A Review and A Rant

I’m sorry, but I have to start with the rant:

I was embarrassed to be a member of the audience last night at Vancouver Opera’s visually stunning production of Don Giovanni. Not because of the raunchy content, but because of the rude and disrespectful behaviour of so many members of the audience. I was appalled to see almost a quarter of the crowd stand up and leave during the not particularly long curtain call. This is a live performance, you’re not at a movie theatre, the people on stage can see you leaving. Don’t stand for an ovation if you don’t want to (I'm hardly a connoisseur but it takes something extra special to get me to stand for applause), you don’t even have to clap, but at least stay in your seat until they’ve finished the bows.

Stop for a minute and consider how that must feel for the performers. Having spent the last three hours singing your lungs out, (never mind the months of practice and years of training and sacrifice to get to performance level) you come on stage, exhausted and elated, to enjoy the one moment you can be who you really are in front of the audience you’ve worked so hard to please and all you see are people’s backs as they rush to get to their cars! I am disgusted.

I don’t care if you liked the performance or not. If you thought enough of it to stay after intermission then you can stay until the end of curtain call. I know it’s late, I know you want to beat the crowd to coat check and out of the parking lot, but the cast, crew and musicians have put MONTHS into making this happen. Can you not sacrifice three minutes of your precious time to recognize their efforts? What are you going to do with those extra few minutes at home that could possibly justify such a lack of class and consideration?

Despite such an upsetting end to the evening, it was actually a great show. Some character portrayals weren't as heartfelt as they could be, I wasn’t crazy about all the technical effects and it was more than three hours long, but it didn't drag, the action moved at quite a clip, all of the singers were technically strong, the dialogue was surprisingly funny and the set was gorgeous.

I’m not enamoured with Mozart, his work isn’t as deep or emotional as I would like, but it is beautiful in a more superficial way and there is a lightness to the score and to the banter that I can really appreciate. The content of Don Giovanni is more than a little misogynistic, but it is Mozart after all.

The set was simple and luxurious, in true Vancouver Opera style. Most of the heavy lifting was done through projections (visual art by Bob Bonniol) on three huge screens, staggered to add an illusion of depth. The physical set was split into levels allowing performers to move between the projected backdrops and a few well-placed set pieces blending the realities together. The only part of the set and effects I didn’t find elegant and beautiful was the way the ghost/statue was handled at the end. Everything else was done so well that I was hoping for something grand and creative, but despite Daniel Okulitch's Don Giovanni giving us a rather convincing struggle with thin air, it still fell flat. Also, despite (or perhaps because of) all the fancy lighting the performer’s faces were often in shadow. There isn’t really an excuse for that, I can’t imagine it was intentional.

All of the performances were strong. Erin Wall as Donna Anna and Krisztina Szabó as Donna Elvira have this annoying habit of planting themselves and facing the audience when they sing, then re-engaging with the other characters once they’re done. That said, Wall's technical proficiency is staggering and Szabó’s lament in act two was heartfelt, authentic and deeply moving. Stephen Hegedus was delightful as Leporello. Colin Ainsworth as Don Ottavio seemed disengaged at first, but alone on stage, swearing his love for Donna Anna, his voice softened and swelled with feeling. It was the only time I was swept up in true marriage of emotion, music and voice.

Overall it was an impressive production. Perfectly paced, sumptuously designed and well-executed.