When the curtain goes up on the Lyric Opera`s 37th season this weekend with a gala performance of Boito`s ”Mefistofele,” Ardis Krainik`s much-celebrated formula for running a fiscally healthy, artistically responsible theater will again be put to the test.
The general director`s formula may be a relatively simple one, but thus far its efficacy seems to have eluded the Metropolitan and several other big domestic companies still firmly in thrall to the conservative dictates of their subscribers.
First, take a handful of standard 19th Century operas that you know your public will want to see and cast them with the finest singers available. Then, surround these bread-and-butter 19th Century favorites with a few unusual 20th Century works that are produced up to the standards governing the
”Butterflys” and ”Figaros.”
Finally, arrange this repertoire in subscription packages that make the esoteric operas as much of a must-see as the warhorses. Sell aggressively to a public that wants to believe the Lyric is the finest opera company in the land.
Voila! You have a record 33,500 subscribers snapping up tickets for Lyric`s 70 performances, swelling company coffers to the tune of $11.7 million for a season that runs through Feb. 2.
Add single ticket sales to that figure and you end up with a season that is 99 percent sold weeks before Samuel Ramey dons his red patent-leather dancing shoes to portray the devilish title role in ”Mefistofele.”
It takes no daring prognosticator to predict that the 1991-92 season probably will equal or even surpass the two previous years, when Lyric sold 103 percent of its capacity (thanks to ticket turnbacks) and wound up securely in the black. Still, you don`t sustain a reputation as a major opera producer simply by the number of seats you fill. In opera it`s what`s on stage that really matters.
Here, then, is an overview of the 37th season (with recommended recordings):
Boito: ”Mefistofele.” Eight performances, opened Saturday and closes Oct. 7.
The production, directed by Robert Carsen and designed by Michael Levine, outraged certain West Coast critics but delighted audiences when it debuted at the San Francisco Opera in 1989. Everyone agreed, however, that Ramey was terrific as the devil.
The Lyric has produced Boito`s ”Faust” opera twice before, most recently in 1965. This time around, Aprile Millo (Margherita) and Mary Jane Johnson (Helen of Troy) will play the two women in Faust`s life.
Millo, the reigning diva of the Met`s Italian wing, is making her belated Lyric debut. Kristjan Johannsson and Alberto Cupido will share the tenor role. Bruno Bartoletti, Lyric`s artistic director, who is marking his 35th season with the company, will conduct.
Recommended recording: The new one on Sony Classical, starring Ramey and Eva Marton and conducted by the late Giuseppe Patane, is a good buy (2 CDs).
Barber: ”Antony and Cleopatra.” Eight performances, Sept. 25 through Oct. 18.
The time is undoubtedly ripe to reassess the merits of Samuel Barber`s final opera, a critical flop at its world premiere in 1966 when it opened the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. Six years later Barber extensively revised the work, and it is in this form that Lyric is presenting it, with Catherine Malfitano and Richard Cowan singing the title roles.
Richard Buckley will conduct, in a new production directed by Elijah Moshinsky, with designs by Michael Yeargan. Public television will videotape the Lyric production for national airing on its ”Great Performances Series,” date to be announced.
Recommended recording: Only one exists, based on live performances at Italy`s Spoleto Festival, starring Esther Hinds and Jeffrey Wells. Christian Badea conducts (New World, 2 CDs).
Mozart: ”The Marriage of Figaro.” Eight performances, Oct. 12 through Nov. 2.
The third show of the season is a revival of Peter Hall`s cherishable version of 1987 with nearly the same cast: Ramey as Figaro, Frederica von Stade as Cherubino, Felicity Lott as the Countess and William Shimell as Count Almaviva, with Marie McLaughlin and Janice Hall sharing the part of Susanna. Andrew Davis will be back as conductor. Designs are by John Bury. Don`t miss this one.
Recommended recording: If you wish to hear Ramey and Von Stade in their Lyric roles, Georg Solti`s vigorously paced set is for you (London, 3 CDs). The best recording ever made of ”Nozze di Figaro,” however, comes on two midprice EMI Angel CDs and features the dream cast of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Giuseppe Taddei, Eberhard Waechter, Anna Moffo and Fiorenza Cossotto, with Carlo Maria Giulini at the top of his elegant Mozartean form.
Bellini: ”I Puritani.” Nine performances, Oct. 23 through Nov. 12.
