Chicago.

An epithet Chicago Opera Theater has pinned on itself recently is "Opera Less Ordinary." I wish it would consider "Opera Less Vulgar." Alas, that connotation no longer carries its sting of yore. Objections to the Don Giovanni seen Apr. 30 are not aimed so much at its vulgarity, though it had that aplenty, but at the innovations of director Diane Paulus, which were more distracting than anything else. Conductor Jane Glover said at a lecture that the idea was to present the opera with the shock value it originally had. But it doesn't make sense to have Donna Anna, toward the end of the Overture, gleefully submit to the Don's animal-style lovemaking in full view of the cast, and then have her father come forward to defend her honor. Or to have her affianced Don Ottavio practically rape her as she sings the ethereal "Non mir dir." Or to have the six remaining principals at the finale, after cheerfully singing their righteous moral, be led off in handcuffs by the police for being accessories to the murder of Giovanni. Talk about working against the music--although that actually was well served. When a Zerlina walks away with the vocal honors, that's news--and that's what mezzo Isabel Leonard did, though Canadian soprano Rhoslyn Jones as Donna Anna was also distinguished, all the more so in view of the silly staging imposed on her. Fellow Canadian Krisztina Szabo did not fare as well with Elvira--perhaps her difficulties lie in not deciding whether she is a mezzo or a soprano. The baritones and basses for the Don, Leporello, and Masetto (Iain Paterson, Matt Boehler and Ben Wager, respectively) were vocally upstaged by, of all characters, Andrew Funk's Commendatore. Oddly, Canadian tenor Michael Colvin was better in the more difficult "Il mio Tesoro," which he sang exquisitely, than in "Dallasua Pace," whose long musical line was not grasped. Despite her (to me) misplaced defence of the production, it must be admitted that Jane Glover conducted marvellously.

In Handel's day, there may have been a strict hierarchy regarding prima donna, secunda donna and so forth, but in Chicago Opera Theater's production of Orlando, seen May 28, the secundos took first place vocally. These were two Canadians--soprano Andriana Chuchman and countertenor David Trudgen. The former delivered Dorinda's music flawlessly and charmingly, while the latter's rich, firm tones trumped another countertenor, Tim Mead, who sang the title role with the requisite agility, but a bit more effort.

As his innamorata, Kate Mangiameli's tone was less than sweet. Oliver Neal Medina was generally good, with a bit of need to anchor the low-lying passages of Zoroaster's music. Jane Glover drew immaculate playing from her orchestra. Before our present-day Baroque revival, those operas may have been perceived as dramatically static, but Justin Way's staging was no solution. Yes, there was a great deal of movement, but it stemmed from having the setting's myriad sections (pillars, doorways, alcoves) shift this way and that with no discernible meaning.