Still digesting the “Fidelio” I saw on Good Friday. The first opera - and first Beethoven - I ever cared for.
It’s seems more relevant now than ever. Will there come a time when audiences will not thrill to the scene of a tyrant collapsing because honorable people have the courage to stand up and say, “Enough”?
The singers and orchestra were superb. The music was bold, bright and clear. The first act quartet, Leonora’s solo, the chorus of prisoners, Florestan’s solo were magnificent, piercing.
The production in effect gave each of the principal parts to two performers – a singer and an actor signing in American Sign Language. They generally – but not always – kept close to each other. The singers tended to wear mostly white, abstract multi-part robes, in contrast to the signing actors, who wore interpretations of 18th century costumes in colorful textiles. The actors signed and mimed as their counterparts sang. The spoken dialogue interludes were done entirely in sign, in silence. The signing chorus sat in the seats on both sides of the stage, with the white-robed Coro de Manos Blancas signing their words on stage.
The first few minutes were confusing. There was a lot going on: the orchestra, the singers, the signing, the supertitles projected above the stage, German, English, ASL. But all you had to do - all you wanted to do - was focus on the actors. You didn’t need to look at the singers – you could hear them loud and clear – and the signing and miming were articulate, even for illiterates like me. A glance every not and then at the supertitles sufficed.
The Leonore soprano Christiane Libor was tremendous. She filled the hall without harshness.
Russell Harvard, the signing Rocco, was so amusing he almost derailed the show. Likewise Gregor Lopez (Jaquino). I had forgotten that the work begins in a comic mode. But the comedy quickly turns sour, as soon as you realize that Fidelio (Leonora) is deceiving and manipulating all these amusing comic characters.
I wish I knew more about signing. It seemed to unfold in a broad, expressive and highly choreographed manner. Is this the signing equivalent of an aria? The actors did seem to be doing the repetitions of phrases that are a feature of the music. Also the ensemble pieces, when each of the principal is singing different words and projecting a different mood – they seemed to be presenting the conflict with vivid clarity.
The signing provided a solution to the problem of the spoken dialogue. Should it be done in German or English? Both are jarring. Here, it was done in beautiful gestures.
The doubling of the characters grew in significance as the piece unfolded. It’s a story of disguise and deception. Characters are divided. Characters also grow and change. It was electrifying to see this embodied on stage.
But what was the effect for the deaf audience? There were signing people all over the theater – probably a lot of first time visitors to Disney Hall. Without the music, I would suspect the story would seem absurdly repetitious and slow-moving. But there was a wild acclamation at the end, with the deaf audience members waving their wide-open palms in the air – the deaf “applause” sign.
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