Oliver
Tokyo International Players
May 14
The TIP productions can be a crap shoot, but this was very good. Although Oliver is not close to being my favorite musical, this production milked it for all it was worth and in the end came up a great success.
The cast was strong - Oliver himself, played by Andres Clark, was perfect and nearly miraculous given that the boy is nine years old and this is a totally volunteer company. He was engaging and unselfconscious. The other strong character was Nancy played by Caitlin Kelly. She has an excellent voice, and her portrayal was quite touching.
Usually I am easily distracted during these productions, but this evening I remained focused and engaged. The direction was close to flawless and the acting was a cut above the usual standard - nuanced and subtle, not overwrought as has often been the case.
The set should be mentioned - a backdrop of a London cityscape was quite beautiful. A good night at the theater.
Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk
New National Theater - now called, for some reason, Opera Palace
May 4
This was a pretty good performance. Although the production was in an updated setting - 1950's perhaps - the action and flow still made sense, which cannot be said of many of the productions I have seen in this theater. Some stage photos can been seen at:
http://www.nntt.jac.go.jp/english/frecord/opera/2008~2009/ladymacbeth/ladymacbeth.html
The Tokyo Symphony Orchestra was conducted by Mihail Sinkevich, and both he and the ensemble did a fantastic job. Hiroshi Wakasugi was supposed to have conducted, but he was indisposed. I am wondering if he is perhaps getting a little too old for something like this. That being said, I have always liked his work.
The singing was also above the usual standard. The lead role was sung by Stephanie Friede whom I last saw here in La Fanciulla del West. She was excellent - nuanced in her tone and in her acting. The other cast members were very strong, and I was quite captivated.
The four acts were performed with only one intermission between the second and third, which made for a fairly long first half. But my attention was riveted by the great orchestral playing and the good singing.
Although the chorus barely fit on the stage, they sang well and did not do the mincing and mugging that I have come to expect.
The production itself, as I mentioned, mostly worked. The only odd part was at the very end when Katya is supposed to drown her rival but ended up pushing her down into what seemed to be the prompter's box. That was a little odd. Otherwise, I felt very high as I left the theater.
