As
the 2007-08 season draws to a close, FanFaire begins its video
album of "Scenes from Acclaimed LA Opera Productions," presented
in cooperation with Los Angeles Opera. In the age of video—and broadband—it
only makes sense to use the medium as a vehicle for bringing opera to
an increasingly visually-oriented generation, in the hope of eventually
seducing viewers to the art form that, like no other, unites all the arts
- music, poetry, drama, painting/sculpture, dance.
FanFaire thanks Los Angeles Opera for making this possible.
As the video series advances, the excitement of opera cannot but rub off
on viewers—who will sooner than later realize that these are scenes
from productions of only the highest artistic quality (in terms of both
music and stagecraft) that can only be forthcoming from the top-tier opera
company that LA Opera, one of the youngest in America, has become under
the artistic leadership of PLACIDO DOMINGO.
This first video
clip draws from the LA Opera production of George Gershwin's masterpiece,
PORGY AND BESS, regarded as the greatest American opera and surely
the most accessible piece in today's repertoire. The highlights
include some of the work's most popular "hit tunes" such as
"Summertime;" "Bess, you is my woman now;" and "I
got plenty o' nuttin'."
Staging is by one of today's most eminent directors, FRANCESCA ZAMBELLO,
who with designer PETER J. DAVISON quite artfully updated the setting
from Gershwin's 1930-era "Catfish Row" to 1940-50s tenement
shambles. Musical direction is by JOHN DE MAIN, the conductor who,
having been responsible for the work's revival on the operatic stage in
1976—following a decades-long hiatus—and having conducted
it numerous times since, perhaps knows Porgy best. Add to these
unique assets an excellent double-cast, and you get the "shortest"
(i.e., most enjoyable) three-hour long opera, a production that not only
does the masterpiece justice but one that Gershwin, were he around today,
would surely be proud of.
