Review: FRA DIAVOLO at The Highland Park Ebell

Fra Diavolo is a translated 19th century French comic opera at The Highland Park Ebell through November 16, presented by Pacific Opera Project. At one time quite a popular part of standard opera repertoire, Daniel Auber’s comic romantic adventure Fra Diavolo has become more obscure over time, and the last time it was performed in Los Angeles was in the 1970s. As a lifelong opera lover, I feel a certain kind of excitement in seeing something I have never seen before.

Fra Diavolo has a featherlight, ridiculous plot about an outlaw bandit in Italy, an English lady’s stolen jewels, and an innkeeper’s daughter’s romance with a soldier and her upcoming marriage to a wealthy man she does not love.

While there are ample charms on display in this Pacific Opera Project production of Fra Diavolo, director Josh Shaw seems to lack the right kind of touch for this light-hearted, confectionary romp. Instead there is a glutinous heaviness at the heart of Fra Diavolo, like a cake that falls while baking.

I wanted to like the space. I love the idea of a cozy neighborhood historic club space in Highland Park being recycled into a modern opera theatre. But The Highland Park Ebell has something ineffable about it — the sad free lunch amateur earnestness of a high school auditorium.

The front row tables, on the other hand, are an entirely brilliant idea, transforming an evening of opera into a romantic date or cozy downtime with friends. I love the well-executed charcuterie plates and drinks, making it into a complete night out. There is no way I would prefer to see opera than at my own private table, with drinks and nibbles. It is simply perfection. My advice is to splurge on the tables if at all possible, especially since, by most opera standards, Pacific Opera Project’s tickets prices are radically accessible.

Some mystifyingly poor casting choices hurt Fra Diavolo. Randall Bills as the lead, Fra Diavolo, is miscast, though he delivers a funny, engaging performance. Bills, well into a comfortably padded middle age, has a certain dorky comic appeal, utterly wrong for the part of a dashing young outlaw. A mischievous, seductive, daredevil young romantic lead is called for in the part of the rogue bandit. Randall Bills looks like he got lost on his way to a barbershop quartet rehearsal.

Sabrina Langois is divine as the romantic lead Zerlina, the innkeeper’s daughter, radiant, effervescent, full of comic life and romantic high spirits, with a gorgeous ripe soprano.

Meagan Martin shines as Lady Pamela, in a truly brilliant, pitch-perfect comic performance that utterly makes the entire opera and earned most of Fra Diavolo’s laughs. She has sublime comedic chemistry with the charismatic Matthew Ian Welch, also utterly delightful as James George Hardcash. Fra Diavolo could use more deeply talented, inspiring comic actors like them.

Many moments of slapstick comedy and silliness are missed in the production. There are times Fra Diavolo feels more like a rehearsal than a finished show, with Josh Shaw as director feeling criminally vacant.

Josh Shaw's set design is depressingly uninspired. I missed seeing #Superflute, a Magic Flutic adaptation with Nintendo inspiration, and I wish I were seeing that as my first Pacific Opera Project production. Pacific Opera Project has a reputation for fresh, irreverent, high concept style, and some sense of style and original creative vision is exactly what is missing in this Fra Diavolo production.

Yet there are still many abundant, charming pleasures to be found in this production of Fra Diavolo. Pacific Opera Project gets a lot of mileage from a small live ensemble instead of a full orchestra, and surprisingly, I did not miss the full bombast and power of the orchestra, which is a great credit to music director and conductor Kyle Naig.

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