My Review of Virginia Opera's Don Giovanni
Contributed by Brian Artis
 For me, Sunday afternoons in March are generally reserved for college basketball. Who doesn't love March Madness? This past Sunday, I decided to take a detour from the norm by attending the last performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni at Richmond Center Stage, formerly known as the Carpenter Center in downtown Richmond, VA. I hadn't been to this venue in quite a few years, so I was impressed by all the changes that had been made since my last visit. Both the interior and exterior have received some major renovations. It is strikingly beautiful both inside and out.
I didn't know a lot about Don Giovanni, so I decided to do some research before the performance. Il dissoluto punito, ossia il Don Giovanni or Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It premiered on October 29, 1787 and was billed as a dramma giocosa, which is a term that denotes a mixing of serious and comic action. Over two hundred years later, it's still one of the top rated operas of all time. I was not able to locate any video on the Internet of the original performance, so there is no way to compare it to the performance I saw. I'll just assume that they were at least of equal quality.
A brief synopsis of the story is probably in order. Don Giovanni is a young nobleman whose scorecard of amorous conquests makes Tiger Woods look like a rank amateur. The audience witnesses him meet defeat in three encounters. The first is with Donna Elvira, a woman whom he has deserted, but who still follows him. The second is with Donna Anna, who decides to postpone her marriage to Don Ottavio after Don Giovanni tries to rape her and kills her father, the Commendatore. The third is at the hands of Zerlina, whom he vainly tries to lure from her fiancé, a peasant named Masetto. All involved vow vengeance on Don Giovanni and his servant Leporello. Elvira tries, unsuccessfully, to reconcile with Don Giovanni in the hopes that it will reform him. Don Giovanni eventually meets his end when the spirit of the Commendatore accepts his invitation to dinner and subsequently delivers Don Giovanni to hell.
Since this was my first opera, I had no idea what to expect. One of my biggest fears was that I wouldn't be able to follow the story because every word would be spoken in Italian. Apparently, this particular obstacle had been encountered by many before me, so these days there is a giant monitor conveniently placed above the stage that displays supertitles - a basic translation of what is being sung during the performance. It's not a word for word translation, but it is enough information so that you can read it quickly and then get back to enjoying the performance.
With this fear put to rest, I was able to enjoy the performance. My first observation was that the set design and lighting were very beautiful. As the music began to play, I settled in to my seat and watched the story unfold. I was not disappointed. Each of the performers was able to convey the full range of emotions allowing the audience to follow the story. Several times during the evening, the crowd roared with laughter as Leporello made humorous gestures meant only for us to see. We all felt anguish as Donna Anna mourned the death of her father. We could see, feel and hear jealousy as Don Giovanni tried to lure Zerlina away from Masetto. We felt the same fear that Leporello felt when he thought he'd be killed and we all felt vindicated when Don Giovanni was finally transported to hell. Each soloist had the ability to project his or her character's feelings during each scene and their voices played beautifully together from scene to scene. The orchestra balanced the score in order to set the proper mood during the entire performance. Despite the fact that I couldn't understand the dialogue, I never felt like I didn't know what was going on. The combination of voices, music, setting and lighting helped me keep pace the entire time.
What I realized after the performance was that everything that I enjoy about television and movies was, in part, influenced by operas like Don Giovanni. Today, all movies have a musical score, beautiful settings, and brilliant actors. This is nothing new. The only thing that has changed is that technology allows the director to use different tools to tell the story. What I liked about the opera was that I had a chance to watch gifted performers tell a story without the aid of high-tech equipment. Their ability to draw me in and keep me interested for three hours is a tribute to their talent and hard work. I'm glad that I had the opportunity to attend and I'll definitely return in the future.
As I said, this was the final performance of Don Giovanni and it was brilliant. Richmond Center Stage presents several operas during the year and I recommend that you attend some time. The men and women who do this for a living work very hard and their performances warrant serious attention. Take your children. Maybe they'll be inspired to act, sing, direct, conduct or play an instrument. How could that possibly be a bad thing? |
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Join St. John's Church on Sunday, March 21, 2010 for the 235th anniversary of the reenactment of the Second Virginia Convention of March 1775. In the presence of Washington, Jefferson, and other notable Virginians, Patrick Henry delivered his passionate call for liberty, uttering the immortal words, "Give me liberty or give me death!"
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