Performers uphold a local opera tradition
Every year since 1975, Buffalo’s Opera Sacra mounts one or more theatrical works based on religious themes. With its most recent program it has selected “Suor Angelica,” a score by Giacomo Puccini that was first performed in 1918 and that Opera Sacra has staged twice before, in 1977 and 1993.
“Suor Angelica” is one of a trio of short operas that Puccini created and bunched together under the title of “Il Trittico.” While the composer meant for them all to be performed in sequence during the course of an evening, popular demand has changed the way they are staged, usually resulting with just one of the three being performed during the course of an evening.
This current production is directed by Brother Augustine Towey, the founder of Niagara University’s theater program and a legendary figure in Western New York cultural circles. Working with a spare set, a talented cast of singers and a good ad hoc orchestra under the direction of Roland Martin, Towey has delivered a very good production.
Colleen Marcello sings the title role, a woman from an exalted background who gave birth to a son out of wedlock and was installed in a nunnery by her family. Marcello’s presence was, at all times, in the service of the composer’s ideas, especially in the climactic scenes leading up to her suicide.
Millie Staley, as La Zia Principessa, takes the part of the heroine’s frosty and heartless relative, the one who provides the impetus for the Angelica’s deteriorating mental state. Staley’s nasty turn is counterbalanced by Michelle Holden’s rendition of the sweet and naive Sister Genovieffa. Both of them do exemplary work.
After the opera and the subsequent intermission, the second half of the program illustrated the influence that Puccini had on musical theater, using selections from various Puccini operas and pairing them with songs from Broadway shows such as “Phantom of the Opera,” “Rent” and “Miss Saigon.”
Most of the singers in the later half of the evening were part of the chorus for “Suor Angelica” and, when given their solo or duet turns, gave more than credible performances. They were supplemented by male voices, most notably from Valerian Ruminski.
Review
Puccini Festival
Featuring “Suor Angelica” and presented by Opera Sacra on Friday night in St. Joseph-University Catholic Church, 3269 Main St. Another performance at 8 tonight. For more information, call 833-0298.
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