Review: OPERA À LA CARTE SAN DIEGO PERFORMS DONIZETTI at The Light Box Theater in Liberty Station

Opera À la Carte San Diego’s third annual full production was the San Diego premiere of Donizetti’s operatic satire Viva la Mamma! The production was as entertaining and well-sung as its predecessors. (And it’s not as easy to get the opera’s many wrong notes right as you may think.)

Donizetti worked with librettist Domenico Gilardoni to create a witty send-up of operatic traditions and stereotypes. The opera-within-an-opera plot showcases a talent-challenged regional opera company at its worst while rehearsing Romulus and Ersilia, an obscure 18th Century Italian work.

As Prima Donna Daria Garbinati, Soprano Iryna Polivanova sang the dramatic opening aria "Ah! vicino è il bel momento" ("Ah! The beautiful moment is near,” a line borrowed from Mozart). Vocally, it was a production highlight that showed why Polivanova has a solid international reputation. The aria established Garbinati’s Diva-like character but missed out on a few opportunities for additional satirical humor.

Similarly, Director Adam Cioffari could have added to the activities of cast members seated across the back of the stage behind the main action for a few more random laughs -- perhaps a soprano munching an unruly sandwich, singers playing cards, or, since this is a contemporary version, everyone intently scrolling on cell phones. Donizetti and Gilardoni would have approved. Their nothing-sacred romp even included ridiculous, and sometimes offensive character names, as I risk pointing out.   

Soon after the opening aria, Bass DeAndre Simmons as Maestro Biscroma Strappaviscere (“bowel ripper”) demands attention with a forceful voice and stage presence, but frustration is his fate. Each singer has their own ideas about tempos and interpretation.

His frustration is soon matched by Lyric Baritone Eric Cornwell as Poeta Salsapariglia ("a prickly climbing vine"). Singers want libretto changes, and larger roles. Impresario (Bass-Baritone Malachi Marshall) is getting increasingly worried about opening night.

The laughs reached a new peak when Michael O'Halloran elbowed his way to center stage as the lead character La Mamma, Donna Agata Scannagalli (“rooster slaughterer.”)

The tall Baritone was housed in a decidedly non-glamorous costume of bulging, shelf-like posterior, prominent bosom, hairy legs and a deep voice unmercifully routed when called on for a soprano’s range and coloratura.

Mamma bullies the producer about a larger part for her daughter, Luigia Castragatti (“cat castrator”) sung by Soprano Lily Prado. And she exposes Prima Donna Garbinatia as formerly a mere chorister and the wife of a chestnut seller. Deeply offended, she leaves in a huff.

The tenor Guglielmo Antolstoinoff (Adam Caughey) also resents Mamma’s bullying. He struggles with Italian lyrics in a German accident, nor are melodies a strength.

Caughey is a pleasing smooth-voiced tenor who seems unusually at ease in a comedic role. Fed up with criticism and chaos, he too exits the rehearsal, leaving the company sans both Romulus and Ersilia as opening night looms.

What! In the second act, things get worse?!

Prima Donna’s husband Procolo’s (Miguel Samson) role to this point has been quiet pampering of his narcistic diva wife. Now he offers to replace the tenor, though himself a bass-baritone.

Mamma wants to replace the Prima Donna and demonstrates her talent and heartfelt passion for opera in an aria she has apparently herself invented. With unwarranted confidence, she sings with a wandering unsuitable voice, exaggerated facial expressions, and laughably ineffective seductive movements, all accompanied by the evening’s most sustained laughter.

Daughter Luigia has a highlight aria not in the original score but added in most 20th and 21st Century productions. It’s the dramatic aria "Tu che voli" extracted from Donizetti’s Fausta.

When Prado sang it near the end of the closing second act, it was an unexpected change of pace and a pleasure. Prado had been adding to the laughs while playing Luiga as a brainless young woman dominated by her mother, anxiously matching Mamma’s every exaggerated motion. Her pure lovely tone and believable emotion were so captivating, eyes finally left O’Halloran.

The tenor and diva reappear at the rehearsal, but The Impresario realizes there is no chance the company will be ready for opening night. Unfortunately, tickets have been sold, and backer’s investments spent.

United in purpose at last, the company flees into the night to escape creditors.

The Light Box Theater’s limited space meant there were a couple of minor production problems.

The opera was sung in Italian with English subtitles on a screen at the back of the stage, and it was at times difficult to see the full text through the action in front of it.

Lighting Designer Zane Shrem-Bosnoy had no choice but to provide most of the stage lighting from the sides of the small theater, and the glare was distracting.

Donizetti’s cheerful, Rossini-like orchestral score depended solely on pianist Carl Pantle. Serendipitously, he was explicitly a cast member as the company’s rehearsal pianist. Plante played with cheerful sparkling gusto, tapping feet and frequent smiles. Despite the chaos in front of him, his timing and articulation were the perfect accompaniment for the singers.

In this production, the company only hit all the right wrong notes.

I apologize to opera connoisseurs for joining in the laughter. I plan to atone by watching Mimi die on YouTube eight times this week and attending San Diego Opera’s Rigoletto next month.

Opera À La Carte San Diego was founded by Abla Hamza, a local soprano and voice teacher and the company’s executive and artistic director. She strives to offer opportunities for local professional opera singers and to attract San Diegans new to opera with less intimidating venues and lower ticket prices.

Over-the-top Viva Mamma! is seldom performed and perhaps more likely to bring derisive scowls rather than smiles to pompous faces, but it fits well with Opera À la Carte’s ambitious objectives. Visit the company’s website to see what the organization is up to beyond yearly full productions.

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