It was magical what happened on stage at the Clinton Street Theater at…read more8:00PM on June 4. In the indispensable company of the French
novelist-poet Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, Maurice Ravel came to life.
Jena Viemeister is the founder of --- and driving force behind --- the
recently established Divergent Opera Theater, which was responsible
for the magic.
Collaborating with co-artistic director Kristin Heller and performing
with a remarkable cast of exceptional performers assembled for the
occasion --- with most of them singing more than one role --- Jena
presented what amounted to a theatrically enhanced 'concert version'
of Ravel's L'Enfant et les Sortilèges. Typical Ravel, the work is
every bit as challenging as it is ingenious. Divergent Opera shone
brightly.
An English-language narrative relating the action, scene, by scene,
made the performance very agreeably accessible.
L'Enfant et les Sortilèges ('The Child and the Magic Spells') is an
hour-long one-act opera in French that is certainly a jewel of its
kind and possibly a masterpiece of its genre --- presenting an
intimate, thoughtfully comedic look into a day in the life of a privileged young
lad who hates his schoolwork and impatiently awaits his opportunities
to wreak havoc.
Viewers look on with an unsettling brew-jumble of amusement and horror
to observe the boy indulging mischievous impulses; playing pranks on
the toys and his pets and the furniture --- even the wallpaper. They
then witness his 'paying for his pleasures' after his mother has
resigned herself to her son's defiance and left --- and all his
surroundings awaken into a life of their own to torment him in return.
Viemeister personally enacted the role of 'l'enfant' with real panache
--- imparting the initial spark as the first character to sing and
establishing an interpretive momentum that seemed to catch fire in
earnest and to be assimilated by each subsequent performer.
Notwithstanding the limitations of 'acting' understandably restricted
to facial expressions (often extravagantly successful) and a very few
props, all the singers seemed to 'reside' in their respective roles.
The words and music lived and breathed.
Countertenor Loren Masanque was an imposing presence in the dual roles
of the child's mother and also of a local herdsman, ably scaling the
not inconsiderable heights of the roles that he sang with impressive
clarity. His performance was expressively matched by the one delivered
by tenor Eric Asakwa in the triple roles of 'The Teapot,' 'Old Man,'
and 'Frog.' In both cases the music was clearly so well in hand on the
part of its respective performers as to allow the characters to emerge
à pleine force.
No less successful in her triple roles as 'The Cup,' 'Dragonfly,' and
'Squirrel' was mezzo-soprano Haley Maddox, whose arresting facial
features provide her the unmistakable appearance of having been 'born
for the stage.' Sopranos Erin Walker ('The Fire') and Lindsay Reed
('The Shepherdess' and 'The Bat') both turned in performances not
short of stunning as each showed herself a wonder of agility and
finesse in negotiating roles hovering high in the vocal ionosphere.
Vakare Petroliunaite, as the last to make her appearance, was, as
always, well worth waiting for. She performed the roles of 'The
Princess' and 'Nightingale' --- and creamed them both.
Chorus members for the production included Karsten Montgomery, Emily
Skeen, Jared Young, and Nick Detorre.
Of indispensable foundational significance to the excellent
performance was outstanding piano accompaniment provided by Rebecca
Stager. Conducting for the occasion was Lisa Lipton.
Where the Clinton Street Theater itself is concerned, it is altogether
tempting to conceptualize the historically invaluable 1925 venue ---
with the ambience of the far-from-fully-realized reclamation it
continues to need --- as a 'public gathering-space counterpart' of a
nineteenth-century Parisian garret.
In short, the venue provides an atmosphere very much in the casual
tradition of 'come as you are' --- as one can imagine the friends of
La Bohème's 'Rodolfo,' 'Colline,' and 'Schaunard' showing up at any
hour of the night or day at the garret the trio shares --- flasks in
hand, stories to tell; philosophies to discuss a few flights up off
the sidewalks of Paris; 'Mimi's' to meet.
And look what came out of the kind of garrets exactly like those
immortalized in a great deal of nineteenth-century opera --- artists
and poets and musicians aplenty.
Who knows where 'Divergent Opera' will be showing up in the perhaps
not-too-distant future.
It says something that Colette and Ravel surely enough came to life on
June fourth, and there has very possibly not manifested an apparition
more gratifying to witness since Jesus woke Lazarus.
Miracles are alive and well in Portland today.
Applause, applause. --- RL Remmel
