Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, September 25, 1995                   TAG: 9509260037
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Seth Williamson
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ODD STAGING DOESN'T EQUAL VOICES IN `MADAME BUTTERFLY'

Opera Roanoke's unusual production of "Madame Butterfly" opened Saturday night at Mill Mountain Theatre in Center-in-the-Square. Pam Myers and Carl Tanner are a well-matched pair of leads in this classic tale of love and betrayal. But Craig Fields' novel approach to Puccini's great opera takes some getting used to.

Of course, the main reason you go to operas is to hear good singing, and there's plenty of that in Opera Roanoke's season opener.

Carl Tanner in particular is one of the two or three finest tenors I have heard on the Opera Roanoke stage. The young Shenandoah Conservatory product clearly has a future in opera. His first Pinkerton shows that he has the raw material he needs: a good ear, a sense of timing, and a set of pipes that lets him rattle the plumbing in the far corners of the hall.

What's that you say? "Acting ability"?

Well, there's the rub. For all I know, Carl Tanner may have the most magnetic stage presence since the Three Tenors, but this Kabuki-flavored production pretty much puts a bushel basket over whatever light he has in this respect--and that goes for the rest of the singers, too.

General Director Craig Fields had an idea for this "Butterfly" that made theoretical sense. Giacomo Puccini wrote an opera set in Japan, but absolutely everything about it was lushly Italian right down to the bone: the tunes, the orchestration, the sensibility. What it needs, therefore, is a dose of Japanese classicism and restraint--it sounded good on paper.

Unfortunately it makes for a staging that is visually unexciting. For me, the giveaway was that it became a more enjoyable show whenever I followed along with a score, but when I looked up to see what was happening on stage, it was less exciting. This is precisely the opposite of how it should be.

The set is almost non-existent and is identical throughout all three acts. Mitch Baker's costumes were pleasing, but there were no props. But most wearing was the near-total lack of realistic interaction between the singers: no eye contact, stylized postures, and long periods of motionless singing. The prevailing impression is stasis.

Maybe it's wiser to let Puccini be Puccini.

Not that there weren't dramatically impressive moments. Fields had the cast slowly march on stage at the beginning to the funereal accompaniment of a muffled bass drum. Soprano Pam Myers as Butterfly makes a strangely hieratic circular gesture--which she repeats before her suicide at the end of the opera. Whatever its symbolic meaning, it is striking.

Similarly, Pinkerton's and Butterfly's marriage ceremony--in which the young geisha places her head trustingly on her husband's hand while he lowers the other protectively over her head--was moving. And Pinkerton's last, troubled look back at the stage before the pair walk into the marriage chamber is a disquieting omen of the betrayal to come.

Just prior to this was one of this production's most effective moments. In the foreground of the stage the audience sees Butterfly dreaming of her husband's return--while behind her in the darkness they simultaneously witness this pathetic fantasy enacted, as Pinkerton, a body double for Myers and their son are reunited. But only, alas, in Butterfly's dreams.

Pam Myers got a big hand and cries of bravo with a lovely "Un bel di," soaring effortlessly to the high B-flat on the final "Io son sicura fede l'aspetto."

Baritone Lawrence Craig was a fine discovery as Sharpless. Craig, who just signed a major-label recording contract with Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Symphony, has a big, powerful voice and the talent for making the high end of the baritone's range sound as effortless as the middle.

The nearly sold-out house gave the cast a healthy round of applause, with the big bravos going to Michelle Sarkesian as Suzuki, Pam Myers, and the usual mixture of bravos and boos for Carl Tanner's Pinkerton--the first for his performance, the second for his bad-guy character.

Opera Roanoke's "Madame Butterfly" plays again tonight, Wednesday night, and Friday night, with tickets remaining for all performances.