Ireland Wexford Opera Festival 2024 [1] – Mascagni, Le maschere: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of Wexford Festival Opera / Francesco Cilluffo (conductor). O’Reilly Theatre, Wexford, 23.10.2024 (RB)
Production:
Stage director & Designer – Stefano Ricci
Choreographer – Stellario Di Blasi
Lighting designer – Daniele Naldi
Chorus master – Andrew Synott
Cast:
Rosaura – Lavinia Bini
Arlecchino – Benoit Joseph Meier
Colombina – Ioana Constantin Pipelea
Brighella – Gillen Munguia
Il Capitano Spaventa – Matteo Mancini
Dottore Graziano – Rory Musgrave
Florindo – Andrew Morstein
Giocadio – Peter McCamley
Tartaglia – Giorgio Caoduro
Pantalone De’Bisognosi – Mariano Orozco
The theme of this year’s Wexford Opera Festival is ‘Theatre within Theatre’. Each of the three main operas featured a play within a play, so the Wexford audience were able to witness not only the main drama but also some of the backstage drama that unfolds behind the scenes. This offered an opportunity to ‘delve into operas where the act of performance itself becomes central, stories where characters are both the audience and the actors of their own dramas. The theme offers a rich exploration of art imitating life and life imitating art’ (Chairman’s introduction).
The opening opera was Mascagni’s Le maschere (The Masks) which received its premiere in six Italian opera houses simultaneously in 1901. Mascagni had struggled to repeat the success he achieved with Cavalleria rusticana and Le maschere represented a new departure for him into comic opera. The work is a homage to Rossini and traditional opera buffa as well as the commedia dell’arte tradition. It was not well received, and it has been revived very infrequently since.
The title of the opera refers to the masks of the commedia dell’arte. The main plot of the opera revolves around the romantic entanglements of Rosaura and Florindo. Rosaura’s father, Pantalone, tries to marry her off Captain Spaventa (or, in English, Captain Fright). Rosauro and Florindo join forces with Columbina and Brighella to thwart the marriage to Spaventa using a secret powder and other comic machinations. Rosaura’s father concedes to her wishes on condition she produces an heir in nine months.
Mascagni’s music is an intriguing mix of Rossini’s trademark buffa lightness and business and lush late Romanticism. Some of the musical episodes were appealing, particularly the opening Sinfonia and some of the material in the final act. However, the score lacked coherence and the constant shifts between musical styles felt very fragmented.
In the opening Prologue the impresario, Giocadio (played by Peter McCamley in a spoken role) presented his troupe of actors and the main characters they were about to play. The characters were standing at both sides of the theatre auditorium and were all wearing masks and dressed in the traditional costumes of the commedia dell’arte. As the main drama commenced, they dispensed with their masks and traditional costumes and changed into modern suits and dresses. This costume change occurred on the main stage itself both at the beginning and end of the opera. It was a clever idea which underscored the ‘Theatre within Theatre’ theme of the festival.
Stefano Ricci’s production sets the action in a modern Wellness Centre. The sets by Ricci and Eleonora de Leo were inventive and set the right tone and ambience for the opera’s comic proceedings. The Wellness Centre had white walls and a scenic backdrop of plants, lush vegetation and bamboo. A large rectangular mirror dominated the stage and was designed to reflect the characters’ deeper motivations and desires. The mirror also appeared liquid and diaphanous at various points, so it provided a focal point through which to look at the characters. Veils appeared in Act II providing a further mask to the main characters. I liked the idea of using a Wellness spa with its large mirrors and veils to try to reveal more about the internal drives and motivations of the characters. However, Luigi Illica’s libretto did little to flesh out the characters. They remained two dimensional and it was difficult to connect, or to have much sympathy, with them. The production and the performers were necessarily limited in what they could do given the limitations of the material.
I was very impressed with the eye-catching costumes (by Ricci and Assistant Costume Designer Gianluca Sbicca). The traditional costumes of the commedia dell’arte characters were highly inventive and provided a kaleidoscope of colour. The modern suits and dresses were also very colourful and distinctive. At various points the main characters and chorus all wore white towelling robes while receiving treatments in the Wellness Centre. Daniele Naldi’s lighting provided the perfect backdrop for the ongoing action.
The cast all excelled in their respective roles both musically and dramatically. Lavinia Bini was superb in the role of Rosaura, and I loved the beauty and tonal richness she brought to the vocal line. Bini excelled in Mascagni’s lush Romantic music, her voice rising above large orchestral forces. Andrew Morstein gave a passionate performance in the role of Florindo. While this was an accomplished performance, I would have liked greater vocal heft and richer tone colours at various points in the opera. Ioana Constantin Pipelea gave a highly accomplished performance as the resourceful and coquettish Columbina. Tenor, Gillen Munguia, sang his vocal line with effortless ease and contributed well to the ensemble numbers. These two main couples sang as a quartet at various points, and they blended beautifully and exhibited excellent comic timing.
The rest of the cast all acquitted themselves well. Giorgio Caoduro excelled in the role of Tartaglia as he stuttered his way through the opera although not without producing some rapid-fire coloratura. Benoit Joseph Meier was impressive in the role of Arlecchino while Matteo Mancini brought a rich dark baritone voice to the role of Captain Spaventa.
Francesco Cilluffo ensured cast, orchestra and chorus remained on track throughout. The opening Sinfonia was upbeat and boisterous and the light, scampering textures set the scene perfectly for the ensuing comic proceedings. Cilluffo did an excellent job in capturing the distinctive character of the music including the exuberant buffa passages and the rich Romantic interludes. On occasion, the balance between the orchestra and the players was not quite right. The Wexford Festival Chorus acquitted themselves well while Stellario di Blassi’s dancers enhanced the drama in imaginative ways.
Overall, the production team and performers all acquitted themselves well. However, the material in this opera is limited and it does not work either musically or dramatically. So ultimately this opera is not a convincing work.
Robert Beattie