Figaro -- August 5, 2008

Santa Fe Opera

On Tuesday, August 5, we had waffles for breakfast at Las Palomas and drove five minutes to the opera house to take a backstage tour. I’m glad we did this because it gave me a much better understanding of the unique nature of productions at Santa Fe’s John Crosby Theatre, named when it was built in 1998 after the opera’s founder who created Santa Fe Opera in 1957.

The most fascinating aspect of the theater itself is a massive elevator that delivers singers and scenery to the open rear of the stage. A huge concrete balcony two stories below the stage level is closed to the public and functions as the theater’s backstage, to a great degree. The other impact of the backstage tour was to impress the visitor with the significant nature of this operatic undertaking in which no trouble or expense is spared to create the most sophisticated and satisfying operatic performance.

A tour guide said she had met Teddy Rhodes working out at the Santa Fe spa. (No comment, out of deference to my daughter's sensibilities)

After the tour we took the hotel’s shuttle to Café Pasquale in the old town where we had a Santa Fe beer and shared salmon taco with cucumber salad. After lunch we toured the shops of San Francisco Street and I returned to nap since opera in Santa Fe has an 8:30 p.m. curtain – effectively 10:30 p.m. to my Michigan time-adapted body. Alisa planned to go to dinner with her friend Susan who lives in Santa Fe.

I departed at 6 p.m. to attend a 6:30 p.m. opera talk on Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro with Mariusz Kwiechen as the count, Luca Pisaroni as Figaro, Susanna Phillips as the countess, Isobel Leonard as Cherubino, and conducted by Robert Tweten for this August 5 performance only.

This classic production was perfect in every way with spectacular singing, especially the women, and the ensembles were wonderfully balanced, too. Phillips sang the countess with heartbreaking clarity and beauty – her porgy amor as delicate as froth carried by a massive ocean wave. Leonard played Cherubino like a boy, not a girl in boy’s clothing. When Cherubino dressed as a girl, (s)he was the most unlikely of females – and her singing was divine.

The elegant sets devised by Paul Brown featured a sparkling wall of glass and a silver boudoir along with Brown’s costuming all in Eighteenth Century splendor. Santa Fe Opera is in every way splendid. What a night!

I sat in row O just under the first balcony, but the sound was in no way impaired. As the sun set, a breeze turned the air cool, but a lightweight scarf kept me comfortable. The storm on Monday caused some difficulty with the performance of Falstaff, I heard, but not enough to disrupt the presentation.

A silk-embroidered Kashmir scarf for sale at the opera shop for around $500 would have been a perfect accessory – no doubt that was the point of offering them.

At intermission I had the pleasure of meeting reviewer and Opera-L member, Maria Nockin, who introduced me to Santa Fe Opera Press Associate Dolores McElroy. When asked about the opera's New Zealand baritone, Dolores said that Teddy Rhodes is open and friendly and easy to talk to.

An usher told me that unlike most singers, Rhodes attends the opera and can be seen roaming the campus. She met him at the employee swimming pool on the King Ranch -- a recently acquired facility adjacent to the opera house grounds that houses dorms, practice areas, a new cantina, and other amenities.