Young singers being trained in the San Francisco Opera's Merola Program
have a full curriculum in "dramma per musica," non-singing aspects of
the business getting a fine display tonight in Cowell Theater.

Dramatic and comic action, good diction were featured in the 2003 Merola
Program's first public offering of the summer, in a double bill of Gian
Carlo Menotti's "The Medium" and Jacques Ibert's "Angelique," two works
not heading to any musical hall of fame.

According to a pre-curtain announcement by Opera Center director Sheri
Greenawald, Meredith Arwady, the Madame Flora, was performing while "very
ill...  on antibiotics." I'm afraid to think what she would do with the
role in possession of her full powers.  Under the circumstances, she
presented the scariest Madame Flora I have ever seen.

>From the moment of her first appearance through her breakdown, Arwady
loomed large as an awesome presence. She did this not only in face of
illness, but also swimming against the tide of a disastrous series of
light and sound miscues. Lights went on and off, shots were fired in the
manner of a ludicrous high-school production. And yet, Arwady and the
whole cast kept the show afloat very well.

Merola *is* a training program, so it affords a splendid opportunity to
singers such as Jessica Tivens.  As Monica, she had the entire evening's
only opportunity to handle a true singing assignment, and she must have
learned from the experience.  Tivens has a lovely voice and "Monica's
Waltz" is no "Casta Diva," and yet she pushed and "efforted" until turning
shrill where the voice - left alone - would not have done that.  Being
a fine actress and very young, Tivens has a splendid career ahead of
her, with tonight's miscalculation already behind her.

Teppei Kono turned in an outstanding performance as Toby, but I wonder
if a young singer would (or should) include in his resume: "sang the
role of a mute boy." Nikki Einfeld, Lee Poulis and Elza van den Heever
were in good form as participants in the seance.

Members of the SFO Orchestra, under the direction of Mark Morash, were
not at their best in the Menotti, picked up considerably in the second
piece.

"Angelique" is a queer duck of a minor operetta.  The story of a
super-shrew (Jane Archibald, far too attractive for the role) and her
despairing husband (Joseph Kaiser) who puts her up for sale, only to
exhaust the patience of three buyers and then of the Devil himself,
could make a sparkling Offenbach piece, but there is little music here,
and even that is mostly in the orchestra.

So, once again stage aspects (in Peter Kazaras' simple and effective
direction) were front and center, Lee Poulis (as Charlot, the helpful
neighbor) and Arturo Chacon-Cruz as the Italian Tenor excelling among
all-around professional performances.

It's a fine evening, but past Merola offerings of "Cosi fan Tutte,"
"Boheme" and "Albert Herring" came to mind.  Opera is so much better
when there is some good music around.

Janos Gereben/SF
www.sfcv.org
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