(Above: Franco Alfano's Cyrano de Bergerac in the Francesca Zambello production, with Sondra Radvanovsky as Roxane & Placido Domingo as Cyrano. All shots below courtesy of Ken Howard. Source. La Scala Disclaimer: All photos are not from the La Scala production, since La Scala's lawyers forbade us to use their promotional stuff among other things -- rather these are shots from 2005 at The Metropolitan Opera).
After the initial Tuesday night recap of Franco Alfano's Cyrano de Bergerac we saw opening night at La Scala, here we are less than 48 hours l8r and the impressions haven't changed much, although we've changed outfits a few times. In black Prada heels, more Wolford black leggings (just like mah gurl Linds-say) a white Comme des Garçons long t-shirt, an oversized Jil Sander grey cashmere cardigan, and Aquascutum grey trench, La Scala wasn't quite as scalding as when they welcomed our poor JDF one night prior, and OC was thankfully not sweating through her cashmere.
(Above: Franco Alfano's Cyrano de Bergerac in the Francesca Zambello production. Act I. Photo credit: Ken Howard. Source.)
With the libretto written in French by Henri Cain, inspired from the play by Edmond Rostand based on the real life tales of Cyrano, Alfano's Cyrano de Bergerac is an expressive, at times jarringly sad masterpiece, which we can all thank Maestro Domingo for exhuming from obscurity, as it fell out of popular stage space quickly after its premiere in 1936. Throughout its paltry performance history, the libretto has been in constant flux between Italian and French translations, although we prefer this suitably in French.
First performed in pre-WWII Europe (o say what?), and a close contemporary to Berg's Wozzeck, and Schoenberg's Moses und Aron, Cyrano experiments with some gorgeous sounds of theater. This is musical theater's infancy, and Alfano just gets it right. The plot is amazingly simple to follow, and the story delivers comic relief without eliciting crude guffaws. The music is full of beauty, sweeping passages, and the purity of truth and love bubbles on the surface of every note. The colors are very, well, French, totally romantic, but never sappy or clumsy.
(Above: Franco Alfano's Cyrano de Bergerac in the Francesca Zambello production. Act I. Photo credit: Ken Howard. Source.)
Every single musical phrase had been practiced and studied, and carefully shaped. The music dutifully, yet gorgeously, pushes all the action: At the first encounter between Cyrano and Roxane, the strings literally climax to a shattering, vibrating crescendo, and then ripple away as a breaking wave, and you can truly imagine Cyrano's heart literally engulfed in Roxane's devastating beauty. Thanks to Maestro Patrick Fournillier, who aimed to fill the house with an enormous, but never overwhelming sound coaxed from the Scala Orchestra, and even elicited a round of Bravo from the super-discerning gallerie when he came back out after the intermission to take the stand.
The vocal lines that Sondra Radvanovsky as Roxane sang were fierce and powerful, and she not only brought it but brang it. Ms. Radvanovsky has not the most gorgeous voice, but properly implemented it throughout every single scene, and pushed along the narrative line when the libretto failed in parts. She's had the good fortune to successfully weather a three year run of the same production, already singing the role @ The Metropolitan Opera in both 2005 & 2006, and at the Royal Opera House in 2006, all opposite Domingo. She choose her acting well, and used her limbs very practiced, posed, and careful. She was passionate and reserved at the same time.
(Above: Franco Alfano's Cyrano de Bergerac in the Francesca Zambello production. Act II. Photo credit: Ken Howard. Source.)
Francesca Zambello's elegant and complex direction paid careful attention every single entity on stage. Every extra from the bakers to the soldiers had been given specific direction, and carried out with great acting their sub-minor roles. The effect was very Les Mis, where the chorus was pushed into a prominent thrust of the action, and the Scala chorus and extras delivered fabulously, void of hamminess or eye-rolling mockery. Appealing romantic costumes were generalized and idealized like Disney's Robin Hood with a touch of elegance.
(Above: Franco Alfano's Cyrano de Bergerac in the Francesca Zambello production. Act III. Photo credit: Ken Howard. Source.)
The other stars of the night, Pietro Spagnoli as De Guiche, Simone Alberghini as Carbon, and German Villar as Christian were all well enough supporting singers, but the attention was all on Domingo and Radvanovsky.
As for Placido The Minger, OC thinks it's lame to speak about his waning voice, because it's glaring, a given, that a man approaching his 70s couldn't retain his former glory -- although peeking through you still get those moments of beauty and flight that Domingo once mastered (like in Act I's "Ballade du duel" or Act II's "Ce sont les cadets de Gascogne". A contemporary of Bruson and Nucci, Domingo has refused to slow down, and still can support the role of a much younger tenor, believably sprite and graceful, albeit a bit tired. Lucky for him, the role is not terribly physical nor does it demand lots of singing aside from the last stirring act.
(Above: Franco Alfano's Cyrano de Bergerac in the Francesca Zambello production. Act III. Photo credit: Ken Howard. Source.)
We left the theater knowing that Placido Domingo will soon hang up his performaning hat, so to still catch him on stage is something really quite spectacular. HE WAS THE BEST THEN HE IS THE BEST NOW NO ONE CAN TOUCH THAT $H1T BY0TCH$
Now go enjoy yourselves some nice b00tleggian clips that our YouTube opera brethren have uploaded of the very same Franco Alfano's Cyrano de Bergerac Domingo/Zambello/Radvanovsky production from MET 2005/2006 and ROH 2006.
Act I: SWASHBUCKLING DOMINGO!
Act II: DOMINGO THE K0çK-BLOCKER!
Act III: DOMINGO -- HE DAED!
