you know.. )

Cristian, which order were the acts given in Florida? Did they present it in the old Olympia/Giulietta/Antonia sequence?

Richard...they inverted the order of Acts II and III, so we were presented with Antonia's story right after Olympia's, being Giulietta's the last one after the second intermezzo.

The best thing in this production was Elizabeth Futral's delightful turn as Olympia, which showed her gift for acting as well as her technical skills. The doll's dress was a wacky green-and-gold automaton thing, with spiky red hair in a techno fashion. Miss Futral sang beautifully "Les oiseaux dans la charmille" while robot-running all over the place, to then end with a lighted cigarette that was pulled from between her metallic breasts-( )-for a quick post-aria puff or two. That was funny. Then she was again very attractive in Act II during Antonia's "Elle a fui, la tourterelle". Her singing as a whole was confident, warm and secure. LOVED the wild red dress she wore as Giulietta in Act III, with a sea horse headdress and wraparound tail. Canadian tenor David Pomeroy sang Hoffman's role, and and his singing, while somewhat bland, was enough to dominate the other male voices around him. This is Pomeroy's FGO debut, and I just found out that he sang this role at the MET last season. I thinks he should be a reliable, effective Hoffmann over the long term. I particularly enjoyed his "Amis, l'amour tendre" in Act III. I wonder if any of the newyorkers here saw him in the role. As the bad guys, bass-baritone Bradley Garvin was excellent, as well as tenor Matthew DiBattista as Frantz, Crespel's servant in Act II. Mezzo Katherine Rohrer made a fine Muse with a clear voice and solid acting.

Now, on the other side, I really HATED the costuming in Act III. This was the most non-sensual bordello ever seen, and it seemed to me that the messy costuming and staging in that act got in the way of the singing. Too bad, because the rest of the opera was, as crazy as it was, overall, quite enjoyable.

Elizabeth Frutal and David Pomeroy as Olympia and Hoffmann.

http://cache.boston.com/bonzai-fba/Original_Photo/2008/11/08/08hoffmann1__1226148535_9714.jpg

[richard53dog]

I found the playbill with my notes...! -(keep loosing them...it's chronic, you know.. )

Richard...they inverted the order of Acts II and III, so we were presented with Antonia's story right after Olympia's, being Giulietta's the last one after the second intermezzo.

That's actually the original order of the acts. And a high soprano singing Giulietta is also closer to the original than having one of those growling contraltos. Most of the music that low voiced Giuliettas sing is not written by Offenbach.

There is a recording conducted by Kent Nagano that uses a reasonably complete recreation of the score compiled by Michael Kaye. It's mostly very well sung with Alagna as Hoffmann, Dessay(at her best) as Olympia, Sumi Jo, spectacular as Giulietta (and having the showiest music) and van Dam as the villains. But I'm going OT a bit with this.