Otello/Iago?

The first time I saw a performance of Verdi's Otello was in 1948 in Cleveland, Ohio, of all places. I went down to the 'city by the swamp' with Suzanne Pfitzner, a voice teacher at Michigan State College, where I was enrolled at the time. She was not my voice teacher, who was Harriet Hillier Birchall, but, for some reason, I was accompanying her rehearsals for a concert she was preparing, The Secret of Suzanne. I have no idea why I was involved in this production but it got me to my first performance by the Met company on tour. She took a group of her vocal students and me to hear the Met in Cleveland! Ramòn Vinay was the Otello and either Bidu Sayao or Licia Albenese was the Desdemona. It was in an enormous auditorium which has probably been torn down by now.

Prior to this, my only encounter with opera or operetta was in Battle Creek, Michigan, my home town, when touring companies brought Blossom Time or The Student Prince to the Bijou Theatre. I also saw a performance of Rigoletto at the Kellogg Auditorium in which a coloratura, Jean Dickinson, 'Nightingale of the Airways', who had her own radio program, sang Gilda. She took the high E at the end of Caro nome. I was the managing editor of the high school newspaper at the time and went backstage after the performance to interview the cast- much to their horror, I'm sure. It was performed by the La Scala Opera Company of Philadelphia: not the one in Milano.

All of this leads up to the fact that I am puzzled by the performance of Otello I heard today at the Warner Theatre in Torrington, Ct., a part of their on-going series of operas filmed live in Europe.

This production was from the Salzburg Festival of 2008. The director was Stephen Langridge who, with George Souglides, produced a set that was pretty much incomprehensible to me. There was a large glass platform in the center of the stage which in the last act swallowed Otello whole. Stephen is reputed to be the son of the British tenor, Phillip Langridge. Tough luck!

The Otello of Aleksandrs Antonenko was pushed, covered, and sweaty. Apparently the Grosses Festspielhaus is not air-conditioned. Much of the cast was dripping. Marina Poplavskaya, the Desdemona came into to her own in the last act with a touching Salce and Ave Maria, including a high A at the end while lying on the floor flat on her back. Overall the voice does not thrill me. Bidu or Licia, or whoever I heard years ago, to say nothing of Tebaldi and others I have heard since, have made more hay out of that role. Admittedly, much of the role lies low in the soprano voice, which can be a problem. Dorothy Kirsten might be a Desdemona to remember!

Otello stabbed himself at stage left at the end and didn't make it back to Desdemona who, for some reason, was lying on the floor rather than the usual bed. Just as well, I think, as it would have been a very sweaty last baccio.

Stephen Costello, the Cassio, sang beautifully and looked the part of the ardent young man.

The Iago was Carlos Alvarez, the Mexican baritone. He sang with fervor, but again, with a very covered sound. I think I'm getting off on the covered sounds?? Whee! I'm a voice teacher! So, sue me!

The rest of the cast included Barbara di Castri as Emilia, Antonello Ceron as Roderigo, Mikhail Petrenko as Lodovico, and Simone Del Savio as Montàno. They were adequate in their roles.

Probably the Otello I remember best was that of John Vickers, who sang the role of his lifetime at every performance. I heard him many times at the Met with various Desdemonas, all of whom were better than this one.

I realized that Otello really comes off as sort of a jerk, believing everything Iago tells him and finally murdering his wife based on suspicion and rumors. Maybe the opera should have been called Iago; he's on stage more and has more to sing than Otello. He also manipulates Otello and the entire plot of the drama.

It was a puzzling afternoon. At least it made me think and reminisce. Where is John Vickers when we need him? And where in the world is Jean Dickinson?