Posted on: Sunday, February 1, 2004

Opera review
Voices, sets carry opera's powerful 'Otello'

By Ruth O. Bingham

Hidden within each of us lie the seeds of our own destruction — those everyday weaknesses that can undermine all we create and slowly destroy even the greatest among us.

It is a theme that permeates Western literature, and nowhere so spectacularly as in Shakespeare's "Othello."

Othello, a tall, strong, charismatic leader and conquering hero, won his way from slavery to military fame, capturing the heart of a beautiful, virtuous, noble-born lady in the process. At the pinnacle of his triumphs, Othello's Achilles heel — his insecurity — begins to undo the life he has built.

He could rule the world, but not himself.

Giuseppe Verdi's setting for the drama is an inexorable descent, from the hero's opening "Esultate!" ("Exult!") to his death.

Hawai'i Opera Theatre opened its season Friday night with a powerfully moving production of "Otello" (Verdi's spelling), directed by Henry G. Akina, designed by Peter Dean Beck and conducted by Ivan Tšrzs.

Akina and Tšrzs had collaborated on "Otello" in Germany and arranged to reuse the visual focus of that production: a huge statue of a winged lion, symbol of Venice, for whom Otello fights, and of the hero himself.

Beck designed his set around the lion, using three movable scaffolds with curtains, arches and stairs to suggest spaces within a palace. In the first act, the scaffolds frame the lion, which arrives with Otello's triumphant entrance.

But increasingly the bars of the scaffolds seem to imprison the lion, finally obscuring it behind curtains, until a lighning bolt shatters it in the third act. The fourth act opens to fragments of the statue scattered around the stage, the detritus of Otello's career.

Beck based the lighting in Mediterranean golds and blues and exhibited his usual careful delineation of setting and mood. Less subtle were his floods of red for anger/blood and an overzealous smoke machine in the opening act that completely obscured one side of the stage.

As important as design is to opera, success with "Otello" hinges on the singers.

In this production, Akina marks the four major roles by vocal color: the blameless Cassio and Desdemona brighter and clearer, their voices soaring easily above it all; the damned Iago and Otello darker, their voices more easily enmeshed.

Originally, Akina chose a Wagnerian tenor to sing Otello — a fiercely difficult role that requires power, emotional depth and exceptional range. When that tenor came down with bronchitis, Mark Lundberg stepped in to fill the role.

And fill it he did: at 6 feet 6 and around 300 pounds, Lundberg dominates the stage. More importantly, he has the voice to match, a darker tenor with easy, full-toned high notes and power throughout.

Otello's wife, Desdemona, was sung by Robin Follman — small in comparison, but more than equaling Lundberg in power. Not even the full orchestra, fortissimo, drowned her out. Like Lundberg, she looked the part, but it was her clear soprano and finely tuned control that made the performance.

The opera's most memorable character by far is Iago, that manifestation of pure evil who engineers Otello's ruin. Baritone Gary Simpson's Credo ("I believe in a cruel god, who fashioned me in his image") was chilling. When Simpson came on stage for his bows, the audience booed and hissed his character while applauding his singing.

Cassio, an unwitting pawn in Iago's machinations, balances Iago's evil with good. Jonathan Boyd's pure, lyric tenor lent credence to Cassio's innocence, and his demeanor clearly portrayed Cassio's nobility.

Mezzo-soprano Dorothy Byrne, excellent as always, returned to Honolulu to play Desdemona's companion, Emilia; bass-baritone John Mount was especially well suited as Lodovico, the Venetian ambassador; and James Price, an up-and-coming local tenor, revealed notable promise as the clueless Roderigo.

"Otello" stands out in Verdi's works because of its continually astonishing integration between orchestra, drama and voice. As a result, possibly the most important performer in any production is the conductor, in this case Ivan Tšrzs.

Tšrzs came to Honolulu to conduct HOT's most ambitious works, including "Tristan und Isolde," "Salome" and "Elektra." He conducted "Otello" beautifully Friday night, balancing parts, pacing the drama and weaving instruments and voices into a single multi-hued fabric.

Except for a disconcerting tendency to roll delicate entrances instead of entering together, the orchestra performed beautifully, from thrilling fanfares to moving solos.

"Otello" has set the bar high for HOT's 2004 season.