Gary Lakes’ Hero Loses Power in This ‘Samson et Dalila’

Gary Lakes, once one of the great hopes of the American opera stage, sounded very much like a tenor in trouble when he took over the hero’s role in Saint-Saens “Samson et Dalila” for Los Angeles Opera on Wednesday at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

The voice sounded thin, scrawny and very strained on top, though the focus was clear and his French was pure. In fact, while his lyric tenor sound seems small, it is eminently suited for French repertory.

Interestingly, the voice bloomed significantly in the prison scene, perhaps because the arched set and the mill wheel helped throw it forward into the audience instead of letting it dissipate above the stage as did the sets in the other acts.

Perhaps there are other perils to Samson in this production than the seductive lies of Dalila.

Dramatically, Lakes was stolid and virtually defeated from the start, hardly able to muster heroic resistance to the Philistines, much less to the charms of the beautiful seductress.

His struggle between duty to God and passionate attraction to Dalila lacked great contrast, but his remorse after his blindness was touching and persuasive.

The rest of the cast was previously reviewed. Lawrence Foster again conducted.--CHRIS PASLES

* “Samson et Dalila,” Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave. Placido Domingo sings Samson on Saturday, 7:30 p.m.; Gary Lakes sings the role on Tuesday and next Friday, 7:30 p.m., and Sept. 26, 2 p.m. $27-$146. (213) 365-3500.