OPERA REVIEWS : ‘Cordoba’ Venture a Difficult Task

A touring project about the magic of travel, “Journey to Cordoba,” arrived at Cal State Los Angeles on Saturday for a premiere full of promise. Here, in a week when L.A. Music Center Opera announced the most conservative season in its history, the company was launching a new work drawn from the local community.

Some critics might consider this experiment in outreach by an ivory tower cultural institution to be mere tokenism. Nevertheless, the result managed to touch on contemporary generational conflicts, retell a poignant Latino folk tale and give creative opportunities to a number of artists new to opera--all within an hour.

Unfortunately, the film and TV background of composer Lee Holdridge and librettist Richard Sparks hadn’t really prepared them for the task at hand: showing how an L.A. teen-ager matures when exposed to facets of her Latino heritage.

In structuring the two interlocking stories of the opera, Sparks seemed to aim for a “Twilight Zone”-style fable, but didn’t define the narrative clearly enough to lend its switcheroo ending any impact.

Portraying characters and events through a series of accessible ballads, Holdridge explored the All-American modernism of Leonard Bernstein’s operas and operatic musicals--but without Bernstein’s sense of irony or knack for reinventing familiar idioms.

With a cast of four, an orchestra of five and a chorus drawn from the L.A. County High School for the Arts, “Journey to Cordoba” could also have been underwhelming as a theatrical experience if not for the bold, resourceful designs for sets and huge, cutout effigies contributed by East Los Angeles artist Gronk.

For scenes set in the here and now, Gronk devised a backdrop of vibrant, densely packed graffiti-like images in chalk-white, outlined in black, accented with patches of red and blue. When the narrative shifted into a mythic Cordoban past, the luminous, crimson, coloring-book mountains and toy-theater architecture conjured up a Gronkian magic-realism with links to the great Mexican muralist tradition.

On Saturday, director Jose Luis Valenzuela hadn’t yet inspired his student chorus to anything more profound than cornball enthusiasm--and his principals, too, often looked stuck in flat, declamatory posturing.

However, mezzo Suzanna Guzman represented a triumphant exception in the role of the alternately mysterious, gutsy, heroic and always spellbinding Abuela. Moreover, beyond the excellence of her singing and acting, Guzman supported the performance of 15-year-old lyric soprano Danielle de Niese strongly enough that Niese was always better with her than alone or with anyone else.

Despite edgy patches in her big confrontation with the Cordoban crowd, Niese sang the role of Miranda sweetly and securely in her operatic debut. Alas, the two men in her life were forced to do nothing much besides bleat and complain. At least a trio with her near the end allowed tenor Jorge Garza (Raul) and baritone Eli Villanueva (the father) one imposing showcase of character-affirming vocalism.

Amplification imbalances and sudden, unmotivated shifts in lighting weakened the “Cordoba” premiere but, under Daniel Bridston, the offstage chamber ensemble accompanied the singing with consistent assurance. Victoria Petrovich designed the none-too-distinctive costumes and Michael Gilliam the lighting.

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“Journey to Cordoba,” Norris Theatre, 27570 Crossfield Drive (at Indian Peak Road), Rolling Hills Estates, (310) 544-0403. Sunday, 1, 4 and 6:30 p.m. $12, with a $2 discount on each for groups of 14 or more. Also Feb. 26: La Mirada Theatre, 14900 La Mirada Blvd., (714) 994-6310. 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. $8. March 4: Wadsworth Theatre, Wilshire and San Vicente boulevards, Westwood, (310) 825-2101). 11 a.m. $22, $19, half price for children under 16 and $9 for students. March 5: Lobero Theater in Santa Barbara, (805) 963-0761. 2 p.m. $12 and $7 (children).