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THE ARTS REVIEWS
EXHIBITIONISM
Wicked
Bass Concert Hall, 2350
Robert Dedman, 471-2787
Through Feb. 12
Running time:
2 hr., 45 min.
Oz was an adolescent fascination
of mine. I begged
for ruby slippers at age 4,
sang “Somewhere Over the
Rainbow” at 9, synched Pink
Floyd to the classic film at
13, and obsessed over the
Broadway musical Wicked
at 15.
L. Frank Baum’s turn-ofthe-century
tale of brains,
heart, and courage has
worked its way into our national psyche, surfacing
nowhere as spectacularly as in Wicked,
a reimagining that chronicles the pre-Dorothy
friendship of the witches of Oz. If you’re unfamiliar
with this 2003 adaptation, you haven’t
been paying attention; with music by Stephen
Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman,
Wicked has found that there’s no place like
pop culture. Its soundtrack has sold more
than 2 million copies, and the original cast’s
leading witches Kristin Chenoweth (Glinda) and
Idina Menzel (Elphaba, or the Wicked Witch of
the West) have soaked up prime-time coverage
on Fox’s popular television series Glee.
The second national tour of the show
comes with the bells and whistles you’d see
on the Great White Way, especially fabulous,
flamboyant costumes by Susan Hilferty, a
stunning, ever-ticking, clock-themed set by
Eugene Lee, and lurid lighting by Kenneth
Posner. The touring cast manages to inch out
of the original cast’s shadows; Tiffany Haas
plays Glinda with a remarkable emotional
26 T H E A U S T I N C H R O N I C L E FEBRUARY 3, 2012 a u s t i n c h r o n i c l e . c o m
I put a spell on you: Glinda (Tiffany Haas) and Elphaba
(Anne Brummel) go hex to hex in Wicked
range, and Anne Brummel gives Elphaba a
refreshing femininity. Haas and Brummel have
powerful onstage chemistry, charming the
audience with physical comedy and an exceptionally
good vocal blend. The ensemble lends
support with an airtight performance, though
Catherine Charlebois as Elphaba’s sister
Nessarose (the slipper-wearing witch Dorothy
lands on) and Dan Pacheco as her munchkin
beau Boq steal the stage in the second act. I
think it’s safe to say that the euphoric, largely
female audience packed into Bass Concert
Hall last Thursday night loved every wonderous
minute of the performance.
Though I initially felt pretty angsty about
revisiting my Oz phase, I was surprised to
find myself on the edge of my seat, noticing
a deep political dimension I hadn’t considered
seriously before. In Wicked, the portly,
grey-haired Wizard of Oz (Don Amendolia) is a
not-so-wonderful politician who has become
so hooked on power that he fabricates a common
enemy to rally fearful Ozians behind him.
“The truth is not a thing of fact or reason,”
he chortles. “The truth is just what everyone
agrees on.” Before you dismiss Wicked, keep
in mind that this musical is more than just
smoke and mirrors. For me, this election-year
tour packed an extra punch. – Jillian Owens
6th Annual
Black History Month Concert
Celebrating Black Composers
music.utexas.edu
Lucia di Lammermoor
Dell Hall at the Long Center,
701 W. Riverside
www.austinlyricopera.org
Through Feb. 5
Running time: 3 hr.
In last week’s Arts section, I spoke with
Next to Normal’s Meredith McCall and Lucia
di Lammermoor’s Lyubov Petrova about
how each made interpretive decisions playing
women with mental problems in light
of their respective productions’ musical
scores. Each intriguing insight they provided
further piqued my interest to observe
their interpretive work onstage. I’m looking
forward to seeing McCall this month during
her Zach Theatre run and had the pleasure
of catching Petrova in action last weekend
as the title role in the Austin Lyric Opera
production of Donizetti’s tragic tale.
With its premise somewhat adapted
from a novel by Walter Scott, Lucia
unfolds in Scotland during the Glorious
Revolution of the late 17th century. In a
plot brimming with overtones of Romeo
and Juliet, Protestant Lucia had fallen
deeply – one might say madly, even – in
love with Edgardo, her brother’s Catholic
enemy. Deception ensues, and Lucia is
Friday,
February 3, 7:30 pm
Bates Recital Hall
Free Admission
Honoring
Roland Marvin Carter
Distinguished Arranger of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,”
Performances By: Music Students from The Butler School
of Music, Huston – Tillotson University Huston, and Prairie View Texas A&M
University
The University of Texas at Austin
College of Fine Arts
C O U R T E S Y O F A U S T I N L Y R I C O P E R A
Nice day for a red wedding: Lyubov Petrova as Lucia
forced to marry Lord Arturo. The nuptials
don’t last long, though; just minutes after
their wedding ceremony, Lucia returns to
her own reception with dagger in hand,
Arturo’s blood spattered across her gown.
She’s killed him in an onset of insanity,
and the “mad scene” that ensues is likely
the most famed of the operatic canon.
When Petrova and I discussed her interpretation
of this incredibly complex and
challenging scene, she observed that “the
most interesting twist in the story is that
only in that madness does [Lucia] find her
happiness.” Indeed, it was the intense palpability
of this sentiment in Petrova’s performance
of “Il dolce suono” that brought
the aria to life in such a riveting way. The
Russian soprano’s vocal abilities are technically
superb (one could hear various iterations
of whispered “wows” among audience
members throughout the evening as
she executed especially impressive arpeggiated
passages and messa di voce inflections).
But what lies behind Petrova’s vocal
fireworks is perhaps even more impressive:
her nuanced attention to how each
choice she makes furthers the arc of her
role. Action (as in the driving force behind
“acting”) is not always the first aspect of
an operatic performance to spring to mind.
Yet Petrova is able to couple the best of
both worlds: a keen sense of her character’s
objectives and tactics alongside the
technical rigor to connect these actions to
the complicated vocal passages Donizetti
has laid before her.
Though perhaps not as engaging on the
whole as ALO’s season opener, The Magic
Flute, this Lucia is carried admirably by
Petrova, ensuring that the production’s
riveting moments are strung together in
ways that lead to an ultimately satisfying
experience by the time the grand drape
falls. She exemplifies the concept of the
“title role”: that MVP who, when all is said
and done, is ultimately responsible for
shouldering the burden of the work and
shepherding her company to a successful
result. And she does it all with nearly maddening
precision. – Adam Roberts