Castleton Festival delivers strong lineup of opera, theater

As Desdemona, Joyce El-Khoury sounded cautious early on, but her voice blossomed steadily. She summoned a gutsy tone for her pushback against Otello in the third act, and spun out silken phrases in the finale that touched the sublime.

Although he tended to sneer a little too frequently (sometimes in cartoon-villain style), Javier Arrey was a potent Iago. As long as he was not pushing the voice (much of the Credo was shouted), the baritone offered a suave tone, supple phrasing and extraordinary sensitivity to text. Kirk Daugherty was the vivid Cassio (he is set to sing Otello July 26).

The chorus summoned an imposing sound. A few minor slips aside, the orchestra turned in a sterling performance.

The well-traveled Peter Hall production, which updates the action to Napoleonic times and features a handsome, two-story set designed by John Gunter, was fluidly and often compellingly directed here by Lynne Hockney. (A scene of Otello crudely assaulting Desdemona had an unnerving impact.)

Another two-story wooden set, this one by Davide Gilioli, was unveiled for Puccini's irresistible (to some of us, at least) spaghetti Western.

Directed dynamically by Giandomenico Vaccari, and guaranteed abundant lyricism and power from Maazel, this "Fanciulla" had a lot going for it -- until a throat inflection rode into town and made off with Minnie's voice after the first performance July 6.

Ekaterina Metlova, who sang on that opening night, could only mime the action onstage on Friday -- and very convincingly (Gilioli's costumes gave her a nice hint of Joan Crawford in "Johnny Guitar"). Soprano Elizabeth Blancke-Biggs, who arrived on the fastest stage coach from New York mere hours beforehand, sang the role from the pit.

All things considered, the opera was well served. Blancke-Biggs did not just pump out the notes for what is one of Puccini's toughest assignments, but sang Minnie's music with warmth and subtlety.

Jonathan Burton was the vocally hearty Dick Johnson, Paul LaRosa the underpowered Rance (his fluent acting compensated considerably for lack of vocal heft). Most of the other soloists registered firmly; the chorus lost tonal cohesiveness here and there, but sang expressively.

Maazel was, of course, a major star of the production, drawing out the rich atmosphere of the score at every turn, especially the shimmering warmth at the ends of Acts 1 and 3, the ferocious dramatic weight at the close of 2.

The Cocteau/Poulenc production, sharing the astute direction of Maria Tucci and basically the same sleek design by Francois-Pierre Couture, proved quite absorbing on Saturday afternoon.

Accomplished German-born actress Dietlinde Turban Maazel, the conductor's wife and co-founder/associate director of the festival, gave a beautifully detailed, thoroughly natural portrayal of the play's sole character -- a woman clinging by telephone to the lover who has ended their affair.

(The play was done in an English translation that could have used a few synonyms for "darling.")

Jennifer Black took the stage to perform the same role as transformed by Poulenc. Unlike Turban, the soprano spent a great deal of time sitting on the floor, cradling the phone, wisely letting the tense music do the emoting. Her singing was well-focused, subtly nuanced and, especially in the closing minutes, very affecting.

Except for something of a derailment at the end, there were admirable contributions from the pit, where conductor Antonio Mendez presided over the stylish orchestra.

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