May 2005

Fatal Song, or the Great Opera Murders

Libretto: Kathleen Cahill
Music: Gounod, Offenbach, Mozart, Bernstein, Donizetti, Massenet, Puccini, Verdi, Bizet and Stravinsky
Musical Direction: John Edward Niles
Stage Direction: Virginia Freeman
Production Stage Manager: Ronald L. Newman



Based on the book The Undoing of Women by French author Catherine Clement, Fatal Song is a witty new opera that explores—from the individual character's perspective—why so many of the 19th century opera heroines die on stage.

Cahill's Fatal Song is set in a fictional backstage where the costumes and props of all the operas of a repertory company are stored. With them are the various productions' fictional characters, such as The Magic Flute's Queen of the Night, The Marriage of Figaro's Susanna, Cosi Fan Tutti's Dorabella, La Boheme's Mimi, and many others, who "live" their real lives behind the curtain until they are called again to grace center stage. The opera examines the challenges these fictional heroines must face in trying to have a life separate from the one written for them by their composer.



Characters Portrayed:
Carmen, Cunegonde, Desdemona, Des Grieux, Dorabella, Fiordiligi, Giulietta, Lucia, Manon, Manon Lescaut, Mimi, Olympia, Pamina, Queen of the Night, Susanna, Violetta, and The Count Almaviva



Cast:
Catherine Carlin, soprano
Aurelio Dominguez, tenor
Jason Kaminski, baritone
Stacey Mastrian, soprano
Cathy Paine, Mistress of Ceremonies
Michelle Rice, mezzo soprano
Millicent Scarlett, soprano
Kelly Smith, soprano





Review
Joseph McLellan, Washington Post, May 23, 2005

"I don't die, I'm in a Mozart opera" boasts a soprano in the opera pastiche "Fatal Song," which was performed Saturday and Sunday by the Opera Theatre of Northern Virginia at Arlington's Gunston Arts Center.

She was one exception among the five women (four sopranos and a mezzo representing 18 operatic roles) who got together to commiserate about the way composers treat them. "Don't sing" was the watchword; if you sing, you die.

The accusation is well grounded. With the notable exception of Mozart (who married a soprano), composers tend to litter the operatic stage with dead women: Lucia, Violetta, Manon (two Manons, Massenet's and Puccini's), Mimi; the list could go on. Some die pretty (Mimi, Violetta), some die madly (Lucia), some die grotesquely (Olympia), and many seem to die just because that's what sopranos do. Not all; Bernstein's Cunegonde survives, but just barely.

The "don't sing" warning is spectacularly ignored in this show, and that's what makes "Fatal Song" a delightful evening's entertainment. It is a classic demonstration of how to include the top arias from a dozen operas in a single production with a narrative thread.

All of the voices were good; Kelly Smith, who sang Lucia, Manon (Massenet's) and Pamina, made a particularly strong impression. Three were making their first appearances with the company and will certainly be welcomed for return engagements: sopranos Millicent Scarlett and Stacey Mastrian, and mezzo Michelle Rice. Catherine Carlin, whose three characters (Susanna, Cunegonde and Queen of the Night) do not die, sings frequently and well in the Washington area, in musicals and oratorio as well as opera.

Aurelio Dominguez and Jason Kaminski filled duet functions well, and Cathy Paine was an effective emcee.

Gillian Cookson's piano and Virginia Freeman's stage direction kept things running smoothly.