If scenery could sing - Puccini's Girl of the Golden West

Sometimes an opera is memorable for the brilliance of the singing; sometimes it’s the conducting; sometimes the staging. In the case of La Fanciulla del West, it is Michael Scott’s sets and costumes that linger in my mind a week after the performance. One has the sense of the Wild West all the way through, from the miner’s Polka Saloon in Act I to Minnie’s rustic mountain cabin in Act II and finally a street scene in a California Gold Rush town for Act III. The sense of verisimilitude is absolutely essential to overcome the preposterous idea of cowboys singing in Italian. Somehow it is easier to accept American naval officers in Japan singing in Italian, or even Chinese empresses. But cowboys on their own turf? Give us some help here!

That being said, Puccini’s opera is well-loved as well as well-laughed at; although not often performed it is generally well-attended. It is missing the lovely romantic arias that our ears yearn to hear, but it does offer intensely dramatic orchestration and rich harmonic textures. Whose heart does not pound in time with the insistent plucking of the basses during the fateful card game! The bass clarinet and the harps are put to excellent use.

The cast worked well as an ensemble with the all-male chorus doing their customary excellent work, as did all the comprimario roles. Covering for an indisposed Deborah Voigt was Portuguese soprano Elisabete Matos whose appealing voice and fine acting won over the audience, although Nicola Luisotti’s enthusiastic conducting drowned her out at times.



Marcello Giordani has sounded better, but he has also sounded worse. What happened to his moustache part way through???? Lucio Gallo lent his substantial baritone to the role of the sheriff and Keith Miller did his customary fine job as the Wells Fargo agent.

The staging was awkward in places, especially with regard to the horses. If Minnie and Ramerrez rode off together in the sunset it was not visible from the balcony. A particularly magical moment was when the snow fell on Minnie’s cabin. Indeed, a verismo opera demands a realistic set and in this case it got one. Let us hope that the Met won’t hire some egotistical director who finds some obscure symbolism or subtext in this simple tale of the redemptive power of love. The sets are perfect just as they are and really and truly sing of the Wild West.

-- Meche Kroop for The Opera Insider