How would a modern-day psychiatrist diagnose the 18th Century rake, Don Giovanni, who feels compelled to seduce every woman he meets? Obsessive compulsive? Sex addict?
Leave it to Mozart and librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte to transform the story of a man who burns in hell as payment for his debauchery into an opera that both moves us and makes us laugh.
And laugh we do when Don Giovannis servant rhymes off his masters conquests to one of his loved-and-discarded women: 640 in Italy, 231 in Germany, 100 in France, 91 in Turkey and 1,003 in Spain. (Don Giovannis goal that night is to add another 12.) Theres horror in the numbers but also a begrudging admiration.
The Vancouver Operas co-production with the Banff Centre is magnificently seductive, too. The lushness of the orchestration, the depth and power of the singers voices and the vibrancy of the staging are intricately woven together at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre.
In all but the penultimate hell scene, its a fairly classic re-telling of Mozart and Da Pontes retelling of Molieres Don Juan. While Da Ponte makes us laugh, he's priming us to feel the full intensity of Mozart's journey into the world jealousy, remorse, revenge, dread.
Mozart was never easy on his singers, especially the women, and his music pushes their range towards superhuman demands. On opening night March 1, bass baritones Daniel Okulitch (Don Giovanni), Stephen Hegedus (Leporello) and Giles Tomkins (The Commendatore), Vancouver soprano Erin Wall (Donna Anna), mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabo (Donna Elvira), tenor Colin Ainsworth (Don Ottavio), baritone Aaron Durand (Masetto), and soprano Rachel Fenlon (Zerlina) rose to the challenge. They not only matched the technical skill required but they fully explored the musics emotional depths.
The Vancouver Opera Orchestra, conducted by Steuart Bedford, pulled off both the delicate plucking of heartstrings and gale-force ferocity of unfettered passions.
The only wish is that there had been a little more of all of them but what the performance lacked in volume it made up for in sheer theatrical presence.
Which brings us to the hell scene. Instead of having the ghostly, vengeful figure of the Commendatore appear on stage, the Vancouver Opera and Banff Centre turned to video designer Bob Bonninol to help us realize what a powerful concept hell would have been to Mozart and Da Ponte.
Today were much more into the all-will-be-forgiven idea of heaven, choosing to ignore what until recently had been its behaviour-affecting counterpart. But hell used to be a very real place in peoples minds.
As Don Giovanni begins to realize the fate that awaits him, a molten mass descends on the massive backdrop think of statues being poured and then consumed by hot, liquid metal. Because it happens slowly, the dread builds as gradually as Don Giovannis terror while the Commendatores controlled rage condemns him to the fiery depths. Theres no escaping for either Don Giovanni or the audience hell is not a nice place.
But dont worry. Watching this production of Don Giovanni is still a taste of heaven on earth.
Don Giovanni continues its run at the Queen Elizabeth on March 6, 7 and 8 at 7:30pm (it runs for almost three and a half hours) and a 2pm matinee on March 9. Tickets start at $65 and are available at VancouverOpera.ca.
