Erwin Schrott's Pecs & Leather Galore at La Scala Can't Save a Tensionless Don Giovanni

 

Erwin Schrott's shaved, carved chesticles could only distract us so much from sitting through a Don Giovanni that never delivered vocally, musically, or theatrically. In short, it only delivered chestically.

Saturday night's la prima of Mozart's Don Giovanni (in Peter Mussbach's revival of the production first seen at Scala four years ago, then conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, who at least gave an interesting if uneven reading of the score) was politely applauded at curtain call by the Milanese (OC included) just as politely as it was applauded four years ago. Throughout the decades, La Scala has given many impressive Don Giovannis: Abbado, Muti, Harding -- and let's not forget Dudamel's questionable (but yeah, exciting) Don in 2006 at Mussbach's premiere. Opera Chic (before she was Opera Chic) was there for Dudi's highly-anticipated stab at Mozart (and stab he did). And while she wasn't crazy about the production, it fared much better four years ago. 

This year, the revival is conducted by Louis Langrée, current Music Director of Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival, and while we're definitely admirers of Langrée's artistic contributions in planning the festivals, his conducting of Mozart's lusty dramma giocoso -- neither really dramma nor giocoso in LL's reading -- left us cold.

Erwin Schrott as Don Giovanni -- who recently called himself "100% Uruguayan Meat" in a memorable Italian Vanity Fair Article from December 2009 -- swaggered his (sadly covered) a$$ in his high-waist black leather bell bottoms and floor-length duster (and no shirt -- which gave-off a distinctly 1980s Fabio Lanzoni vibe). Vocally efficient, but really, his bare chest had more stage presence than anything else. Schrott played Don as a cold, detached, calculating dick. It worked for Schrott, and although the Uruguay bass-baritone may have prepared himself well in a solid performance, his portrayal didn't gel with his colleague's interpretations on stage. There was no cohesion between the characters to speak of, and a definite lack of charisma and chemistry marred the production. 

In Milan's newspaper Corriere della Sera, Carmela Remigio (this production's Donna Anna) gave an interview about preparing for Mussbach's Don Giovanni, and the German director reportedly screamed, "Extreme! It has to be extreme!" at every rehearsal to remind his singers of their motivation. But extreme it was not. Extremely not! Unless "extreme" to Mussbach means direction with lots of dry humping and straddling. In an opera full of sex and violence, it never got sexy or violent at any point (with the exception of when Schrott wielded a pistol during the deception scene -- why can't someone make a full-on ghetto Don Giovanni, like a West Coast Rap kingpin living in South Central circa 1995?)

Director Peter Mussbach's budget was senselessly blown on two gigantic black rectangles which filled the stage, a minimalistic production where mood was created by a rainbow spectrum of neon lights (opening with blue, fading to lavender, etc...and concluding in fiery orange for the Drag-Me-Down-to-Hell scene). Menacing and exhausting, the black boxes moved on whim, actors scuttling around them as laborious as hurdles. A gimmicky prop was a white Vespa, and although the Vespa could have signaled a 1950s setting, everyone was dressed in modern suits and black dresses (except for Zerlina in a Jean Paul Gaultier-inspired corset and tutu). With such stripped-down staging accompanied by power-saving lights (which cast a grey pall over everyone) the focus shifted to the singing and the conducting. But the production offered none of that, and the absence of visual distractions and aesthetic detailing made for a flat performance. 

Langrée chose a thin, underwhelming sound marked with slow, plodding tempi, never once offering accelerando during Mozart's spirited arias (Act I's Don aria, "Fin ch'han dal vino" was boring as heck.) It was a treatment stripped of Mozart's clever musical tricks, almost anti-climatic to the pathos of Lorenzo Da Ponte's libretto. However, Langrée managed to offer a sweet range of dynamics, conducting the work more as a symphony, and allowed the singers to shape their vocal lines without bullying them into expression. But there existed a large disconnect between the conducting and the singing, while the biggest insult was the lack of tension and friction, and at times (during Act I's finale, "Riposate, vezzose ragazze") the notes just hung around in purgatory.

