Power of Puccini

A little vocal indisposition did not prevent soprano Sylvie Valayre from a genuine triumph in the title role of Puccini’s “Manon Lescaut” at the Orange County Performing Arts Center on Tuesday night.

Admirers of the French singer’s Tosca, also at Opera Pacific, two years ago probably sensed Valayre’s trouble during the first two acts.

The voice seemed limited, smallish and minimally colorful, though the acting that went with it had the authority and facets one might have expected: This Manon Lescaut--as opposed to Massenet’s--is willful, self-absorbed, altogether the “teenage temptress with the heart of copper,” as she has been described in these pages, and Valayre showed that character with dramatic skill.

But the voice did not match the acting.

Sure enough, as the performance moved into its final acts, the announcement was made: Valayre, who last week had been suffering from laryngitis and had nearly missed the dress rehearsal Sunday, was indisposed but would finish the opera nonetheless.

Then, as happens more often than not after a singer has acknowledged sickness, the petite soprano with the big temperament sang Act III as if she were a blooming and healthy vocal specimen, though she tired noticeably in the final act.

All told, Valayre made the role her own, especially in a most exciting dockside scene in which she was matched in voice and dramatic ardor by her strapping colleague, American tenor Hugh Smith, a real find in a world where tall and vocally resourceful men with high voices are rare.

Smith’s Des Grieux is also consistent. In musical and dramatic ways, he contributed strongly throughout and seemed never to run out of histrionic energy or voice. This is a large talent; now, if he can only avoid the ambition that pushes tenors into wrong choices. . . .

The rest of the cast served the needs of the play adequately. Frank Hernandez proved a lightweight, rather sophomoric Lescaut, though that, it often seems, is what Puccini wrote. Peter Strummer contributed a believable, nicely complex Geronte. Effective in smaller roles were Barton Green, Andrew Fernando and Chad Berlinghieri. The chorus, solidly trained by Henri Venanzi, moved and sang capably.

Most important, the look of this handsome production, originally created by Michel Beaulac and Bernard Uzan for L’Opera de Montreal, creates theatrical illusions of high quality--despite the fact that the effectively lit sets for the first three acts are followed by a pretty but jolting abstraction for the last.

Nevertheless, Uzan’s latest staging for Opera Pacific makes sense and propels the drama; he has coaxed his actors into credible performances.

John DeMain’s sterling leadership of the excellent Opera Pacific Orchestra--the personnel list looks a lot like that of the Pacific Symphony--proved a major factor in the success of this production. From beginning to end, transparency of orchestral textures and first-class soloing marked the ensemble’s opening-night performance.

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* Opera Pacific will repeat Puccini’s “Manon Lescaut” today and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. $20 to $75. (800) 346-7372.