By: Bela Bartók and Béla Balázs; Arnold Schönberg and Marie Pappenheim
At: Chicago Opera Theater at Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph
Phone: 312-334-7777; $35-$120
Runs through: May 19
BY SCOTT C. MORGAN
Chicago Opera Theater's double bill of one-act operas is a stunner, plain and simple. The common pairing of Bartók's 1911 Duke Bluebeard's Castle with Schönberg's 1909 Erwartung ( Anticipation ) play marvelously against each other, and Chicago Opera Theater delivers the dramatic and musical goods.
Though in his 60s, superstar bass Samuel Ramey once again proves to be unrivaled as the macabre Bluebeard. Rigid with imperial authority and grounded with his imposing bass, Ramey spars wonderfully with mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabó as Bluebeard's new wife, Judith.
Director Ken Cazan effectively stages the deadly back-and-forth game of Pandora's box between the two. Szabó's physicality—as Judith clutching and caressing Ramey's stiff Bluebeard—is pervasive, particularly as each of the castle's seven locked doors ( located in the floor in this production ) reveal a new wonder and horror ( culminating in his scary late wives in bruise-colored reds, yellows and blues ) .
It's safe to guess that the budget went mostly to the singers' salaries. Production designer Peter Harrison's sets are mostly hanging black backdrops speckled with silver paint. But the simplicity allows the singers to come to the forefront of the drama. Most importantly, the audience's imagination is fully engaged to visualize each door's vision, especially with Adam Silverman's multicolored lighting, which utilizes bright gels and misty patterns.
But as much as I loved the sparring of Ramey and Szabó, they sometimes couldn't muscle past the huge orchestra finely conducted by Alexander Platt. That's a flaw, since the seven floor doors of Bluebeard's Castle most likely ate into the typical orchestra space that is under the stage.
With more of the musicians forced out into the auditorium ( with several rows of seats removed to accommodate Bartók's huge orchestra ) , the orchestra sometimes overpowered the singers. ( Perhaps it's because I was seated up close because I could always hear the ping of their voices bouncing back from the back of the auditorium. )
I experienced no such problems with Schönberg's mono-drama, Erwartung, though it probably has a smaller orchestration. Anyone who disparages 12-tone music should see Nancy Gustafson's lacerating take on the crazed woman who may or may not be responsible for her lover's death.
The style of music is perfect for the crazed role, especially as Gustafson wraps herself in an off-kilter black curtain while later prodding the dead body. Director Cazan breaks staging traditions by putting an actual dead body on stage and moving everything from the libretto's forest setting to a suggestively wealthy manor house.
But these changes only make the woman seem just as crazy and unstable. Besides, there is no blood on Gustafson's dress or any sight of a murder weapon, so she may have gone crazy from discovering the body instead of jabbing it herself.
Either way, the time enjoyably flew by in COT's double operatic bill. Go see it for great dramatic singing, orchestral playing and acting ( though try not to get a seat too close to the submerging sound of the orchestra ) .