In Verdi's "La Traviata," Violetta tells Germont pere that she has a
fatal disease, that she is dying.  He responds:  "You're still young and
beautiful, you will find another love." I suspect that it wasn't Piave,
writing the libretto from Dumas' novel, who had a tin ear.  Rather, the
two authors might have been adding a touch to the character of the pious
old hypocrite, as he is about to ruin several lives.  Anyway, here's a
clear case of not listening.  In the San Francisco Opera's production of
"La Traviata" opening tonight, somebody - I suspect the company's departing
artistic administrator - cast an Alfredo who had a serious communication
problem:  he could hardly be heard.  The not listening in this case must
have taken place at an audition in a small hall.  Stephen Mark Brown,
making his debut here, has a fine, rather "Italian" voice, but it cannot
begin to fill the cavernous War Memorial Opera House.

"Traviata" is an equal-opportunity opera, soprano and tenor getting pretty
much the same opportunity and challenge.  For opening the summer Verdi
Celebration, it's rather unfortunate to feature an inaudible tenor and,
worse, one who is much too bland - judging by the instances when Marco
Armiliato reigned in the orchestra sufficiently to give us a few samples.

Fortunately, Patricia Racette, in the title role, had enough volume to
make up for the missing part of the duets.  She had a strong start, got
into some serious breathing and tempo problems at the end of the first act,
did her best work in the second act (with, or rather against, the bland,
uninteresting, vocally poor-to-adequate Christopher Robertson - who was
once actually assigned to sing RIGOLETTO in this house!), and then she was
fine throughout.  Racette, an explosively talented young singer here some
years ago, has become a reliable, "fine" soprano, who shows flashes of
brilliance only when in the company of equal or better singers.  That,
alas, is not what happens in the production, not by a long shot.

I don't know who fooled around with the old, respectable John Copley
production (on John Conklin's pretty but claustrophobic set), but there
is yet another example of not listening, as exemplified by interfering
with the Act 3 Gypsy scene, which is about spirited music and an
opportunity to include a meaningful dance number, not a klutz missing the
beat on the tambourine and falling down.  The California energy crisis
might have impacted Thomas J.  Munn's usually flawless lighting design,
which is now looking rather dim.

On the plus side:  Armiliato and the orchestra did very well, playing as
if in the middle of the season, not after a long pause.  Ian Robertson's
chorus sang in its usual top form.  In his US debut, Marco Spotti was an
impressive Doctor Grenvil, the Opera Center's young singers (Catherine
Keen, Catherine Cook, John Ames, Todd Geer) were all in good form.

But the evening, on the whole, was way short of truly honoring Verdi.
You can't do that with an inaudible tenor in a house, which - although not
particularly lucky filling the role - did feature Alfredos on the order of
Peerce, Tagliavini, Raimondi, Ilosfalvy, Ochman and Araiza.  For a special
occasion, marking the centenary of Verdi's death, casting should have been
an improvement over that tradition, not several notches down.

Janos Gereben/SF, CA
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