In Review > North America
Luisa Fernanda
MIAMI
Florida Grand Opera
11/12/11
Luisa Fernanda at FGO, with Navarro and Òdena
© Gaston de Cardenas 2012
Created in 1932 by composer Federico Moreno Torroba, Luisa Fernanda is one of the last great Romantic zarzuelas, the lyric-dramatic genre that dominated Spanish musical life from the 1860s to the Civil War of the 1930s. Torroba's ingredients were love, politics, popular characters and a music that reflects Spanish nationalism and folk rhythm, with traces of Northern classical music and Caribbean dance music such as habaneras and bombas. The love triangle between Luisa, her impetuous lover Javier and the rich and scrupulous farmer Vidal, who truly loves her while taking the side of the anti-monarchists, takes place in 1868, at the time of the revolutionary movement that led to a short-lived Republican period. (Strangely, Torroba showed the insurgents defeated.) The production of Luisa Fernanda offered as this year's season-opener by Florida Grand Opera (seen Nov. 12), directed and designed by Emilio Sagi, has been previously seen at La Scala (2003), Washington National Opera (2004), Madrid's Teatro Real (2006), Los Angeles Opera (2007) and in Vienna (2008), most often as a vehicle for the Vidal of Plácido Domingo. Now Luisa Fernanda has arrived in Miami, where it proved to be a pleasant and quite natural fit for Florida Grand Opera, although some critics and members of the public were somewhat puzzled to see such an "opera light" inaugurate FGO's seventy-first season. The young conductor Pablo Mielgo controlled the tempos and avoided easy "picturesque" effects, although the orchestra sounded a bit loud and heavy during the first two acts. The all-Spanish cast worked seamlessly as a team, and the FGO chorus's singing was beyond reproach under the direction of John Keene.
Sagi's abstract, beautifully lit sets eliminated all false folklore elements: two white prosceniums functioned as large picture windows across which singers closed and opened transparent curtains, thus allowing for moments of intimacy. At the front of the stage, the letters M-A-D-R-I-D and a wooden model — complete with the Royal Palace, the Teatro Real and the Puerta de Alcalà — made discreet reference to the Spanish capital before being covered in Act III to suggest the shift of the action to the countryside. Subtle images — the rose hanging from the skies; the large tree of Act III; the mostly white atmosphere, at times warmed by abstract cutouts of warm orange light; the white dresses for the ladies and black costumes for the men — registered as refreshing design choices but tended to anaesthetize the story and its time. In this staging, the political side of Luisa Fernanda was confused and somewhat irrelevant.
Amparo Navarro, a good actress, proved effective at revealing Luisa's inner and outer tensions; her large soprano, seemingly produced with little effort, registered strongly in melodic and dramatic passages, including spoken dialogues. As the man-hunting Duchess Carolina, Davinia Rodriguez presented a formidable rival for Luisa: her sexy black dress matched her seductive soprano. Baritone Àngel Òdena enjoyed a triumph as Vidal, offering an outstanding incarnation of the most interesting role in the show; Òdena's performance was more than good enough to satisfy those who missed the Vidal of Plácido Domingo, who was scheduled to sing a single gala performance of the FGO run, on November 15. The Javier of Antonio Gandia sounded frail and a bit hollow, but his attractive acting was some compensation for his lack of vocal punch.
At the end of the last scene of Act III, when Vidal realizes that Luisa will never love him and sets her free to rejoin Javier, one is supposed to wonder whether or not Luisa has made the right choice. Sagi leaves us with the best scene of the evening and a subtle shadow of a doubt: as Javier sits at the back of the stage, Luisa slowly and silently walks toward Vidal. 
JEAN-FRANÇOIS LEJEUNE
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