The Enchanted Island by William Christie

The Enchanted Island is the modern day pasticcio opera conducted by William Christie and orchestrated by Les Arts Florissants.

The genesis of this opera began when the general manager at Metropolitan Opera came up the crazy but fantastic idea of making new pasticcio opera using Baroque music. “Pasticcio” means mix up. It is the opera form consists of works by different composers, which was often created in Baroque period such as Vivaldi’s Bajazet.

So director, writer and composer, Jeremy Sams came up the brand new “mashed-up” opera based on Shakespeare’s Tempest “bumped up” by Mid Night Summer’s Dream. And he put new English libretto to the music that was taken from Handel, Vivaldi, Rameau and other Baroque opera composers.

The resulting product is spectacular Broadway style production jam-packed with wonderful Baroque music in the very American ways, which is the feast for eyes as much as entertaining for ears. The costumes, stage settings, acting directions and the music are all extravaganza, gorgeously elaborate and artistically well done.

They used the back wall as a kind of crystal ball-like projector, which showed the various cool graphics matching the late 19^th century retro-style pop art stage settings. They’re all richly artificial and artistically imaginative. This production is full of new and old mixed with all kinds of mismatch elements. And I didn’t realize until I watched this production that how much American entertainment shows are just like Baroque operas on the level of “going overboard”.

Prospero (David Daniels) looked more like Captain Nemo who is portrayed as sophisticated but brooding and self-centered nihilist. He casted his lover and sorceress, Sycorax (Joyce DiDonato) away into the dark-side of the island after he stole her island, her magical power, her servant Ariel and enslaving her son, Caliban (Luca Pisaroni). But more than above of all and anything else, he stole her heart.

The opera begins 16 years later and now Sycorax who is old, ugly and bitter after being used, robbed and dumped by her ex-lover, Prospero swears to take back her power and take revenge on him. So along with her gorilla-like son, Caliban, they switch the dragons’ blood in Prospero’s cell, which Arial (Danielle de Niese) would later use to shipwreck the ship carrying Prospero’s future son-in-law, Prince Fernando.

Arial’s only wish is to be free. In order to gain her freedom, she has to shipwreck Prince Fernando for Prospero’s beloved daughter, Miranda as he commanded for he’s old and ailing. But mistakenly, she shipwrecks the two sets of on-the-way-to-go honeymooners from Mid Night Summer’s Dream.

Arial keeps screwing things up by using the magic spells on everyone and making the two of just-got-married husbands fall in love with Miranda who acts more like flirtatious Pocahontas under the repeated spells. Caliban becomes the beast-lover for beautiful Helena (Déjà vu?) like the Beauty and the Beast but when the spell on her by his loving and sympathetic mother dissolved, it breaks his heart.

After being scolded by Prospero, Ariel desperately begs old and grumpy anti-human god, Neptune (Placid Domingo) to find Prince Fernando from vast ocean. Then she unspells everyone so each can be matched up with correct one.

But at the end, Miranda didn’t need magical spell to fall in love when Prince Fernando (Anthony Roth Costanzo) finally showed up at her shore.

Neptune also intervenes between Prospero and Sycorax. He takes the side of Sycorax and scolds Prospero for his cruelty towards her. He repents and begs her forgiveness that softens her heart with overwhelming emotion. She forgives him and they all sing, “Now bright new days are drawing” (Handel’s “Hallelujah”).

As singing goes, exquisite mezzo-soprano, Joyce DiDonato and Placid Domingo stole the show.

Since the first time I listened to Vivaldi’s “Ercole su’l Termodonte”, Joyce DiDonato has impressed me every time I’ve listened to her. Besides some operas, I also listened to her album “Diva, Divo” which just won the Grammy. Her artistic craftsman-ship in her singing is just amazing.

This is the first time I watched her in an opera. Her acting is impressive as her singing. She’s one of these artists who can create the profound moment of powerful realism on the stage.  When she sung her first aria “Maybe soon, maybe now” (“Moriro, ma vendicata” in Handel’s Teseo) and the most moving aria in the opera, ”Hearts that love can all be broken” (Giovanni Battista Ferrandini), her singing and acting were too real.

In the interview, she said she played her character as a woman of 40’s or 50’s who lost her power after dedicating her life to everything else. 

Placid Domingo had only two short scenes but his voice scale alone is like God (and he plays god).

Perky teenager-like soprano, Danielle de Niese was perfect for Ariel whose character is the combination of Ariel, Puck and Tinkerbelle. She was very charming and funny; especially when she showed up at Neptune’s court in the primitive retro diving gears. It was also great when she finally gets her freedom, she gets fully dressed up for the occasion and turns Vivaldi’s agitation song “Agitata da due venti” into her jubilation song “Can you feel the heavens are reeling”.

Countertenor, David Daniels who played Prospero sung with strong good voice but as often I’ve felt with his singing, I was having hard time connecting with him emotionally.  

The four singers who sung the honeymooners are all good. The soprano singer who sung Miranda had beautiful bright voice with light tone but her singing was little shallowly.

Bass-baritone, Luca Pisaroni who played Caliban had the coolest character and outfit. He was the combined characters of King Kong + Planet of apes + Chewbacca + Frankenstein with over-the-top Kabuki make-up and the gorilla color with chain attached to his neck. He had very good strong bass-baritone voice. He sung, “Mother, my blood is freezing” (“Gelido in ogni vena” in Vivaldi’s Farnace) very well.

The whole production is filled with comical moments and one of these funniest moments is when Prince Fernando finally showed up at the end. He was the perfect picture of Prince Charming from the Disney fairly tales and more delightfully so when after everyone’s long-awaited anticipation, he started singing with the dream-like sweetest countertenor voice.

William Christie’s orchestration is refined and vibrant. The sound quality of his orchestration is very rich and beautiful in this production. He’s experimental but he’s neither perfectionist nor too detail-oriented like many other conductors. He also never over-interprets scores. He lets music play its natural course. His music is flexible, affectionate and always, passionate.

Handel would love this opera. I’m pretty certain if he was alive today, as much great artist as shrewd show business man he was, he would immigrate to United State (instead of moving to England) and create opera like this for himself.