Diana's Garden - Minnesota Opera at the Ordway (Dress Rehearsal/Preview)

I attended my first Social Media Preview night for Minnesota Opera's production of "Diana's Garden" last night. It was Social Media Preview as well as a final Dress Rehearsal for the cast and production team. What this means is that what audience was there (for free) was sitting in the mezzanine of the Ordway, while the front portion (the Orchestra) and the first few rows of the mezzanine were reserved for the production team. This included a large table for the director and others, video cameras, folks running around taking photos, etc. As with all rehearsals there was a possibility of it stopping to fix something, or to go back and rework anything that may go wrong. Last night there was only one stop and I have no idea why - the rehearsal/performance was great.

Graphic by Kristin Backman

The opera is a little known, and little produced work by Vicente Martín y Soler with a libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte. Da Ponte may be recognized as one of the librettists for three of Mozart's best known operas - Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro, and Cosí fan tutte. Martín y Soler was writing music at the same time as Mozart so the sound of the opera is familiar. Musically the opera is very much like Mozart - both vocally and instrumentally. There are gorgeous arias, trios, duets, along with recitatives. It is a charming story about three men who somehow end up on the island of Cintia where Diana (the goddess of hunting and virtue) lives and has a garden. In this garden is a tree with golden apples. The tree is a symbol of chastity. Living with Diana are three nymphs who are to remain chaste and pure. So...three beautiful nymphs, three men who shouldn't be there, the goddess Diana, and for fun - throw in Amore (Cupid). Hijinx ensue.

Graphic by Kristin Backman

The cast is fantastic. The three nymphs (Britomarte played by Alexandra Razskazoff, Clizia played by Gina Perregrino, and Cloe played by Nadia Fayad) create a gorgeous trio made of a soprano and two mezzos (respectively). They were perfectly playful and wonderful to watch and listen to throughout the evening. The perfect counterpoint was created by the trio of gentlemen. Doristo (sung by the fantastic and resounding bass-baritone Craig Colclough) plays the comic relief with great physical comedy and some great falsetto.  Silvio (sung by lyric tenor David Walton) entered with Endimione (sung by lyric tenor Alek Shrader) and the pair were perfectly cast. They played off each other so well, and sounded incredible together. Shrader also ended up becoming a highlight of the evening due to his arias. His character Endimione falls in love with Diana (sung by the luminous soprano Leah Partridge). Besides an amazing duet in Act Two with Shrader, Partridge has an gorgeous aria in Act One that personally...I am calling the Martini Aria. Perfectly staged and sung. Playing the perfect counterpoint and foil to Diana was Amore (sung with joy by mezzo-soprano Adriana Zabala). The overall tone of the opera is a charming discussion/fight between the chaste/pure (Diana), and love/passion (Amore). It is gorgeous, charming, funny, sweet, and has a perfect ending.

Graphic by Kristin Backman

The orchestra lead by Michael Christie sounded great. The staging by Peter Rothstein (of Theater Latté Da fame) was perfect. He found humor where there was humor, serious love and passion - all following the music. I thought last night of how Maria Callas would always say that she knew exactly how the character she was playing would act, move, etc because the music would tell her. In the same way, Rothstein seems to know exactly how to direct an opera because everything happening on stage and in the characters was matched perfectly to the music. The single set was fantastic. Beautiful painting across the back and side walls, trophy heads on the walls, the single tree with golden apples that lit up and sang, a back panel at the center that opened, turned, raised...perfect. Add to that two chandeliers that slowly raised at the start of the opera, a scrim with a painting hanging on it, and gorgeous curtains for intermission - you end up having a set and lighting (both by Paul Whitaker) that work perfectly with the opera and the story. The final touches were added by the gorgeous 50's style costuming by Alice Fredrickson. Nymphs in beautiful dresses poofed out with crinolines, Diana in very fitted dress suits, the men in jeans (some with rolled up cuffs), and Amore in a variety of floral printed ensembles. Check out the MN Opera page for drawings of the set and costumes.

Graphic by Kristin Backman

Though a final Dress Rehearsal, the evening was a great evening of music and incredible singing. The Social Media Preview night is more casual than other performance nights. Not that the audience was walking around during the performance, but the "dress code" was casual, as was the atmosphere. From what I could tell the audience was made up of friends, family, other singer/performers, and those of us in Social Media. Maybe I have higher expectations but I certainly didn't expect there to be as much whispering and talking during the rehearsal as I heard from the audience. Despite that (and the lack of programs), I would recommend seeing this production at some point during its run. It runs 2 hours and 29 min (including one intermission), and plays Jan 21 - 29. It is a great way to spend a winter's evening...or any evening.

note: all images taken from the MN Opera website