To compare the two tenors currently performing in San Diego Opera’s production of “Cavalleria rusticana and I Pagliacci” is to search in vain for appropriate similes: If Richard Leech is Gainsborough, Jose Cura is Goya. If Richard Leech is pot roast, Jose Cura is carne asada. If both are hams, one is cured in America, the other imported from a damp, exotic place where pigs still dig truffles from the floor of the forest. If Richard Leech is smooth sailing, Jose Cura is a tornado that sucks the breath out of the listener and creates howlers out of staid San Diegans who theretofore tittered inappropriately at various moments in the rarely experienced tragic melodrama of these verismo operas. Each tenor has his virtues, evident opening night March 22.
Seasoned conductor Eduardo Mueller is in the pit, and director Lotfi Mansouri is responsible for the colorful and innovative staging on separate sets designed by John Coyne and costumed by Ed Kotare. Michael Whitfield’s lighting is extraordinary, giving one a real sense of each rustic locale. Chorus members sing well and each seems to have developed a dramatic character, adding much early 20th century flavor.
The curtain’s rise on “Cavalleria” finds Leech’s Turiddu in Lola’s second floor bedroom at dawn on Easter Sunday. Married during Turiddu’s military service, Lola (Sarah Castle) has taken up with him again. Behind a scrim and accompanied only by a faraway harp, Leech had a “pitchy” start indeed. One presumes that to hear under these circumstances is a challenge. As the evening progresses, Leech grows more assured vocally. As always, the listener admires his secure, lustrous top voice.
Turiddu is seen leaving Lola’s by his current girlfriend, the pregnant Santuzza (soprano Carter Scott). Crestfallen, Santuzza tells Turiddu’s Mamma Lucia (Judith Christin) and also spills the beans to Lola’s husband, Alfio (Irish baritone Bruno Caproni). Knowing that he will be killed in the resulting duel, Turiddu, who’s been drinking all day, begs Mamma Lucia to take care of Santuzza, and the opera proceeds to a tragic conclusion.
Extremely attractive and a good actor, Scott possesses a lovely quality in the high pianissimo range. The voice sounds a bit frayed in the middle, however, as if pushed too hard once upon a time. Caproni is a disappointment as Alfio, whom one expects to be all Italianate machismo, vocally and dramatically. His vocal point and diction were ill-defined in the swaggering entrance aria, “Il cavallo scalpita.”
One dreaded hearing Caproni’s Tonio in “I Pagliacci” (Caproni is the only artist singing in both operas); however, his “Prologue” was simply stunning, with all the high notes and cantabile the aria requires. He further redeemed himself with fine singing and acting throughout the opera.
If Cura as Canio, the tragic titular clown, was a major draw, soprano Elizabeth Futral, as Canio’s wife, Nedda, was certainly a bonus worth the price of admission. Seen here in “A Streetcar Named Desire,” the internationally acclaimed Futral made her role debut in a part tailor-made for her beauty, acting ability and ravishing lyric soprano. As her lover, Silvio, Scott Hendricks displayed bright baritone and convincing ardor. But it was Cura’s evening all the way. So assured is his performance it’s almost as if intentionally casual. See me. I can do this. It’s easy. In “Vesti la giubba” he tosses off high notes traditionally held by others because they’re hard to release. He holds other high notes ad infinitum, to the edge of credibility and self-indulgence (one imagines the two maestros, Cura and Mueller, duking it out over this), simply because he is able to and we are willing to listen for as long as it lasts, hopefully forever.
The same applies to Cura’s dramatic interpretation of the jealousy-crazed clown, thrilling, outrageous and ultimately heartbreaking. Further, the artist knows how to ingratiate himself to fans, pulling one of the chorus children (he’s a papa himself) forward for a bow, an act that elicited “awwws” from the audience.
“Cavalleria rusticana and I Pagliacci” continue at 8 p.m. Friday, March 28, 2 p.m. Sunday, March 30, and 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 2, at the Civic Theatre, 202 C St. For tickets and information, visit www.sdopera.com or call (619) 533-7000.
