Debussy’s subtle impressionism lost on Sellars

Debussy’s subtle impressionism lost on Sellars

Opera’s fantasy, magic missing

with director’s

new conception

By John Mangum

Someone undermined a glorious musical performance of Debussy’s
"Pelléas et Mélisande" Saturday night at the Dorothy
Chandler Pavilion.

Who was the culprit, you ask? Director Peter Sellars.

Sellars, whose name conjures images of operas set in ’70s diners
and crime-ridden slums, often achieves success with his
modernizations. For example, the work he produced in Mozart during
the late 1980s worked because the opera stories concerned
themselves more with character relationships than with setting.

Unfortunately, Debussy’s work, while focusing on these
relationships, devotes quite a bit of effort to painting the scene
in music. This includes a medieval forest so dark that the sun
cannot penetrate it, a cave washed in blue light with stars
flickering on its walls and a Mélisande with hair long enough
to reach from the window of a tower to the lips of a man on the
ground below.

Overwhelming darkness does not readily spring to mind when one
thinks of contemporary Malibu, where Sellars chose to set the
opera. When Mélisande’s mother-in-law Queen Geneviève
describes "Malibu" as a place where one never sees the sun, it was
hard not to laugh.

By the final act, the audience could no longer restrain
themselves. When Prince Golaud, Mélisande’s husband, pushed
her from a hospital bed in their Malibu beach house during what is
supposed to be the tragic final scene, the audience burst out
laughing. One man clapped enthusiastically as though he were
watching "Melrose Place."

Powerful moments came only when the story avoided mentioning
scenery. The best happened at the end of Act IV, when Golaud
overhears his half-brother Pelléas confess to Mélisande
that he loves her.

Pelléas and Mélisande meet at the fountain (here a
sewage pipe) outside the castle (beach house), where they embrace
and declare their feelings. Sellars places Golaud above them,
sitting in a chair in a room of the house, where he resembles a
judge. His role as the arbiter of the lovers’ destiny hit with an
overwhelming impact.

This scene also brings one of the musical highlights of the
opera, which the Los Angeles Philharmonic, under the baton of their
music director Esa-Pekka Salonen, performed beautifully. Salonen
and his players brought a warm glow to Debussy’s softly
impressionistic score, mustering knife-edged precision for the more
violent moments brought about by Golaud’s twisted mind.

Mezzo-soprano Monica Groop made her U.S. opera debut as
Mélisande, and she rose to the occasion magnificently. Her
beautiful voice combined freshness with power to make her portrayal
of the young, innocent girl musically compelling.

As Pelléas, tenor François Le Roux also appeared in
the U.S. for the first time. While his performance lacked some of
the intensity one would expect to find in a young man ruled by his
desires, the heroic quality of his rich voice made it enjoyable
nonetheless.

Willard White rounded out the trio as Golaud, presenting the
Prince as purely evil. His rich bass-baritone voice conveyed this
and more in a highly satisfying way.

Regrettably, Sellars’ concept mitigated this resounding musical
success. One can conclude, from the audience’s reaction to him when
he came on stage after the performance, that everyone reacted
differently to his ideas.

Applause and cheering mixed with boos and comments indicating
that some listeners would have liked something other than the
customary flowers to throw at Sellars. Suffice to say, the number
of people in the audience declined throughout the evening.

OPERA: L.A. Opera presents Debussy’s "Pelléas et
Mélisande" at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion Feb. 7, 10 and 12
at 8 p.m. TIX: $21 to $115, $10 for students. For info call (213)
972-7211.