The Pearl Fishers

So, last night my mom and I went to see The Pearl Fishers at Seattle Opera.

The cast was as follows:
Leïla: Mary Dunleavy
Nadir: William Burden
Zurga: Christopher Feigum
Nourabad: Patrick Carfizzi

This production was STUNNING. During the musical interlude at the beginning of the opera, the entire stage appeared to be underwater. In the background there was a guy suspended in a harness and it looked like he was diving for pearls. He picked up a glowing pearl from the stage, swam back up and out stage left suspended about 20 feet (I know, I've been up there!). It was one of the best stage effects I've ever seen. They repeated this again in Act 3, minus the pearl. During the fire at the end of the opera, the entire stage turned red - very cool!

The costumes were also quite beautiful, albeit a little skimpy. After all, they are in steamy Sri Lanka. Mary Dunleavy wore a tight-fitting, sleeveless gold sparkly dress for most of the performance that would have looked just as appropriate on an actress heading to the Oscars - gorgeous!

The singing was spectacular as well. Mary Dunleavy was a sensuous Leïla. Her notes just melted. Her acting was also first-rate - poignant and dramatic. Bill Burden has a voice of gold. Despite what his character does in this opera, you still want to take him home to Mom. :) And at age 44, he is built better than most 20-somethings. He and Mary Dunleavy definitely had chemistry onstage.

If I had to name one weak link among the singers it would be Christopher Feigum. His voice was pleasant enough, however I felt that sometimes he wasn't projecting enough, and I was sitting in the third row. I wonder if the people in the back could even hear him at times. Other than that, though, he had a fine stage presence and even reminded me of a certain baritone at times during the performance. He did shine during "Au fond du temple saint".

The chorus has a huge role in this opera and they sounded fantastic. The dancers were also brilliant and well-choreographed. At times there was so much going on onstage with them that I didn't know where to look!

Seattle Symphony Director Gerard Schwartz did a fantastic job in extracting lush tones from the orchestra. The timing of all the music seemed just right - not rushed and not too slow.

After the performance, we went backstage to say hi to William Burden. After the initial "Loved the performance, you were great, yadda, yadda, yadda" I started to mention the Pearl Fishers coffee mug that I got from Philly Opera. All I got out was, "So, I have this coffee mug with you and Nathan on it..." and he busted out laughing and turned a shade of red. I told him when he and Nathan are here next season I'm going to have them both sign it. He said it was a deal. :)