Singapore Lyric Opera’s Turandot - 30th August, 2008

August31

Turandot poster On Saturday evening, P went to see Singapore Lyric Opera’s (SLO) production of Turandot, which is the first time the full-length opera has ever been put on in Singapore. SLO definitely deserves kudos for that and also for attempting an opera that is notorious for the demands it makes on its leads.

P is not going to go into much detail about the plot - those requiring it can click through to the Wikipedia entry here. In very short, Turandot is a 3 act opera by Puccini. It is set in ancient China and incorporates lots of italian ideas about what Chinese music and customs are like. These don’t always work but the opera has become a mainstay of the operatic standard repertoire, not to mention the tenor aria “Nessun Dorma” which became world-famous when it was used for the 1990 Italian World Cup (Football/Soccer depending on your country).

The plot is fairly standard (aka rediculous) for opera and revolves around the 3 main characters: Turandot (dramatic soprano), Calaf (dramatic tenor) and Liu (Lyric Soprano). Turandot is the fabulously beautiful daughter of the Emperor of China and will only marry the man who can answer her three riddles. Many princes have tried and all have failed, leading to a succession of heads mounted on poles outside the palace. Enter Calaf, the son of the banished King of the Tartars. He espies Turandot presiding over the execution of yet another failed suitor and falls madly in love (as you do). His father, Timur, and Liu, the faithful slave girl, try to dissuade him as do the 3 comic courtiers, Ping, Pang and Pong, but all fail and Calaf strikes the gong announcing his suit. Turandot puts Calaf to the test and he is able to answer all 3 somewhat elliptical riddles. She is dismayed and begs the emperor to relieve her of her duty to marry Calaf, or she will die of shame. Calaf decides to offer her a way out: Turandot must gues his name by dawn or become his wife. Turandot then orders that none shall sleep (Nessun dorma) in Peking until the name of suitor is uncovered. Unfortunately, Timur and Liu are captured by guards and Liu is put to the torture by Turandot. Liu declares her secret love for Calaf and grabs a dagger, killing herself rather than revealing Calaf’s name. Calaf is horrified by Turandot’s cruelty but continues to love her. He grabs her and plants a kiss on her unwilling lips. The kiss thaws the ice maiden, she falls in love with Calaf who offers her his name. Enter the emperor and his courtiers to which Turandot reveals Calaf’s real name - Love.

A lot can be said about the morality of this tale and it undoubtedly continues to offend legions of feminists every year - P may blog about this in another post. Coming back to the SLO production, P was impressed by the costumes and set. Those of you who have seen Zhang Yimou’s period films, like House of Flying Daggers and Hero, will be able to imagine the costumes. Think colourful, sumptous and a lot more authentically oriental than many productions P has seen. The set was very simple, but worked well. P especially liked the netting screen used to good effect in Act II. The 3 courtiers were able to stand in front of it and perform their comedy, while dancers behind the screen were given lanterns and selective lighting, enacting the subtext of the scene (weddings and funerals). It then lifted out of the way to reveal the Imperial Court in all its glory.

Mad Scene picture of Kim Young Ae What about the cast? When P went, Turandot was played by Korean dramatic soprano Kim Young-Ae. A commanding figure with blade-like eyebrows (one wondered what Calf saw in her as she looked positively terrifying at points) she used her steely-edged tones to good effect in the riddles especially. Her aria In Questa Reggia, was also sung affectingly - however, P found herself wishing for a bit more volume at points. Chinese tenor Tao Weilong was a good foil for her, matching her well in volume during their duets. He had all the notes and did the job, but his voice had some rough edges that left P a little cold at times, wishing for the honeyed warmth of a Luciano Pavarotti, especially when it came to the tenor’s big aria, Nessun Dorma. His diction was also far less clear than Turandot or the Emperor. The star of the evening and obvious audience favourite was Philippino soprano Rachelle Gerodias’s Liu. Gerodias had a lovely warm soprano with the requisite clarity in the high notes, which she used to good effect especially in the first act aria Signore, Ascolta. P loved her Messa di voce (starting a note softly, swelling it to forte and taking it down to piano) on the top B. Her final act aria Tu, che di gel sei cinta (You who are girdled with ice) was affecting but not as lovely. Nevertheless, the three main leads worked well together in the Saturday night production.

Among the minor roles, Ping, Pang and Pong (Brent Allcock, Melvin Tan and Lemuel dela Cruz) put in solid performances and were good in their comic acting. Timur (Martin Ng) and the Emperor (Lim Shieh Yih) both sang their minor arias well. P wasn’t wildly happy with Claudio Girardi who played the bit-part of the Prince of Persia. Considering that it’s a non-singing role, one would have thought he could have looked bit more involved than he did - he certainly didn’t walk like a man going to his execution.

The most problematic parts of the evening belonged to the chorus. The first act male chorus entry was simply dreadful and P literally stopped her ears and winced. Individual voices could be clearly heard and the lines were ragged and completely out-of-sync with each other and the orchestra. Perhaps they were simply underrehearsed as subsequent mixed voiced choruses were a lot better. The women did a far better job, especially the semichorus singing about Turandot’s sleep. The childrens’ choir were fine musically but their words were rather mushy.

The Philharmonic Orchestra mostly did a credible job under the baton of Shanghainese conductor Yeh Tsung. There was a solo piccolo or something like it that squawked badly in Act III, but aside from that and some misaligned trumpets, they provided a solid foundation for the singers to work from.

On the whole, it was an enjoyable evening for P, but the chorus was a real weak point. P knows that the SLO chorus is not professional (she’s sung with them before), but perhaps the men need a little more drilling before the performance or the SLO need to hire a few more professional stiffeners. P was sitting way up in the gods, so she’s hoping for some comments from people who might have been a little closer.

Addenda:

For those interested in viewing part of the production, I finally managed to find a preview video on ChannelNewsAsia. Click through to this page and you can find the video under the heading “related videos”.