Volume
III
Issue 17
Summer 2001
Glorious Music, Ridiculous Book: Don Giovanni
by Paul Foster
Don Giovanni
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte
Premiere, Prague, 29 October 1787
New York City Opera, Lincoln Center
Production by Harold Prince
7 April 2001 performance
What glorious music! What a ridiculous book! What a klunky production!
The darkest of Mozart's "comic" operas. Who can fathom how it got that handle because it surely is not a comic opera. The only ripple of laughter was in derision. Da Ponte's creation, Don Giovanni, is a serial rapist, a priapic, a man born with a perpetual penile problem, a dysfunctional sex addict who, if he were not born a "nobleman" (what a nonsense word) with inherited wealth, he would have starved. A man who literally "smells women" and tracks down the scent, exactly like the murderous dwarf in Patrick Suskind's, Perfume. In a class, surely, with low leaders in high places who rut and smut and huff and puff cigars. It is a far, far better thing you do to stay home with your CD of Don Giovanni than subject yourself to this asininity. In short, it is a ridiculous story on which to hang this glorious music.
David Pittsinger in the title role, in Don Giovanni at the New York City Opera.
Photographer: Carol Rosegg. Image courtesy the New York City Opera.
Now for the good part, the music. Don Giovanni and Zerlina sing Andiam, a duet in which Mariateresa Magisano is magnificent in a magnificent musical score. Both David Pittsinger and she, paired voices, baritone and mezzo-soprano, are pitch pluperfect.
Matthew Polensani, Don Ottavio, tenor, must be singled out. A brilliant voice. One of the most beautiful tenors the Great Om ever placed on any of His planets. His solo arias alone are worth the price of admission.
Then too, the power and control, the sheer perfect artistry of Donna Elvira, the wronged woman who would not give up her revenge until she saw this man in hell. We don't often get such gifts from the Ukraine, but Oksana Krovytska makes up the debt with the interest compounded. Also, a delicious soprano, Sally Wolf, sings Donna Anna.
The Harold Prince production should not have happened. He went rag-bag picking through his past musicals and threw together some ideas and then went back to sleep. He's tired.
Now, picture this: An entire second act lit by one hand-held candelabra. Or this: A villain goes to hell. What an opportunity to be creative. What does Prince' s villain do? He opens a trap door in which shines a red light bulb, and he walks down a ladder like he's going to develop film. My ticket cost $88.00. I felt as if I paid retail.
Basta! Enough! Buy the CD.
About the Author:
Paul Foster, co-founder of La Mama Theater, is an award-winning author of eighteen Broadway and Off-Broadway plays. His work has been seen in numerous television and film scripts and he has fourteen books published in several languages. Foster has won NEA, NEH, Rockefeller, Guggenheim, British Arts Council and Irish Universities Fellowships and Awards. The Paul Foster Theatrical Collection can be found at Rutgers University, Alexander Library, New Brunswick, NJ.
Paul Foster is a frequent contributor to the Newsletter. Take a look at his reviews of the New York Opera's productions of Le Nozze di Figaro and La Bohème.
Resources:
For details on this season's New York City Opera production of Don Giovanni, as well as a brief bio of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, visit their web site at http://www.nycopera.com/season/this/details.cfm?OperaID=13.
Take a look at the New York City Opera's upcoming 2001-2002 season at http://www.nycopera.com/season/next/index.cfm.