Spring Break
'Rusalka' triumphs at Boston Lyric Opera
by Hannah Kirsch
Deputy Editor
Arts | 3/24/09
Posted online at 10:55 PM EST on 3/23/09
/ Last updated at 1:56 AM EST on 3/23/09
Mention of composer Antonín Dvorak's hardly brings opera to mind. The Czech nationalist is primarily known for his Slavonic Dances, symphonies and gorgeous cello concerto. But Dvorak's actually wrote more operas than he did symphonies, and Rusalka, currently in production by the Boston Lyric Opera at the Shubert Theatre, is the least obscure of the 10 he composed.
Rusalka is a sort of Czech "Little Mermaid," sans the chirpy Disney ending. The titular water nymph falls in love with a prince and convinces the witch Jezibaba to turn her into a human so she can pursue him. But she cannot convey the warmth and passion of the fully human Foreign Princess, and the prince betrays her. Rusalka is thus cursed to wander forever, neither fully nymph nor fully human, luring men to their watery graves.
At the Shubert Theatre Sunday, the audience was immersed in Dvorak's rich music and the BLO's ethereal staging for a performance that was, in a word, breathtaking. The production merged the beautiful, evocative composition with its stars' talents to yield one of the best opera performances I have ever seen.
"Because [Rusalka] is sung in Czech, it means a different commitment has to be made to learn the structure of the language," said soprano Marquita Lister, who played Rusalka, in an interview with the Justice. The fact that this was her first time with a Slavic language, especially a difficult, consonant-heavy language like Czech, did not show at all in her performance. Lister, a graduate of the New England Conservatory, created an emotionally captivating character in a role that she described as "challenging, but beautiful." Her voice was alternately dusky and soaring, and her dramatic talents drove the role even when Rusalka becomes mute for most of one act. She alternately flitted happily through the water and trudged hopelessly across the bleak stage, altering her motions as adeptly as she manipulated her voice.
Not that Lister was the sole star of the opera. All the artists deserve mention, from John Cheek as the Water Gnome, Rusalka's father, to the Boston Ballet dancers, from the singing trio of lovely wood nymphs to Nancy Maultsby's role as the ambiguously wicked witch Jezibaba. Though the orchestra's playing had a few rough moments, overall it gloriously captured Dvorak's depictions of the fairy and human worlds in which the opera takes place. And tenor Bryan Hymel was engrossing as the feckless prince. In the final act, the prince begs Rusalka to kiss him, knowing that her embrace will bring him death, and at that moment, Hymel's soaring, tortured voice literally brought tears to my eyes. Tragedy in opera is often intentionally overwrought, but something in Hymel's voice and Lister's eyes made the scene more poignant than cloying.
Rusalka is a sort of Czech "Little Mermaid," sans the chirpy Disney ending. The titular water nymph falls in love with a prince and convinces the witch Jezibaba to turn her into a human so she can pursue him. But she cannot convey the warmth and passion of the fully human Foreign Princess, and the prince betrays her. Rusalka is thus cursed to wander forever, neither fully nymph nor fully human, luring men to their watery graves.
At the Shubert Theatre Sunday, the audience was immersed in Dvorak's rich music and the BLO's ethereal staging for a performance that was, in a word, breathtaking. The production merged the beautiful, evocative composition with its stars' talents to yield one of the best opera performances I have ever seen.
"Because [Rusalka] is sung in Czech, it means a different commitment has to be made to learn the structure of the language," said soprano Marquita Lister, who played Rusalka, in an interview with the Justice. The fact that this was her first time with a Slavic language, especially a difficult, consonant-heavy language like Czech, did not show at all in her performance. Lister, a graduate of the New England Conservatory, created an emotionally captivating character in a role that she described as "challenging, but beautiful." Her voice was alternately dusky and soaring, and her dramatic talents drove the role even when Rusalka becomes mute for most of one act. She alternately flitted happily through the water and trudged hopelessly across the bleak stage, altering her motions as adeptly as she manipulated her voice.
Not that Lister was the sole star of the opera. All the artists deserve mention, from John Cheek as the Water Gnome, Rusalka's father, to the Boston Ballet dancers, from the singing trio of lovely wood nymphs to Nancy Maultsby's role as the ambiguously wicked witch Jezibaba. Though the orchestra's playing had a few rough moments, overall it gloriously captured Dvorak's depictions of the fairy and human worlds in which the opera takes place. And tenor Bryan Hymel was engrossing as the feckless prince. In the final act, the prince begs Rusalka to kiss him, knowing that her embrace will bring him death, and at that moment, Hymel's soaring, tortured voice literally brought tears to my eyes. Tragedy in opera is often intentionally overwrought, but something in Hymel's voice and Lister's eyes made the scene more poignant than cloying.
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