Massenet's Don Quichotte (Don Quixote) at the San Diego Opera (14 February 2009)

St Valentine's Day saw the opening night of Jules Massenet's 1910 opera, Don Quichotte (Don Quixote), based on Jacques Le Lorraine's Cervantes-based play, Le chevalier de la longue figure, at the San Diego Civic Theater in Downtown. Armed with a free ticket to the show courtesy of the San Diego Opera in return for an objective review, yours truly capped off a gorgeously sunny Saturday with a night at the opera.

The story is probably familiar to most; suffering from a flight of sanity, the elderly Spanish gentleman Don Quichotte takes his squire, Sancho Panza, on a road trip around the countryside looking for a quest-worthy cause to prove his chivalric valor. Along the way they run into Dulcinea, a flirty Spanish beauty who is practically the object of all the local males' attention. While the crowd tease and poke fun at the ridiculous knight, Dulcinea is pleased with his attention and, in good fun, offers the retrieval of her stolen necklace as a quest worthy of his chivalric efforts. The love-stricken Don Quichotte, with the grudging Sancho at his heels, goes off in search of the bandit while taking the time to fend of various imaginary foes (a bunch of innocent sheep and a troop of harmless windmills included) along the way.

The quest looks to end on an ugly note when he is overpowered by the bandit Ténébrun and his men when Don Quichotte offers up a prayer so eloquent and noble that it wins over his torturers' good side. They give him Dulcinea's necklace and send him back to town inflated by the pride of conquest. Alas, glad and grateful she is that her stolen property has been successfully restored to her, Dulcinea has no intention of taking up on Don Quichotte's marriage proposal. The blow of romantic rejection proves too much for the old idealist, and he expires in his loyal squire's arms while hallucinating his beloved lady's voice beckoning at him from a star.

Musically there is much to love about this rarely performed opera. For the lovers of comic opera, there is a good Spanish dance that opens the show and some aptly comical scenes for Sancho to keep the story lighthearted. For the lovers of drama, the title role's music is wonderfully and simplistically sympathetic... And then there are the beautiful little orchestral intermezzi; the orchestral dawn that opens the 2nd act rivals Edvard Grieg's famous 'Morning Mood' from Peer Gynt in terms of scenic descriptiveness and chromatic subtlety. At a little over two hours, Massenet's little handiwork is a good work to introduce someone new to the opera with.

The San Diego Opera's production of Don Quichotte is traditionally staged by Ian Campbell, utilizing Ralph Funicello's beautifully designed set and Marie Barrett's imaginative lighting work. The cast is moved around the staged well even during the busy opening scene. The windmills scene sees a shrewd use of space and lighting to put across both the ridiculous reality that Sancho sees as well as glimpsing the menacing giants in the warped mind of Don Quichotte. Even the prop horse and donkey are passably realistic.

The conception of the Dulcinea in this production really resembles a courtesan-like woman (think Thais or Violetta) rather than an almost middle class easy woman (like Sofia Loren in the film version of the story, Man of La Mancha)... And that... would make the American mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves surprisingly miscast in this role. She plays Dulcinea more like she would Carmen, which really doesn't go all that well for me. Carmen is a woman immune to regret and who wouldn't be caught dead apologizing to any man. Dulcinea, on the other hand, is a hard but charming girl who has enough empathy to truly feel sorry for Don Quichotte and his fragile feelings. Dulcinea shouldn't be a refined call girl, but she shouldn't be a street cut-throat either. Graves' downright harshly masculine lower voice just doesn't seem to suit the role and its music all that well. The middle of the voice is quite womanly beautiful, however, though the top is acidic and pulsates insistently when sung above mezzo forte. She does some beautiful soft singing in Act III and in the final scene that could perhaps use some float, but is already quite effective as is.

The title role, Don Quichotte, on whose shoulder rests the success or the failure of the opera, was impeccably sung and acted by the utterly dependable Italian basso, Ferruccio Furlanetto. Listening to him you'd think that he's been seriously fudging his age... The man has obviously been taking a very good care of his voice! It is beautifully produced and with plenty sonority to effortlessly fill the rather large amphitheater of the San Diego Civic Theater. He sings with good French diction, sensitive phrasing, and with beautiful use of dynamic variation that give his Don Quichotte an utterly sympathetic and yet spiritually noble vocal bearing (well matched to his tall physiques and convincing acting). On the stage, there is no robust Ferruccio Furlanetto but a physically weary but spiritually youthful if delusional fallen nobleman. And when his world finally comes crashing down, the bass' fading voice makes one wish for a happier ending for such an innocent soul. The roaring standing ovation he draws at the curtain was very well deserved indeed!

As his faithful if a little faint-hearted Sancho Panza is the Argentinian bass-baritone Eduardo Chama, a very fine comic actor who spices up the performance like a lovable if a little grumpy little spark plug. He under projected his voice a bit in the first half of the show (especially when not facing the audience), but delivered just the right balance between real rage and comedy in his Act II solo railing against women. Theatrically he is a good foil for Furlanetto's Don Quichotte and hands down won the 'crowd's favorite' award at the curtain.

All the minor roles are fine with special notice to the non-singing part of Ténébrun the chief bandit by Hervé Blanquart. The San Diego Opera Chorus' acting in various scenes is beyond reproach, and if they had a slow beginning with Massenet's exotically ornamented music in the opening scene, they made up for it in the rest of the show... And the principal dancers; Lisa Solar and Pablo Pizano are truly delightful in their little solo numbers in Acts I and IV. Maestra Karen Keltner is beautifully supportive of her singers from the orchestral pit while drawing out exquisite mix of French and Spanish flavors from the San Diego Symphony

All in all, the first performance of Don Quichotte at the San Diego Opera wasn't entirely glitch-free (something went boom with the curtain as it went up at the start of Act III, then the sur-title was caught napping a few times after that), but still proved a worthwhile crowd pleaser. This opera is rarely given these days (the last time it was seen in San Diego was 40 yrs ago in 1969), and to be able to catch it here with the likes of Ferruccio Furlanetto in the title role is a treat any lover of classical vocal genre should not miss. If you are in San Diego area this month, be sure to catch it!

Remaining 2009 season at the San Diego Opera:
Massenet's Don Quichotte (Feb 17, 20, 22); Verdi's Rigoletto (Mar 28, 31, Apr 3, 5, 8); Britten's Peter Grimes (Apr 18, 21, 24, 26); Puccini's Madama Butterfly (May 9, 12, 15, 17, 20).

My previous reviews of opera performances at the San Diego Opera:
2009: Puccini's Tosca
2008: Donizetti's Maria Stuarda, Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana/Leoncavallo's Il paggliacci, Verdi's Aida, Bizet's Les pecheurs de perles.
2007: Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro