Piazza Navona

Tunes, tunes, and more tunes! How rare to hear a contemporary opera that holds your ear and doesn’t let go. Christof Bergman has written a contemporary opera buffa replete with charming arias, duets and ensembles. Opera Manhattan Repertory Theatre has given us an abridged version of this tale of some denizens of a Roman restaurant, a version that left one hungry for more. The piano score was well-played by Violetta Zabbi and the roles were finely sung by a rotating cast of enthusiastic young singers who would have profited by a firmer directorial hand, some acting coaching, and some consistency of accents.

Although sung in Italian, inarguably the most musical of all languages, quite a bit of singing was replaced by dialogue spoken in English with varying degrees of stereotypical Italian accents and wildly divergent acting styles, varying from wooden to caricature. Presumably, this abridgment served the interest of economy. Economics are always a factor with the shoestring budget of a small company but a few props would have gone a long way to relieve the singers of the need for confusing pantomime. The abridgment also resulted in some confusing moments and lack of continuity. The evolving romances seemed unmotivated and lacking in chemistry. The Italian stage director may have been thinking of pleasing an Italian audience with a different sense of humor.

The plot is featherweight but fits right in with New York’s food obsession. The owner of this restaurant has been alienating his staff and clientele with his increasingly weird concoctions. A modest vocabulary in Italian was helpful in understanding his clever song “Quaglia con Spuma di Bacca”. Anyone who has eaten the creations of a chef addicted to foams could enjoy a good laugh. When the staff learns that a powerful restaurant reviewer is on his way, a plot is invented to lure the owner/chef away from his post, allowing a new waiter with culinary skills to take over the kitchen.

There are a couple romantic subplots that, in this truncated version, went undeveloped but which provided for lots of enjoyable music. And this is music that most of us can relate to, music that delights the ear. It can be hoped that someday we will have a chance to see this opera in its entirety.

Opera Manhattan deserves much credit for giving young artists a chance to perform new roles. Giving new works a chance to be seen is also a worthy endeavor but perhaps it is too heavy a burden to essay both goals at the same time. Nonetheless, it was an entertaining piece of work which deserves a full production at some point.

--Meche Kroop for The Opera Insider