MUSIC REVIEW : ‘Carmelites’ by USC Opera

By coincidence, the spring opera presentation at USC touches on a topical issue: capital punishment.

But Poulenc’s “Dialogues of the Carmelites” goes beyond picaresque narrative to deal with the business of living and dying as philosophy and in terms of inner conflict.

It is also a piece suitable for opera workshop conditions--not so well known as to invite unflattering comparison, nor necessarily demanding the stage flair of established actors.

Even so, many varying degrees of professionalism could be seen and heard at the Thursday night opening in Bing Theater on the university campus--starting with the physical production. Instead of opting for the kind of sleekly contemporary, stylized staging currently in vogue, Frans Boerlage, USC Opera’s artistic director, chose history-book realism.

Thus Poulenc’s opera--dealing with the French Revolution and an order of Carmelite nuns caught in the tumbrels of doom--did not have the advantage of timelessness, but got snared in fussy period trappings that exposed the cast’s awkwardness.

There was one obvious ringer, though: Conductor William Vendice, known to Metropolitan Opera Quiz audiences, kept his charges alert and in balance.

Among the cast, the standout talent was Janet Momjian in the role of Sister Contance. She alone delivered lines (Joseph Machlis’ English translation) with supreme musicality and a sense of their meaning. Nor did the shining liquid tones of her lyric soprano hurt, nor the natural ease with which she moved about.

As Madame Lidoine, Margaret Morrison nearly matched Momjian in finesse, drawing a believably compassionate portrait of the new Prioress.

But Elizabeth Saunders, apart from having the vocal hard edge to cut through high orchestral decibels, found her path onstage difficult. As Blanche, the central character who struggles with her mortality, she merely grafted on histrionics and inadvertently proved how hard it is to sing and act at the same time.

Heidi Hotz-Baldwin, as Mother Marie, could not boast the vocal resources for her high stentorian outbursts. The men, however--Scott Neese, Scott Herrick and Rae Kwon among them--turned in respectable performances.