Publication Date: Friday Jun 4, 1999

A stunning take on a modern work

West Bay Opera did right by the 20th century this weekend, giving Gian-Carlo Menotti's 1950 "The Consul" a lavish production with riveting set and lighting designs by Jean-Francois Revon and Steven B. Mannshardt. All the more shame, then, that so many stayed away, whether from Memorial Day preferences or aesthetic closed-mindedness, because the results were stunning and, occasionally, darkly hilarious.

Menotti wrote this grim tale of political refugees and bureaucratic tyranny for a Broadway premiere, and his creative focus was clearly to make the opera accessible. The result is a pleasant blend of dissonant, sometimes atonal dramatic and orchestral passages broken up by surprisingly melodious set pieces: arias, duets and ensembles.

Another pleasant surprise is that a composer could write such a sharp, eloquent libretto, delving regularly into the poetical but keeping a good distance from pretentiousness. Lines like "Her laughter is soundless and white" use clean, direct language to bring forth immediate and vivid images.

The plot centers on Magda, a housewife whose husband has fled the country as a political refugee. Dogged by the secret police, Magda seeks to join her husband by obtaining a visa from a nearby consulate.

With its endless waits and a labyrinth of seemingly random paperwork, the consulate turns out to be its own brand of hell, lorded over by a supremely dispassionate secretary. As the bureaucratic spiral takes Magda farther from her asylum, the situation turns morbidly hilarious, similar in tone to the Tom Stoppard-penned film "Brazil."

The catalyst for most of this villainous nonsense is mezzo Emily Stern, whose clear, even singing, deadpan manner and immaculate diction make one want to check the secretary for wiring and silicon chips. Two of the opera's more inspired moments are her Act I duet with the ever-returning Kofner (baritone Michael Morris) and a dainty little waltz with her sole successful supplicant, Vera Boronel (contralto Dianne M. Terp), celebrating the wonder and beauty of completed paperwork ("Seas go dry and the sun grows cold," they sing, "but the documents must be signed").

The other consummate performance is turned in by James Brown, whose seductively warm bass-baritone and sudden bursts of violence deepen the intimidating aura of his police agent. An additional delight is tenor Ross Halper as the magician Magadoff, whose mass hypnosis of his fellow consulate-inmates produces much laughter and a dance of eerie surrealism but, alas, no visa.

The bulk of the opera rests on Magda, however, and in this case soprano Kathryn Hunter comes back with mixed results. When involved with an extended dramatic monologue--like the climactic Act II aria, "To this we've come"--her voice and presence are clear and assured, but in other passages her attacks on Menotti's admittedly tortuous upward leaps are downright erratic. Her physical movements are awkward as well, leading to an Act II scene in which a death in the family proves oddly untouching.

She is little helped by mezzo Michelle Manzell, who sings Magda's mother with a coarse, throaty tone and turned the lyrical Act II lullaby into something that is neither tender nor memorable.

Set designer Revon paints Magda's oppressive neighborhood in a mesmerizing palette of grays and whites, blasting bite-size chunks out of its fragmented walls and sending a series of identical front doors like a train of kites into the upstage darkness. (One of the more chilling images comes in the first scene, when the police agent, chasing down Magda's husband, bursts through each of these doors before arriving at hers.) Revon one-ups even himself with the consulate, haunting the waiting applicants with huge, eyeless political portraits.

Director Jonathon Field gives a free hand to lighting designer Mannshardt, who splashes the hallucination scenes with ghostly patterns of yellow and red and creates an ominous vision of conspiracy with two gigantic shadowed faces cast against the consulate doors.

The orchestra is spot-on and forceful through the entire performance, although conductor Henry Mollicone could give his singers a little more breathing time at the ends of their phrases. The final scenes are orchestrally glorious, accented by rumbling, crashing lower-key dissonances from the piano, played by MaryLiz Smith.

What: West Bay Opera presents "The Consul."

When: Show times are 8:15 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sunday.

Where: Lucie Stern Theater, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto.

How much: Tickets are $33; $17 youth ticket for those under 18 available on Sunday).

Information: Call 424-9999. 

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