Singers were all passable, but their acting lacked cohesion, almost as if they were presenting a concert version of the opera. Georg Zeppenfeld as the Commendatore gave a fine performance, despite his laughable silver armor that had him looking more like a menacing robot from a 1950s comic book. His sword action with Schrott was surprisingly-well choreographed and energized.

We've heard dependable and well-rounded Carmela Remigio in many La Scala productions, but her Donna Anna was mostly underwhelming ("Or sai chi l'onore" was fine as was "Non mi dir, bell'idol mio"). Emma Bell as Donna Elvira was equally mediocre, offered dicey fraseggio in "Ah! chi mi dice mai" in an earthy, low voice, although she rebounded for a solid "Mi tradi quell'alma ingrata". Both women were given frumpy librarian gothic outfits which didn't help their presence at all.

Juan Francisco Gatell Abre as Don Ottavio was solid, and his "Dalla sua pace" had a lovely lightness (and seriously, OC will never cease to be amazed by the sheer beauty of this aria). Zerlina's Veronica Cangemi and Masetto's Mirco Palazzi worked well as a couple, and "Batti batti, o bel Masetto" had lovely and controlled coloratura.

The only standout in this belabored production was Leporello: Bergamo-born, Italian bass Alex Esposito who offered a gorgeous voice and adept acting (although his style was too traditional and old-skool for the modern production). He had a sensitivity and consciousness of his character that was endearing, a glimmer of humanity in a roster of standoffish singers. He had a lean sound that bounced frequently into lovely Rossinian tenore di grazia territory. He also gave Schrott's sculpted pectorals a good run for their money when he stripped off his shirt in Act III.

At the final curtain call, no boos discernable, but a blasé reception for all the stars (with the exception of Alex Esposito's Leporello who got the loudest reception). Which might seem inconsequential, but doesn't bode well for the Italian audiences who will literally recount the exact duration of curtain call applause in the next day's headlines.

Comments

[AskMeAboutOpera]

I'm sure I'm only interested in his chest. Who is this Mozart guy anyway? :D

[Eric]

Great review! I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Well done, OC!

[Soubrette]

OC, I completely agree about Dalla sua pace. *sigh!*

[Pokeygascon]

What! No pics of the chest. I will have to seek them out elsewhere. TY for the review.

[Furst]

Sounds like we didn't miss much. Remigio's been Donna Annaing a long time - she was, we believe, the Donna Anna for Abbado in Ferrara on our trip to Italy (during our last semester in law school, no less) just about exactly 10 years ago and she's very hot. We found Schrott pretty good as the Don in the first instance and quite a bit improved over time - as witnessed at the Met last season. There did seem to be a better dynamic in the cast at the time. We would add Langre was the conductor there as well and we did not find him quite as bad, in that instance, as OC seemed to here (though his was far from one of the more notable Don's we've heard).

Those Met performances were especially notable for the Leporello of OC's own Brandalino. His interaction with the Don and Elvira (a favorite part of the opera for us) were among the highlights of the show. OC will of course recall - since she was there - even though she wasn't OC at the time - and we weren't (at La Scala - we were not, needless to say, OC) - that he was even by his standards unusually effective. There are some YouTube's and he is utterly hilarious during the "Ah Chi Mi Dice".

[Claire]

Pokeygascon u stole my comment :)

[francesco]

i remember langrèe conducting mozart requiem in santa cecilia. it was disgusting.
but i've listened alex esposito three times and i think he's very very good.

[operareg]

I want pictures of the chesticles! Opera Chic, your job is to show all operatic beefcake, not just Roberto Bolle. :)

[elina efthymiou]

We couldn't agree more. We travelled all the way from Cyprus to enjoy an opera in Scala and it was really disappointing. The truth is that we couldn't keep our eyes open. What a shame! Alas, the usually so colourful Don Giovanni was so very grey.

[elina efthymiou]

It's the 4th Don Giovanni I've seen & by far the worse. I feel the need to see a 5th one as soon as possible in order to restore the precious Mozart quality back into my conscience.What's more, I would expect the concierge at the Milan Four Seasons Hotel to have an informed opinion as to what their clients are about to experience. Let alone to save us our time & 480 Euros.....