OPERA REVIEW : New Cast Stumbles in ‘Trovatore’

Opera Pacific mustered a new set of principals for its clumsy, often risible, chronically cliched production of “Il Trovatore” Sunday afternoon at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. The vocal values shifted but the maladies lingered on.

Deborah Voigt, a local darling now happily ensconced at the Met, had the unenviable task of following Carol Vaness as the sacrificial heroine, Leonora. Unlike her illustrious predecessor, Voigt didn’t find much comfort in the high tessitura, and coloratura definitely isn’t her forte.

Forte is her forte.

She is a soprano of generous quasi-Wagnerian amplitude, physical as well as vocal. On this occasion, one had to admire the fresh gleam and the enormous thrust of the sound at her command. One also had to regret that she used that sound with so little dynamic subtlety and so little expressive variety.

It must be noted that she was venturing the difficult role for the first time in her fast-moving career. With repetition, she may better define the dramatic nuances of the role. She also may learn to float the arching pianissimo tones that are the hallmark of any bona fide Verdian.

For now, her vociferous admirers will have to settle for healthy resources projecting bland generalities. It’s a start.

Fabio Armiliato partnered her as a frail, sensitive, boyish Manrico--which may seem to be something of an oxymoron. He sang the daunting platitudes--well, most of them--with an incisive, slender tenor that proved capable of a suave legato line in “Ah si, ben mio, coll’essere” and, just as rare, a nice heroic ring in “Di quella pira.” For the latter showpiece, incidentally, he resorted to the hardly unusual, hardly disgraceful, practice of a downward transposition.

His acting reflected a welcome sense of urgency. Still, someone should tell him not to sit atop the glowing embers of that ever-smoking fireplace in the gypsy-pipsy camp.

Eugenie Grunewald, who succeeded Florence Quivar as Azucena, introduced a big, bright mezzo-soprano that rode the high climaxes with ease but tended toward raspiness at the lower depths. She followed Christopher Mattaliano’s quirky stage-direction for the Gypsy hag conscientiously and, unlike her high-heeled predecessor, wore sensible shoes.

Yalun Zhang, the bruising rather than brooding Conte di Luna, hectored his way through both the love music and the hate music, just as Mark Rucker had done the night before. Under the circumstances, one began to wonder if the bulldozing should be blamed on the conductor, not the baritone.

Richard Buckley, the conductor, again enforced (or sanctioned) erratic tempi, often slowing down for the soprano and speeding up for the tenor. Nevertheless, he elicited reasonably stylish, remarkably cohesive playing this time from the Opera Pacific Orchestra.