Review: LA TRAVIATA at Four Seasons Centre For The Performing Arts

Canadian Opera Company’s season opener La Traviata pulls out all the stops and sets an extremely high bar for the rest of its 26-27 offerings. La Traviata, the 1853 masterpiece by Giuseppe Verdi, is one of the most beloved works in the operatic canon, and it’s easy to see why. This work boasts a towering and evocative score with rollicking chorus numbers, many opportunities for lavish costumes and sets, jaw-dropping vocal passages, and perhaps best of all a story that achieves timelessness through its union of melodrama and relatability.

On the surface, director Arin Arbus’ (revival director: Mo Zhou) interpretation of the work is a highly skilled and straightforward presentation of this opera’s many attractions. On closer look, it becomes clear this is a deeply nuanced and psychologically complex presentation of an ostensibly simple tale. Much like the opera’s protagonist, Violetta, this production is much more than meets the eye.

The overture begins on a backdrop of Violetta coughing, on stage alone in her underthings,  behind a lacy white curtain reminiscent of a bridal veil. Her maid and friend Annina comes in to dress her in finery for this evening's fete. As the curtain comes up, the party begins, and Violetta puts on a radiant, coquettish face, which we are aware is a mask immediately. Violetta is a courtesan, and playing the carefree party girl is part of her job. It's a job she does ably and with gusto in exchange for life’s luxuries and pleasures until her hedonistic gaiety is disrupted by falling in love with Alfredo, a nobleman who is prepared to relinquish social status to be with her. Unfortunately, his father has different priorities. Despite the story’s hyperbolic context, it strikes a chord because its central theme is very real - True love cannot always transcend the weight of social convention.

Kathryn Lewek was a tour de force as Violetta. From the opening notes of “Ah, fors' è lui" with a quick mood change to the fierce and lively “Sempre libera,”  she brought a commanding presence and dynamic energy to the role that embodied the untamable heart of this fiercely free spirit. Her highly agile and robust soprano has a warm, dense core with shimmering, apple-crisp high notes and throbbing, juicy low notes that you felt in the pit of your stomach. The audience was palpably in awe as she executed intricate passages as though they were nursery rhymes while bringing instinctive dramatic depth to the part. In addition to being a luminescent singer, she is a deft thespian. With facial expressions, body language, and tonal range that could make notes scream or weep at will, she breathed life into the psychological war between an unashamed love of freedom and profound loneliness. Her lust for unrestrained pleasure, eternal love for Alfredo, valour in choosing to walk away, and grief over a life cut short were all heartbreakingly convincing. A better Violetta cannot be imagined.

Long Long was Prince Charming in the role of Alfredo. His voice personified the character, presenting his bright, sweet tenor as laid-back, warm, lithe and strong but never brassy. He was easy to like right away, and his chemistry with Lewek, established in their first duet, "Un dì, felice, eterea,"  was entrancing. He gave a confident and winsome performance of "De' miei bollenti spiriti"  that captured the audience’s attention and hearts in Act II and sustained the dramatic commitment to love over propriety right to the grim final beats of this piece. 

Morally grey villains seem to be all the rage in pop culture of late, and COC favourite Russell Braun’s interpretation leaned into this aspect of the cultural zeitgeist. There are a myriad of ways in which Germont’s (Alfredo’s father) intimidating conversation with Violetta ("Pure siccome un angelo") and eleventh-hour confession about his role in the breakup could be realized on stage. His unaffected paternal energy and the pathos of his zesty, authoritative baritone had me believing that our antagonist was just a concerned dad who wanted what was best for his kids and sincerely regretted making a terrible, narrow-minded mistake at the expense of his son’s happiness and a valiant young woman’s life.

A big shout-out to Ensemble Studio grad Emma Pennell, who gave a standout performance as Annina, demonstrating her floral and quietly powerful soprano to be a young voice to watch out for.

The sublime singing and drama were far from the only reasons I’m gaga over this production. The set and prop design incorporated stunning larger-than-life shadow puppet theatre (Ricardo Hernandez and Cait O’Connor). Bridgerton should take notes from the Costume Designer (Cait O’Connor). The set and costume design paint a vivid picture of mid-19th century opulence. Staging this in the fashions of Verdi’s time is a nod to the pressure early productions were under to set the work about 100 years earlier (mid 1700). Given the impropriety of the opera’s topics, producers in Verdi’s day were eager to ensure that wealthy patrons did not see themselves on the stage.

The orchestra under the baton of Paolo Carignani was the power core of this performance. They flowed like a single instrument during the lavish and charged passages while giving specific timbres in the orchestra space to shine during the lighter, more exposed passages of the varied and magnificent score.

My companion has been coming to the opera with me for many years, and she was blown away, proclaiming this as one of her all-time faves. “A triumph,” she said, and I couldn’t agree more.

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