The comedy blues
Amal Choucri Catta meets with a not too impressive Rossini
Rossini Opera Festival; Cairo Opera Company and Orchestra; conductor Nayer Nagui; director Mohamed Abul-Kheir, Elizabetta Brusa; Gumhouriya Theatre, 11 to 13 May
Of the 35 operas Gioacchino Rossini composed during the first 37 years of his life, the Cairo Opera has selected three for the Rossini Opera Festival, a three-day event staged at the Gumhouriya Theatre: La cambiale di matrimonio, L'occasione fa il ladro and Il signor Bruschino. Directed by Mohamed Abul-Kheir and Elizabetta Brusa, the three operas were performed by a Nagui Nayer-led Cairo Opera Orchestra, and featured Greig Martin at the harpsichord. The Rossini Festival had originally been scheduled for an earlier date, but was postponed several times before opening on 11 May, a date with which no special occasion relating to Rossini coincided. Reduced from four to three days, the event was nonetheless enthusiastically received.
The genius of musical farce was only 18 when he wrote La cambiale di matrimonio, producing his widely recognised masterpiece The barber of Seville in 1816 at the age of 24. At 37 he gave up composing, and no one ever found out why. Rossini would live another 39 years, during which he turned to music only once to write his Stabat Mater. It was in the period from 1810 to 1813 that he indulged his penchant for one-act comic operas, producing five for the Teatro Moisè. With limited budgets, minimal sets and a cast of only six singers, these served to establish Rossini's comic genius to the full.
Of the three operas chosen for the present festival, on the other hand, Il signor Bruschino had been performed at the Gumhouriya Theatre in January 2000, under the direction of Vera Bertinetti, with the Opera Orchestra conducted by Sherif Mohieddin and Amira Selim in the role of Sofia. On that occasion there were delightful sets and costumes, while this time the sets were limited to a lonely armchair and black curtains. Budget restrictions, in fact, showed through every part of the Rossini Festival. Perhaps the lack of adequate sets would not have been as disappointing had the performances been more convincing. Alas, they were hardly very impressive.
Male singers surpassed their female counterparts by far, a particularly disappointing eventuality. Yet mezzo-soprano Gala El-Hadidi proved a remarkable discovery. Training with Sobhi Bedeir since 1998, and now studying in Venice at the Benedetto Marcello Conservatoire, she won the second prize at the Juigend Musiziert competition in Istanbul in 1998, not to mention a host of other awards and operatic roles. In La cambiale di matrimonio, the best directed of the three operas, she sang the part of Clarina, the maid, demonstrating a deep, flowing and powerful timbre as well as a capacity for effortless performance. And for this alone one is eager to see her in a more demanding role.
Stars of La cambiale di matrimonio were the irresistible Raouf Zaidan in the role of Mill, Reda El-Wakil as Norton and Mustafa Mohamed as Slook. Tamer Tawfiq played a moving Edoardo and Isabella Fayed a rather colourless Fanny. The acting was more or less perfect here: this was certainly the best of the three operas, and the funniest. The curtain rises to reveal the home of Tobia Mill, a merchant. Norton, his cashier, brings a letter from Mill's American agent, Slook, requesting Mill to help him find a healthy bride, younger than 30, with a sweet disposition and an immaculate reputation. Slook states that he is ready to reimburse Mill for his efforts and Mill settles on his own daughter, Fanny. Looking more like a spy than a sales agent, Mustafa Mohamed trudged into the theatre like a hero. His make-up was perfect, his costume smashing, his performance great.
Isabella and Tamer likewise had their moment of glorious romance walking down the aisle, while Raouf was energetically climbing over his desk, soliloquising on the maps of the world, with Reda emphatically ironing out all problems. A few laughs with pleasant recitativos and delightful melodies combine to engage the audience. As the story goes, Fanny tries to talk Slook into renouncing the marriage contract, while Edoardo and Slook fight over the bride; and tension mounts to a bursting point when Mill challenges Slook to a duel. But all is well in the end: Slook's heart softens as he realises to what extent the two youngsters are in love with each other. He renounces his claim on Fanny and changes the contract to read in Edoardo's name, while scolding the father for having treated his daughter like a piece of merchandise. Everybody is happy as the performers take their bow and the audience awaits the next performance.
L'occasione fa il ladro is based on Eugène Scribe's famous L'occasion fait le larron. It was presented with modern, rather shabby sets and a miscellaneous collection of costumes, with Ibrahim Nagui as Eusebio, Dalia Farouk and Rasha Talaat respectively cast as Berenice, Jolie Faizy and Gala El-Hadidi as Ernestine, Hisham El-Guindi and Georges Wanis as Alberto, Hatem El-Guenedy as Martino, and Raouf Zaidan as Parmenione. The opera opens in a kind of moonscape with winds blowing, thunder growling and lightning flashing through artificial spaces. Immediately Don Parmenione and Count Alberto, co-lodgers at the same out-of-the-way inn, are introduced. Alberto is travelling to Naples to meet his future bride, and his servant has hauled Parmenione's suitcase by mistake. In the meantime, the bride, young Marquise Bérénice, appears; she is not sure she wants to marry the count whom she has never seen before. She therefore decides to change places with her maid Ernestine. Confusion ensues, to be followed by a happy ending. In L'occasione fa il ladro direction was rather poor. Dalia Farouk, an otherwise brilliant soprano, did not seem too happy with her role, while Jolie Faizy gave too much voice and no colour. Raouf Zaidan was typically perfect.
Il signor Bruschino, the last opera of the festival, was sadly no more than a poor remake of what came across a lovely one-act opera in 2000. Nobody could fathom the reason behind directing it anew; the scenography, moreover, was unpleasant, and some singing performances inadequate. Here we met again with the remarkable Mustafa Mohamed as Papa Bruschino and Reda El-Wakil as Filiberto. Elhami Amin was a welcome Gaudenzio, though he should try to be less artificial on stage. He is a young, promising baritone who could endeavour to work harder on his performances. This time, Ibrahim Nagui was cast as Florville, Jacqueline Rafik as Sofia, Jolie Faizy as Marianna, Hisham El-Guindi as Bruschino-the-son and Emad Adel as the commissioner. Once again this is a story of mistaken identities, of love and money, which proves somewhat long and colourless when compared to past performances, though the presence and the extraordinary interpretation of Reda El-Wakil and Mustafa Mohamed enhanced the spectacle.
It goes without saying that, having applauded two divas like Amira Selim and Taheya Shamseddin in the role of Sofia, to mention but one example, it is rather difficult to appreciate the new cast. It seems that the entire Rossini Festival has been created with the express purpose of giving young singers the opportunity to perform. Doubtless a splendid idea. Yet it could have been better executed.
Correction
In last week's article, "Home again," the director of the Cairo Opera House production of Aida, 4-7 May, was mistakenly identified as Abdel-Moneim Kamel. The director was in fact Abdalla Saad.
