OC is back home from another late night spent at Teatro alla Scala...this time for la prima of Alfano's Cyrano de Bergerac, which concludes the trifecta of recent awesomeness (La Rondine @ La Fenice on Saturday, Florez @ La Scala on Monday, and earlier tonight Cyrano @ La Scala) that OC has been gifted. Before the Prada heels get put back in their cloth bag, and the Aquascutum belted coat gets hung, OC wants to share a brief synopsis:
With HRH Placido Domingo, he brought to the role all the checklist requirements, and explored a Cyrano that was endearing, intelligent, and compassionate, which truly triumphed, regardless of the quality of his voice. Sondra Radvanovsky was a strong, yet delicate Roxane, and conductor Patrick Fournillier almost blew the roof off the house that Piermarini built with an orchestra that was on hyper-volume overdrive, filling the house with a well controlled, but gigantic, thunderous sound, which provided worthy competition to the huge voices of the principle singers. Sondra Radvanovsky showed-off her large, lovely voice with casual toss-offs that would probably deafen the closest baby, while Domingo adeptly retaliated her vocal lines shouting in, well, the voice that now resides in his body. Huge sets were also in order, which needed one long intermission and three separate 8 minute pauses to facilitate all the changes, along with a smattering of sword fights and sparing soldiers. Using the same direction, costumes, and sets that peppered the stage @ The Metropolitan Opera in both 2005 & 2006 (and that our friends at the Royal Opera House were treated to in 2006), it was finally Milan’s turn for la Francesca Zambello’s elegant vision.
Almost ten minutes of applause for the cast and crew, and OC exited onto Via Manzoni still enthusiastic over the refined, charmed performance, the grandiose conducting, and the legacy of teh Dominger omg...all in all, a seamless production. More tomorrow…