Photograph: Lori Lind
Primarily based in northern Virginia, Shakespeare Opera Theatre has introduced opera, classical theatre, and classical music since 2015. For its 2026 summer time season, the corporate introduced Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah and Kirke Mechem’s Tartuffe, two works that middle on ethical and non secular hypocrisy, in repertory at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in McLean, VA. Although not as regularly carried out in main homes at the moment, Susannah is a mainstay of the American opera canon, whereas Tartuffe is extra of a rarity. Mechem was born only a yr earlier than Floyd and celebrated his a hundredth birthday final August. Primarily based on Molière’s play Le Tartuffe ou l’imposteur, his opera debuted on the San Francisco Opera in 1980. It’s maybe finest recognized for the soprano aria “Truthful Robin I Love,” sung by the maid Dorine as a bit of romantic recommendation, which has turn out to be a part of the recital repertoire. Shakespeare Opera Theatre’s inventive and managing director, Lori Lind, served as director and manufacturing designer for each productions. Lind deployed the identical stained-glass home windows for the units of Susannah and Tartuffe, underscoring the widespread themes between the 2 operas, one a tragedy and the opposite a comedy.
The corporate opened with Susannah, a retelling of the Apocryphal story of Susannah and the Elders set within the mountains of jap Tennessee. Whereas trying to find a creek for the visiting Reverend Olin Blitch to carry out baptisms, the native church elders spy Susannah Polk bathing nude, sparking a firestorm of false accusations of her being responsible of sexual transgressions. Finally, it’s Blitch who sexually assaults Susannah, for which he’s killed by her avenging brother, Sam. The opera ends with Susannah remoted and ostracized by her group.
As Susannah, soprano Kristine Overman boasted a heat, large voice with efficient squillo. Overman’s stable diction made it simple to grasp Floyd’s libretto, which intently tracks patterns of human speech. An efficient actress on stage, Overman conveyed a large emotional arc from syrupy Southern allure to anguished falsely accused fallen lady. As Blitch, baritone James Myers persuasively adopted the cadence and mannerisms of a stuffed-shirt preacher. Floyd initially wrote Blitch for a bass-baritone, and the bottom elements of this function had been maybe not the strongest vocal match for Myers’s vary. His tautly etched dramatic rigidity in “I’m a lonely man, Susannah,” the aria he delivers simply earlier than making the most of Susannah’s emotional numbness to have his means together with her, was a spotlight of his efficiency. Nico Caruso sang Sam with a delightful gentle, woody baritone and glorious chemistry with Overman’s Susannah. As Little Bat McLean, Susannah’s younger admirer who additionally performs a key function in her undoing, tenor Kurt Lannetti successfully portrayed the character’s conflicted nature, torn between his infatuation with Susannah and his loyalty to his mother and father who search to smash her. Members of the ensemble capably performed the judgmental and vindictive church elders, their wives, and residents of New Hope Valley.
As pianist and conductor, Andrew Kraus saved Floyd’s melodies properly buzzing alongside. The piano discount labored nicely for this opera, which has heavy orchestration at occasions. Lind’s path cleverly took benefit of the venue’s intimate area to emphasise the opera’s themes. The set design match the Polks’ entrance porch, the church, and the creek in a condensed area, reinforcing the claustrophobic nature of the geographically remoted and religiously religious New Hope Valley. Lind’s immersive staging had the church girls wind via the cabaret-style desk seating, shut sufficient for the viewers to listen to their whispering, driving house the viciousness of the backlash towards Susannah.
Photograph: Lori Lind
Hypocrisy is a timeless theme, whether or not in early 20th-century Appalachia or 17th-century France. Tartuffe’s titular character is a fraudulent “non secular counselor” who has duped the rich bourgeois Orgon into following his pious steerage. Regardless of the protestations of his household, Orgon believes in Tartuffe wholeheartedly, even promising to present him his daughter Mariane (who’s at present concerned with Valère) in marriage and signing away his property to the imposter. Like Giuseppe Verdi and Arrigo Boito’s method to Shakespeare in Otello, Mechem’s opera pares down its supply materials significantly whereas leaving the core theme intact. Mechem drops one of many principal characters, the gentlemanly Cléante (a foil to Orgon), and replaces Molière’s deus ex machina ending by which King Louis XIV will get the credit score (a concession to the political realities of his period) with a intelligent caper by Mariane, Valère, and Orgon’s son, Damis. Like Floyd, Mechem wrote his personal libretto, and his rhymes are a tribute to the rhyming couplets of Molière’s verse. Molière’s comedy sparkles with wit and wordplay (the neologism “tartuffiée,” or “Tartuffified,” is a spotlight). Mechem takes the same method by parodying operatic conventions in Tartuffe. “Molière had enjoyable with language and so did I. He invented phrases, he punned, and he informed literary purists that the tip of comedy was to please—that his success was his justification. I’ve taken the identical perspective as composer. The rating abounds in musical jokes, parody, caricature, even musical puns,” Mechem writes in an announcement on his web site. Such a musical “translation” of Molière’s work proves efficient; the magic of the playwright’s French verse could be tough to seize for English-speaking audiences (Richard Wilbur’s pleasant translation comes closest) however his spirit lives on in Mechem’s 20th-century opera buffa. Tartuffe’s vocal line parodies the musical language of sacred Baroque cantatas and motets, whereas Mariane’s contemplation of suicide, taken from Molière, turns into in Mechem’s fingers a humorous send-up of the operatic trope of heroines dying by suicide. The composer’s citation of Beethoven’s most well-known 4 notes at a dramatic climax of his opera is a intelligent contact.
Baritone Michael Pistorio was a standout as Tartuffe, who, like Turandot, is a titular character who doesn’t sing till Act II. He lived as much as the anticipation. Pistorio portrayed the slick charlatan with an oily baritone, good legato, and a strong backside to the voice. He successfully executed the humorously exaggerated shows of piety in Lind’s staging, together with a funeral for a swatted insect (full with tiny coffin) and a flail worthy of Sweeney Todd’s Decide Turpin. Soprano Monica Niemi introduced a full-bodied sound and pleasant camp to the overdramatic character of Mariane. As Orgon, Vincent Fung boasted a velvety bass-baritone and stable consideration to musical phrasing. Emily Wealthy lent her candy and clear mezzo to the function of Elmire. Lisa Bloy served as pianist and conductor. She successfully conveyed the center of Mechem’s complicated rating however the disproportionate quantity of the piano, notably within the first half, overpowered a number of the singing, and the opera’s ensembles usually sounded muddled. Enticing interval costumes successfully conjured the aesthetics of Molière’s world.
Andrew Lokay
Andrew Lokay started his profession as an opera fan on the San Francisco Opera, the place the primary efficiency he noticed was Madama Butterfly. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford College with a Bachelor of Arts in worldwide relations and French with honors in worldwide safety research. He now lives in Washington, DC and is a frequent viewers member for opera and theatre within the nation’s capital.
