L.A. Opera to juxtapose ‘I Pagliacci’ and ‘Norma’

Friday, August 25, 1995

Domingo, Zeffirelli have hand in staging of operas’ Los Angeles
premieresBy John Mangum

Summer Bruin Contributor

Could clowns and druids possibly have anything in common?

Maybe not in the real world, but in opera, anything’s possible.
At least Los Angeles Music Center Opera’s productions of Ruggero
Leoncavallo’s "I Pagliacci" ("The Clowns") and Vincenzo Bellini’s
druid drama "Norma" promise to share some attributes. The two open
back-to-back on Sept. 4 and 5.

Both boast the involvement of supertenor Placido Domingo,
singing Canio in "Pagliacci" and conducting in "Norma." Both
productions are new to Los Angeles; "Pagliacci" a world premiere
directed by revered film and opera director Franco Zeffirelli;
"Norma" under the guidance of Cincinnati Opera’s new artistic
director Nicholas Muni.

Muni is especially excited about this "Norma," created jointly
for Seattle, Houston and Los Angeles. The nature of this project
allowed him to safeguard his vision in all three cities,
guaranteeing its faithful representation on stage.

"In the case of this particular production, this was originally
co-produced by Seattle, Houston and Los Angeles," Muni says. "These
three companies got together and said, ‘Okay. We want to do
"Norma." We want to have this person direct it and this person
design it so that it keeps its initial integrity throughout.’ So
that’s why I’m doing it here."

Muni calls the design and staging representational without being
conservative. Using some photographs of the production in Seattle,
he clarifies this idea, emphasizing that you can identify
everything on stage, but that the images sometimes give way to
others in a surreal way.

"This backdrop here, with these mountains, stays the whole time,
but it is a painted scrim, which means that if you have something
behind it and you light it, you can see it," Muni explains.

"Here’s a good example. You see how you can still see the
mountain, but you see the image behind it," he says, pointing out
the mask that dominates the background. "The images that sort of
bleed through this mountain drop are like hallucinations that
characters are having, or visions or fantasies."

Muni emphasizes that the images reveal what characters are
thinking or feeling at key dramatic moments, but he also stresses
the importance of the singers in lending credibility to these
feelings rather than just going through a series of meaningless
motions to liven things up.

"The action in ‘Norma,’ a lot of it is internal action," Muni
says. "In the rehearsals we work a lot on getting inside the
characters, making the action very vivid emotionally, because I
really don’t think there’s any sense in just having people move
around just because you’re afraid it’s going to be static."

"Norma"’s long-breathed drama unfolds in lengthy musical scenes,
the rewards of which are seemingly innumerable. The work contains
some of the most famous, touching and dramatic moments in Italian
opera, creating a music drama that easily sustains its three-hour
length.

"It happens at a different tempo," Muni says. "It’s not like an
action film. It’s a different kind of action film, and I think
we’re not used to that."

Where "Norma"’s action moves at a pace far removed from that of
a typical film, "Pagliacci," lasting just over an hour, would fare
well as a movie. In fact, Zeffirelli, who directs this new
production for L.A. Opera, made a film of his staging at Milan’s
Teatro alla Scala in 1984.

The L.A. Opera production’s assistant director, Marco Gandini,
has worked with Zeffirelli before, notably on revivals of "Aida"
and "Pagliacci" for the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome.

"(Zeffirelli) is very active," Gandini says. "He’s always on
stage. He’s not the type of director that sits and just tells
people what to do. He goes on stage and shows with his body what
(the performers) have to do, how they have to act. What really
makes the difference between him and others is that for opera, he
really knows the music."

For Gandini, the L.A. production builds on ideas first attempted
in Rome. But much of the production is new, including the choice to
set Leoncavallo’s turn-of-the -century work in present-day
Naples.

"This production is dated nowadays, in everyday life," Gandini
says. "This is probably the only example among Zeffirelli’s
productions of this shift of time, because ‘Pagliacci’ is right for
this. The story can happen nowadays, and the music is modern
music."

"Pagliacci" introduced the world to verismo, a style of opera
that attempts to depict real life on the stage and in the music.
For Gandini, these realities are timeless.

"This opera belongs to an epoch of verismo, you know, reality,"
Gandini says. "Zeffirelli wanted first to underline this verismo
much, much more. So if it is verismo, and it was verismo at the
time that it was written, so it must also be verismo today."

OPERA: L.A. Opera presents Leoncavallo’s "I Pagliacci" opening
Sept. 4 and Bellini’s "Norma" opening Sept. 5. For more info, call
(213) 972-8001.

Seattle Opera

Behind "Norma"’s scenery lies surreal images conveying the
characters’ feelings.