The $135 Question
L.A. Opera's Werther: Modest proportions
Excellent as it is in most respects, this first-ever venture by local forces into the dolorous languors of Massenet makes friends slowly; the opening-night crowd thinned noticeably after intermission. Compared to the one-two punches delivered by Carmen the night before, Werther moves at a placid pace. Even so, the beauties in the score are deep and genuine; at the Music Center they are nicely probed. The L.A. Opera has peopled its stage with a mostly young cast welded into a fine-tuned musical and dramatic ensemble: maybe not $135 worth of all-star talent or spectacular scenery, but at least that much worth of lyric intelligence. The Charlotte, Paula Rasmussen, is one of the company's homegrown stars, an intelligent and handsome young singer who began in small roles and now has an international career. The Werther, Mexican tenor Ramon Vargas, has exactly the light-textured, sleek vocal manner to mirror the monotone sadness of his music - and to steer the attention away from his somewhat clunky stage presence. Reminiscences of Italy's Tito Schipa would not be out of place.
The Joel/Joel contingent does itself proud. Director Nicolas moves his cast with no false moves. Conductor Emmanuel draws from the local orchestral forces the properly gossamer, wispy sounds, Chanel No. 5 made audible. It's all very, very French and, as they say over there, splendide.
Now Trending
