OPERA REVIEW : A Fine New Princess Appears in a Tacky Old ‘Turandot’

Her name is Ealynn Voss. Don’t forget it.

Thursday night, courtesy of Opera Pacific at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, she calmly stepped out of a silly plastic bubble and laid instant claim to one of the most formidable roles in all opera. Hats off, gentlemen. A Turandot.

The vocal challenge of Puccini’s icy protagonist has defeated many an illustrious pretender. The role isn’t very long, but it is very cruel.

The tessitura lies high, and the line is dangerously exposed. Puccini demanded a voice of steel, an Italian Brunnhilde, if you will. He wanted a soprano who could dominate a massive orchestra, a convulsive chorus and, when desperate, a highly competitive tenor.

The first of numerous heroic climaxes arrives with Turandot’s entrance aria. Before the opera ends, when love melts the heroine’s heart, a successful interpreter must also demonstrate some affinity for lyrical expansion.

A late bloomer who happens to live in Malibu, Voss managed it all. She was so persuasive, in fact, that one wanted to overlook the bizarre, hand-me-down decors by Allen Charles Klein that pretend “Turandot” takes place amid the clutter of some tacky old Chinese restaurant.

Voss couldn’t make a weak chorus strong or a thin orchestra thick. She couldn’t energize a lethargic conductor (Louis Salemno). She couldn’t compensate for the excessive frailty of an Emperor (Riki Matsufuji) equipped with a very long beard and a very short voice.

But she could sing. Her soprano, always bright and well-focused, cut through the opposing fabric with authority. Her generally cool tone took on an added gleam at the top. She didn’t force. She didn’t have to.

She asserted lofty majesty, yet hinted at the character’s underlying anxiety, with “In questa reggia.” She conveyed sympathetic pathos in “Del primo pianto.” She also provided a grandiose counterforce for the exquisite Liu of Maria Spacagna.

Although somewhat matronly in demeanor, Voss looked properly statuesque in Klein’s ornate robes and outrageous headgear. As directed by Matthew Lata, she struck the wonted poses with primitive, nicely muted urgency.

Other roles will tell us more, of course, about her versatility, and about the solidity of her middle register. Let us hope that she husbands her resources carefully.

She was to have been partnered by an equally new Calaf, Giorgio Tieppo. The duties of the unknown prince fell once again, however, to Lando Bartolini, who capitalized on easy, ringing fervor. The management offered no official apology for the cast change, but the unhappy Tieppo--who was found sitting out front--explained that Opera Pacific had mistakenly contracted both tenors for the same performance. His chance would come later.

The company also turned out to be a bit negligent in its program materials. The name of Franco Alfano, who completed the opera after Puccini’s death, was nowhere mentioned. Although 21 pages were devoted to production credits and sponsor acknowledgements, no room could be found for historic annotation. Orange County audiences deserve better.