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From:
Janos Gereben <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sun, 25 Apr 2004 20:37:04 -0700
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 "It was morning, and the new sun sparkled gold across the ripples of a
gentle sea..."

If you remember Richard Bach's "Jonathan Livingston Seagull," you really
date yourself (and expose a less-than-exemplary literary taste), and yet
Sunday afternoon, it was difficult NOT to have a flashback to those
halcyon days of 1970.

All around the old pier jutting into San Francisco Bay, seagulls were
either flying or hustling tourists for food (they never approach locals).
You could actually hear their calls inside Cowell Theater, built at the
very tip of the pier.

And yet the real birds were a minor distraction when Katherine Rohrer
was on stage.  The young mezzo dazzled with a career-making appearance
as Nina, the beautiful and tragic title character of Tomas Pasatieri's
"The Seagull." The setting: San Francisco Opera Center's Showcase, a
series which has helped to launch scores of careers, including those of
Ruth Ann Swenson, Deborah Voigt, Patricia Racette, Mary Mills, Dolora
Zajick and John Relyea.

Only last month, Rohrer - the Lola of last fall's "Cavalleria Rusticana"
- sang a stunning recital in Steven Blier's "The Elegant Song" program,
and here she was today, conveying superbly the very essence of Chekhov's
most poignant heroine.

Pasatieri - whose film-score orchestrations are operatic, and operas,
predictably, sound similar to Korngold background music, albeit with an
extra helping of Puccini and Richard Strauss - put Nina on an outsized
music pedestal in "The Seagull," and Rohrer met every demand, without
showing the slightest effort.

She exhibited a fresh, youthful lyrical mezzo, mature legato, fabulous
diction (helped, to be fair, by Pasatieri's consistent attention to
the vocal line), a bravura projection - maintained regardless of which
direction she faced.

Rohrer was in good company.  As usual for an Opera Center Showcase, the
entire cast was good-to-excellent, especially the women.  Jane Archibald's
Masha was a brilliant exhibit of clear and effective musical and dramatic
communication.  Karen Slack's Irina was impressive, although at times
too much for the small venue; if you have a voice like Jane Eaglen, it
would make sense to attenuate it, and focus on phrasing and musicality.

Among the men, Lucas Meachem (Constantine) had some vocal problems, but
he coped with the difficult role.  Ricardo Herrera (Boris), Joshua Bloom
(Sorin), Thomas Glenn (Medvedenko) and Brad Alexander (Shamrayeff) all
sang well, and Michael Taylor turned the doctor's small part into a big
performance.

Mark Morash conducted as large a portion of the SF Opera Orchestra
that could fit into the miniscule space, and I wonder if he had a dozen,
rather than 29, musicians, results might have been better.  In the event,
most of the many climactic passages came through fine, but otherwise,
there were numerous lapses and uncertainties from the orchestra, especially
in the strings.  Pasatieri's many quotations in the music - intentional
and otherwise - could make one big quiz out of "The Seagull." I could
swear that just about every time it was the turn for the trumpet (James
Dooley) and the trombone (Craig McAmis), they played something Wagner
or, at least, Wagnerish, including a few steps by the Giants of "Das
Rheingold" when the stage action made the reference utterly incongruous.
Donizetti fragments, on the other hand, were integrated smoothly.

Francine Landes was the straightforward, effective stage director,
supportive of Chekhov's spirit and Pasatieri's work - in the same vein
that made her movement direction for A.C.T.'s "Three Sisters," work
seamlessly with Carey Perloff's memorable direction last year.

Janos Gereben/SF
www.sfcv.org
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