Review: Il Trovatore

Russell Braun (behind) as Conte di Luna, Ramón Vargas as Manrico and Elza van den Heever as Leonora. Photo: Michael Cooper

Better Heard than Seen

by Shannon Christy

The great Italian tenor Enrico Caruso once said that all it takes for a successful performance of Il Trovatore is the four greatest singers in the world. This piece is a staple of the standard operatic repertoire despite the fact that the music was written for the masses; and the story, though extremely convoluted, is compelling.  However, in addition to having essentially four leads with incredible range the opera itself requires an additional quality, acting.  The Canadian Opera Company’s production of Il Trovatore succeeds with the music but fails with the acting. 

Manrico, played by Ramón Vargas, and Azucena, performed by Elena Manistana both succeed in their portrayals and musical performances. When he discovers that his betrothed, believing him dead, has decided to join a convent Manrico looks properly horrified and motivated to do anything to stop it.  When Azucena, condemned to burn alive, reenacts the night she witnessed her mother share the same fate you can see the wretched charred body of her mother with her hair being consumed by flames, empty melted sockets where her eyes should be, gasping with her last breath that she should be avenged. This is because both Mr. Vargas and Ms. Manistana use their bodies and especially their faces to convey these emotions. 

Mr. Guidarini guides the singers with subtlety and purpose and does wonders with his accompaniment.

Unfortunately this is not the case with either Leonora as played by Elza van den Heever or Conte di Luna performed by Russell Braun.  Ms. van den Heever has an outstanding voice and if you close your eyes during her aria in act four your soul will soar. When your eyes are opened you may as well be looking at a speaker, a toaster, or any other inert material.  For instance, if I were steps away from marrying Jesus because the only man I had ever loved had died in battle I would probably smile to find out he was alive but alas Ms. Van den Heever’s face looked more as if she was trying to remember if she flossed her teeth that morning. 

Mr. Braun seems to have taken his cues for the Conte di Luna from Sesame Street’s Count von Count. His is the weakest of the four voices and he has made up for this by absurd posturing. He would walk across the stage without bending his knees, then bend slightly forward and lurch with his hips. The combined effect is more comic than evil and if not for the fact that at times his voice sounded as if it were being strained through cotton balls he would have served us better by staying in the dark.   

The real villains are Jean-Noël Lavesvre whose set design looks more appropriate for 20th century North Korea than the 19th Italy and Charles Roubaud who may or may not have directed this. For instance, in Act I when Leonora, Ms. Van den Heever, confides to her chambermaid about her love of the troubadour we are graced with two enormous, flat, framed, staid depictions of mountains. It is only appropriate if they are meant to accentuate the lack of expressions of the two performers on stage.  In addition the only directing that Charles Roubaud seems to have done is to request that his performers move quickly from one static pose to the other. 

However, if the Set Designer and the Director are the villains then Conductor Marco Guidarini is the real hero. Mr. Guidarini guides the singers with subtlety and purpose and does wonders with his accompaniment.  Again if you close your eyes the music and the story will take you to a separate place with life, emotion and intrigue.  

If you are not a regular at the Opera or are nearsighted then the COC’s production will certainly be entertaining for its music and incredible story alone. However, if you have seen it then I recommend you spare yourself the effort of watching great singers and a character from Sesame Street going from one pose to another in 19th century Italian dress in the mountains of North Korea.

Il Trovatore continues to October 31