Opera Philadelphia’s The Anonymous Lover is lighter than air

United StatesUnited States Bologne, The Anonymous Lover: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of Opera Philadelphia / Kalena Bovell (conductor). Opera Philadelphia, Academy of Music, Philadelphia, 31.1.2025. (RP)

Ashley Marie Robillard (Jeanette) and Joshua Blue (Colin) © Johanna Austin

Production:
Director – Dennis Whitehead Darling
Scenic coordinator – Baron E. Pugh
Costumes – Leslie Travers
Lighting – Driscoll Otto
Choreographer & Assistant director – Felicity Stiverson
Chorus master – Elizabeth Braden

Cast:
Léontine – Symone Harcum
Valcour – Travon D. Walker
Ophémon – Johnathan McCullough
Dorothée – Sun-Ly Pierce
Jeannette – Ashley Marie Robillard
Colin – Joshua Blue

A youthful, winning cast captured the charms and delights of Joseph Bologne’s The Anonymous Lover for Opera Philadelphia. First performed in Paris in 1780, this is Bologne’s only surviving opera and was the most popular during his lifetime.

Born in 1745 in the French Caribbean colony of Guadeloupe, Bologne – also known as the Chevalier de Saint-Georges – was one of the most celebrated composers of the eighteenth century. He was the son of a wealthy plantation owner and a sixteen-year-old enslaved girl from Senegal, and after his father brought Bologne and his mother to Paris where she gained her freedom, he began his studies. American President John Adams described Bologne as ‘the most accomplished man in Europe in riding, shooting, fencing, dancing and music’.

The Anonymous Lover, or L’Amant anonyme, is a comédie mêlée d’ariettes, a form of opéra comique that includes spoken dialogue, popular with Parisian audiences during the waning years of the Ancien Régime. Opera Philadelphia used Kirsten Greenidge’s witty English adaptation of Desfontaines-Lavallée’s libretto based on a play by Madame de Genlis.

The light-hearted romance centers on Valcour’s love for Léontine, a wealthy young widow. Believing that she could never reciprocate his love, Valcour has showered her with anonymous gifts and love letters. Gathering up his courage, Valcour writes a note to accompany a bouquet, suggesting she carry it to an upcoming wedding celebration. If she does, it will signify her interest in the unnamed suitor. Otherwise, he will leave her alone.

Léontine, urged by her friend Dorothée, agrees to carry the flowers to the wedding. Ophémon, in the meantime, urges his friend Valcour to stop with the posturing and openly declare his love for Léontine. There are still a few twists and turns on the pathway to true love, but Valcour ultimately reveals his identity as the ‘Anonymous One’. They decide to marry immediately, joining Jeanette and Colin, a young village couple, in a double wedding.

Dennis Whitehead Darling’s simple, straightforward staging served nicely for this modestly scaled work. There was sufficient period furniture and detail to evoke late-eighteenth-century France, and upholstered side panels served to add warmth and focus the action.

[l-r] Travon D. Walker (Valcour), Sun-Ly Pierce (Dorothée), Johnathan McCullough (Ophémon), and Symone Harcum (Léontine) © Johanna Austin

As Léontine, Symone Harcum exuded warmth and a certain reserve, which made the young woman’s reluctance to accede to the mystery suitor’s entreaties all the more believable. With her sumptuous spinto soprano, Harcum filled out Bologne’s melodies with luscious sound and perfectly sculpted phrases. When called upon, Harcum could also toss off sparkling, lighter-than-air runs.

Travon D. Walker’s Valcour was a mess of muddled emotions, but his smooth, honey-colored tenor was always true. One could imagine a Valcour with more joie de vivre and less angst, but Walker’s singing compensated for that shortfall.

Sun-Ly Pierce and Johnathan McCullough Ophémon are wonderful comedic actors and gave rich characterizations of Bologne’s Dorothée and Ophémon. Married in real life, Ashley Marie Robillard and Joshua Blue chewed up the stage as Jeanette and Colin, whose impending marriage sets the stage for Léontine and Valcour to come together.

Kalena Bovell, a winner of the 2024 Sphinx Medal of Excellence and a 2022-2024 Awardee of the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship, is a conductor on the move in both the US and internationally, and she instilled Bologne’s score with lighter-than-air effervescence. The strings, in particular, played with grace and elan, adding a classic elegance to the performance, and the chorus lit up the stage with their high spirits and full-bodied singing.

The audience exited the Academy of Music in high spirits, with more than one person remarking what a fun evening it had been and that no one died at the end. Opera Philadelphia judged the timing of Bologne’s romantic comedy just right.

Rick Perdian

Leave a Comment