November 22 & 24, 2024
W.E. Scott Theater
Fort Worth, Texas – USA
Mark ADAMO: Little Women
Tyson Deaton, conductor; Claire Choquette, stage director; Mark Adamo, composer & librettist. Cast: Kelly Guerra (Jo March), Mary Feminear (Beth March), Bridget Cappel (Meg March), Megan Koch (Amy March), Charles Calotta (Laurie), Erik Earl Larson (John Brooke), Christopher Curcuruto (Friederich Bhaer), Seth-Emmanuel Clarke (Gideon March/Dashwood), Kaswanna Kanyinda (Cecilia March), Twyla Robinson (Alma March).
Gregory Sullivan Isaacs | 25 NOV 2024
Little Women started its international run as an incredibly popular and much-read 1868’s era novel by Louisa May Alcott. Based on her own family, she writes about four very different sisters growing up and learning about life and love in pre-Civil War New England. Over the years, there have been many cinematic versions of Alcott’s book, with mega-stars in the roles, but this operatic version by composer and librettist Mark Adamo has an independent life of its own.
Adamo’s dramatic take on Alcott’s book premiered in a 1998 production by the Houston Grand Opera, the company that commissioned it. Destined for operatic stardom from the start, this powerful American contemporary opera quickly spread to dozens of distinguished opera houses, both domestic and worldwide. Fort Worth Opera last performed it in 2005, and this welcome return is absolutely terrific, musically and dramatically.
Both the opera and the book revolve around four very close sisters driven by the most dominant sister (and Alcott’s alter-ego), Josephine (Jo) March. She is marvelously portrayed by mezzo-soprano Kelly Guerra, with never-flagging intensity, stage charisma, and lots of vocal fireworks. She perfectly captures Jo’s “tomboyish” gender ambiguity as well as her firm belief that a woman has the right to build her own life with a wage-earning career, unencumbered by the era’s required domestic involvements. Like Alcott herself, she is the writer of the group.
Mezzo-soprano Bridget Cappel ably portrays Margaret (Meg), the most beautiful of the sisters. She dreams of a grander life than the March household offers.
Soprano Mary Feminear inhabits the role of Elizabeth (Beth). She dreams of being a musician and spends a considerable amount of her stage time at the piano (actually played in the orchestra pit.) However, she is sickly with scarlet fever throughout and, most affectingly, dies in the second act.
The lyric coloratura soprano Megan Koch gives a definitive portrayal of Amy, the sister who best understands how to negotiate the treacherous shores of the social graces of the era.
On to the men.
Theodore “Laurie” Laurence is the rich boy from next door who becomes a part of the March family as the best friend to all the sisters. He is portrayed by the very bright-voiced and limber-limbed tenor Charles Calotta. He loves Jo, but she wants no part of it, so he eventually marries the much more suitable Amy.
But Jo finally succumbs, but not to Laurie. It is the ardent and ever-patient German teacher, Friederich, that wins her grudging heart. Bass-baritone Christopher Curcuruto, indeed, presents the kind of irresistible force that Jo requires. Also, he delivers one of the best vocal performances of the show when he sings a setting of Goethe’s poem, “Kennst du das Land,” in both German and English. Jo is dazzled by his stunning rendition (as was the audience).
Meg’s love interest, John Brook, is played by baritone Erik Earl Larson. He has a sturdy voice that is always expressive but somewhat tight at the top.
Filling out the immediate family, baritone Seth-Emmanuel Clarke, a Dallas native, plays Gideon March and mezzo-soprano Twyla Robinson plays his wife, Alma, with patient grace.
The comic relief is wittily delivered in a series of zingers by the big-voiced mezzo-soprano Kaswanna Kanyinda. She plays the rich aunt, Cecilia (who never lets anyone forget that fact). Further, she effortlessly steals every scene that she is in.
Fort Worth Opera’s November 2024 production of Mark Adamo’s opera,
‘Little Women.’ (credit: Forever Photography)
Stage director Claire Choquette keeps the action moving at a rapid-fire pace. Further, she works a miracle by bringing all individual stories to life despite the Scott Theater’s cramped stage.
But a performance of an opera lives or dies by its music, and the superb conductor Tyson Deaton created magic. And he only had the few players the chamber-sized score required. Fortunately, they were drawn from the excellent ranks of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. It included a very large array of percussion instruments.
As with other of his fine recent pit performances in town, Deaton is always on top of the text. He perfectly aligns with all the vocal lines, even in the most complex multi-location scenes. Balance is always dead on.
Simply put, this production was superior in every aspect. ■
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- Fort Worth Opera: fwopera.org
- Mark Adamo: markadamo.com
- Tyson Deaton: tysondeaton.com
- Claire Choquette: clairechoquette.com
- Kelly Guerra: kellyguerramezzo.com
- Mary Feminear: maryfeminear.com
- Bridget Cappel: bridgetcappelmezzo.com
- Megan Koch: megankochsoprano.com
- Charles Calotta: charlescalottatenor.com
- Erik Earl Larson: piperartists.com/portfolio/erik-earl-larson
- Christopher Curcuruto: christophercurcuruto.com
- Seth-Emmanuel Clarke: dallasopera.org/performer/seth-emmanuel-clarke
- Kaswanna Kanyinda: kaswannakanyinda.com
- Twyla Robinson: finearts.tcu.edu/faculty_staff/twyla-robinson
Read more by Gregory Sullivan Isaacs.
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