Love and madness in puritan Scotland. Bellini`s vocally ravishing bel canto work has been revived for a host of modern divas including Maria Callas, Beverly Sills and Joan Sutherland. Now it`s June Anderson`s turn. As the temporarily mad Elvira, the American soprano (heard here last season as the mad Lucy of ”Lucia di Lammermoor”) will be partnered with tenor Chris Merritt as Lord Arthur Talbot. The Metropolitan Opera production, designed by Ming Cho Lee, will be staged by Sandro Sequi. Donato Renzetti conducts.
Recommended recording: Callas is in a class by herself (EMI, 2 CDs), but for a musically forthright ”Puritani” in modern sound, the one with Sutherland and Luciano Pavarotti, Richard Bonynge conducting, is probably the safest overall recommendation (London, 3 CDs).
Prokofiev: ”The Gambler.” Eight performances, Nov. 9 through Dec. 1.
The devastating conflict between love and gambling is the subject of this wry and fascinating opera, the first European entry in Lyric`s 10-year
”Toward the 21st Century” artistic initiative. Based on a short novel by Dostoevsky, the opera dates from Prokofiev`s student years but was heavily revised in 1927-28. The world premiere came in 1929.
”The Gambler” has never made much headway with Western theaters, so its appearance in Chicago-a city that enjoys a long and notable association with Prokofiev`s music-is something to anticipate. No less than 31 singers will make up Lyric`s ensemble, headed up by Jacque Trussel as Alexey, Sheri Greenawald as his lover Pauline, Stephen West as the General and Felicity Palmer as the Grandmother.
The production, from Florence`s Teatro Comunale, will reunite practiced Prokofievan Bartoletti with director Liviu Ciulei, who brought us a memorable Shostakovich ”Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” in 1983.
Recommended recording: Slim pickings here. In the absence of a superior Soviet recording conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky, the catalog offers only a roughly sung rendition (the cast is afflicted with Slavonic wobble) under Alexander Lazarev`s direction (Olympia, 2 CDs).
Donizetti: ”The Elixir of Love.” Nine performances, Nov. 27 through Dec. 21.
It seems slightly redundant for the Lyric to be uncorking Donizetti`s sparkling brew so soon after Ravinia did the same thing last June in a concert version starring Pavarotti and Kathleen Battle. But Cecilia Gasdia is a canny charmer as Adina and Jerry Hadley can be expected to deliver the vocal goods as the bashful country bumpkin who would wed her. Antonio Pappano conducts in the familiar Lyric production (last presented here in 1981), directed by Giulio Chazalettes and designed by Ulisse Santicchi.
Recommended recording: If you want an ”original cast” memento of the Ravinia performance, head for the new DG set (two CDs), a Met production that stars Battle and Pavarotti under the inspiriting baton of James Levine.
Puccini: ”Madame Butterfly.” Ten performances, Dec. 14 through Jan. 25. This will mark the third go-round here for Broadway director Hal Prince`s Kabuki-style production, originally mounted in 1982. Malfitano returns for her second assignment of the season as Cio-Cio-San, who loves the fickle Pinkerton (Richard Leech) not wisely but all too well. Daniele Gatti will make his company debut in the pit.
Recommended recording: In a crowded field, Callas and Scotto (both EMI Angel) and Tebaldi (London) all bring memorably distinctive qualities to the title role. But for the most vocally and orchestrally luxuriant performance, no recording can top conductor Herbert von Karajan`s 1974 taping, with Pavarotti and Mirella Freni in splendid fettle (London, 3 CDs).
Puccini: ”Turandot.” Ten performances, Jan. 11 through Feb. 2.
Incredibly enough, Lyric has not staged Puccini`s unfinished essay in Italianate chinoiserie in more than two decades-a reflection, no doubt, of the dearth of sopranos possessing sufficient lung power for the title role.
Lyric not only is bringing us the world`s reigning Turandot, Eva Marton, but also is mounting a new production designed by the renowned visual artist David Hockney in collaboration with Ian Falconer. These performances will mark Hockney`s Lyric debut.
Galina Savova will sing the Ice Princess for two performances Jan. 28 and 31, while Lando Bartolini will impersonate Calaf in 8 of the 10 performances. The role of Liu will be shared by Lucia Mazzaria and Catherine Malfitano. Bartoletti will conduct, with William Farlow directing.
Recommended recording: Marton, Lyric`s Turandot, melts under the ardent attentions of Jose Carreras` Calaf, with Lorin Maazel keeping the emotional temperature equally hot in the pit (CBS Masterworks, 2 CDs). But the
”Turandot” of choice remains the stellar production featuring Birgit Nilsson, Renata Tebaldi and Jussi Bjoerling, Erich Leinsdorf conducting (RCA Victor, 2 CDs).
