KENTFIELD - The SF Opera Merola Program's sparkling, enjoyable, musically
outstanding production today of Otto Nicolai's "Merry Wives of Windsor" at
the Marin Community College proved something obvious but seldom-realized:
opera in modern dress can work just fine, if only. . .

The minimum requirement: 1.  Imagination, not just a surfeit of shticks.
2.  Moderation, so that singers are allowed to focus on singing most of the
time.  3.  A work that the director can fool around with (subject to the
conditions above) without taking attention away from the opera itself.
(Not essential, but highly recommended: English translation by Donald
Pippin.)

London director David Edwards came through fine in this case.  Nicolai's
mid-19th century romantic, light opera has a great deal of built-in
tolerance to be played for comedy, if not for a three-ring circus.

Circus is what audiences may remember from three years ago, in the same
theater, at the Merola Program's first indoor production, when Edwards
came up with his alternative to Rossini's "The Italian Girl in Algiers."
It featured a prancing pasha, a rubber chicken, a snake in a basket, the
chorus doing the wave, falling down, falling down some more, the heroine
literally wrapping herself in the Italian flag, and the chorus falling down
yet again.  It was way too much, although some of Edwards' ideas were
clearly funny.

For "Wives," he toned it way down, still tickling funny bones (Meg Page
using Falstaff's letter as a pooper-scooper for her miniature toy poodle
was a winner, four rugby players fooling around was not), but letting the
music come through.

Come through it did, under Mark Morash's excellent direction, under
difficult circumstances.  The college auditorium has no space for an
orchestra, much less for 36 players (why so many?), so the musicians sit
inches away from the first row.  A devilish challenge for a decent balance,
and Morash (a 1987 Merola apprentice coach himself) managed it well, most
of the time.  The orchestral playing was on the great SF Opera Orchestra
level, even if most the players were contract musicians.  Concertmaster
Dale Chao's solos were exquisite.

This year's Merola crop is outstanding.  Evelyn Pollock's Alice Ford
was young and yet maturely elegant, vocally consistent and impressive.
Meredith Arwady's Meg Page was likely to remain in memory the longest.
The contralto from Kalamazoo can blow walls down without huffing and
puffing.  She also has a Marilyn Horne-type low range; her imitation of
Falstaff made me wonder if she may have a career as the first world-class
bass soprano. Her stage presence, diction - and the handling of that
frisky, battery-operated toy poodle were all grand.

David Matthew Bedard may not have Arwady's low notes, but he did very
well in the title role - what there is of it, in the libretto, allegedly
"after Shakespeare's play." Shannon Mercer made the best of a small,
pleasant voice as Ann Page, Aaron St. Clair Nicholson (how will that
fit on a marquee?) was the vocally and dramatically satisfying Ford,
Todd Robinson sang the role of Page, Peter Nathan Foltz was Slender,
Daniel Okulitch Dr. Cajus.

Philippe Castagner, the Fenton, deserves special attention.  He produces
a beautiful sound in some mid-range notes and hits high notes head-on,
but legato is still under construction.  The young Canadian could go far,
especially in the lyric repertoire for now, and who know where else in a
few years.

Modern-dress productions usually, if not always, require modern dresses
and a contemporary setting, and the Merola Program was lucky there.  Anna
Wronsky (a San Francisco artisan, now working on her BA at Amherst) came
up with terrific, attractive costumes (discounting the shade of green for
Fenton's boots).

Polly Allen Robbins - who started her career painting Santa's house for
shopping malls - produced a great set.  Two doors, numbered 5 and 7 for
some intriguing, possibly arcane, reasons, represent the Ford and Page
households; the small space between the two doors opens up all the way
downstage to provide whatever setting is required.  The transformation
of the simple facade into the forest (by a large piece of material pulled
over the wall) is the work of genius.

Edwards reverted to his former self toward the end, producing a conga line,
instances of St. Vitus' dance, etc., but it was too late to cast a shadow
over the proceedings.  This was a fun, entertaining production, music
dominating, music well served.

It's surprising to realize that you have just attended a "training program"
opera.  It went a lot better than what some "regular companies" offer at
times, especially in the summer.

Janos Gereben/SF
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