STAGE REVIEW : Two Big Pluses Can’t Sustain This ‘Amahl’

There are two compelling reasons to take in Gian Carlo Menotti’s “Amahl and the Night Visitors” at the Hahn Cosmopolitan Theatre. The first is to enjoy DeLoss McGraw’s inviting, playful set, and the second is to relish the vibrant voice of soprano Brenda Wimberly in the pivotal role of Amahl’s mother. Once these virtues are exhausted, however, even those with a special fondness for this holiday operatic morsel may find West Coast Lyric Opera’s “Amahl” production wanting.

A winner of the 1985 and 1986 San Francisco Opera Auditions, Wimberly not only possesses a voice of unusual richness, but also knows how to put an emotional spin on every smartly turned phrase. To say that she out-sang the rest of the cast is an egregious understatement. Ben-Yusev Abdullah, a local youngster, was not up to the vocal or dramatic demands of Amahl, and no amount of audience sympathy for the challenge that such a role presents could make up for this deficiency.

The trio of night visitors in this production failed to enliven the stage as the composer clearly intended. Although tenor Howard Fried as the aged, half-deaf King Kaspar made a good stab at characterization, he received little cooperation from the other Magi. Ron Banks, who has sung on several occasions with San Diego Opera, sang King Melchior carefully and blandly. As usual, his stiff, broomstick carriage gives good posture a bad name. As King Balthazaar, Arthur Wheatfall sounded timid and frightened, attributes that hardly aided his royal impersonation.

Admittedly, West Coast Lyric Opera is a shoestring operation. Considering this limitation, music director Anne D. Young made some wise decisions, including replacing the pit orchestra with a trio of flute, piano and percussion. With Young’s deft hands at the keyboard and the able assistance of flutist Lynette Van Horn and drummer Todd Bryson, this ensemble provided clear, stylish accompaniment of apt proportion for the small, 200-seat Hahn Theatre.

In a similar manner, McGraw’s airy, minimal set populated the Hahn stage with fanciful, two-dimensional sculptures of economy and simplicity. A Chagall-like angel hovered above, while the household cat leaned against a piano leg. McGraw’s vivid use of primary colors reflected the joyful quality of Menotti’s music without compromising the story’s grim location, the hut of a poor widow and her child, only a step away from becoming street people. Brenda Berry’s lighting design lit the set to maximum advantage, but some of the singers, especially Wheatfall, tended to sing in the dark.

Young’s small band of chorus shepherds looked as if they had been recruited from a local high school, but they sang with a certain naive simplicity that was congruent with their rustic roles. If dancers Javier Velacso and Andrea Feler could have shortened their energetic pas de deux, they might not have appeared so exhausted toward the end. Especially in the small space they were required to use, less would have been much, much more.

In previous local performances, Young has displayed notable discernment in finding and working with promising female singers. But especially when there is only one woman in an opera cast, a winning prima donna is not enough.

This production continues through Sunday at the Hahn Cosmopolitan Theatre.