The stage is dark and empty, overwhelming the audience with apprehension. The orchestra sounds and lines of red neon dart across the walls and along the ground. A strange, clown-like man with a shaved head frolics around while dragging with him a large hourglass. Time is running out for the man of the evening, Don Giovanni, as thick smoke creeps out of a coffin-shaped hole at center, reminding us of his inevitable funeral. Once the smoke clears, tall and proud, Erwin Schrott stands alone on the bare stage.

Devilishly handsome and built with a body that commands an authority across genders, 35 year old Uruguayan bass Erwin Schrott takes on the universal figure of a man who mocks society’s moral code with out any regard for his consequences in LA Opera’s current twist on Mozart’s infamous piece of work, “Don Giovanni.”

Schrott is a sight in bright pink that begins with ‘80s-esque tight pants and ends with his carnival-like hat, placing the Don somewhere between past and an unknown present. Regardless of Schrott’s striking appearance, his masculinity cannot be questioned as his relentless, cold-hearted womanizing and simultaneously murderess nature proves to us that Don Giovanni is the worst kind of man—the playboy. Accuse him of his wrongdoings and he will simply reply, “To love just one is cruel to the others.”

Having debuted at The Royal Opera and LA Opera with the role of Leporello in 2003, “Don Giovanni” has become a specialty for Schrott who feels strongly about the corrupt character of the Don himself, whom he finds a “loser.”

“He has not built anything in his life that is important—family or friends, and everything that he has is material,” said Schrott. “That is why he finds himself at two in the morning alone in a graveyard desiring only girls around him. I love women, but I can not consider the idea of quantity instead of quality.”

Schrott is as much an actor as a singer, part of the new generation of performers who believes an opera singer should do more than sing. While movie star good looks are a plus, it is Schrott’s imagination and vocal color that make him the well-rounded opera singer that the audience wants to see and hear today.

“An opera singer right now can not only be just an opera singer,” Schrott said. “You have to go to the stage and be in the right shape for the character; you have to know the drama, the history, the literature around that character. My dream is that we develop ourselves into actors that can also sing opera.”

Schrott is currently studying the Alexander Technique of acting, which focuses on the idea of “the psychological moment.” Schrott demonstrates this of Don Giovanni with “the first crucial moment in the opera” when, after raping Donna Anna, he cold-heartedly murders her father, the Commendatore. It is at this point in the opera that Schrott describes his innermost thoughts as: “Shit! I am getting into something that is bringing me down and down, and I know I cannot stop it.”

Overall, Schrott brings to the stage a seductive, witty, and appropriately subtle Don Giovanni, who sings with clarity, sensitivity, and thoughtfulness in every word. Nevertheless, his rich and direct voice cannot help but be diminished by the overwhelming visuals this particular production seems to pride itself on— Boris F. Kudlicka’s minimalist scenic design paired with Polish costume designer Arcadius Weremczuk’s distractingly flamboyant outfits.

Polish avant-garde film, theater, and—not to mention—opera director, Mariusz Trelinski, describes his reasoning, “Continuous, repetitive utilization of the same old solutions is a dangerous process. It numbs the imagination and moves the work into the category of a dying form of art,” as quoted in Dave Kopplin’s program notes, “Recognizing The Don Among Us.”

Transforming a timeless artistic medium into an exciting, fascinating, modern genre proves to be difficult to fully achieve. Trelinski’s desire to spark the imagination of a contemporary Hollywood-obsessed audience can be seen in the end of Act I—a science fiction themed masked ball. I believe that it is at this point in the opera that all jaws dropped. Here is this beautiful, climactic music, and all the audience can focus on is the line of odd, eclectic creatures before their eyes— three unisex golem figures (Anna, Elvira, and Ottavio) and a pair of yellow-feathered clown-birds (Zerlina and Masetto). Unfortunately, without the proper balance of music with this contemporary sensibility, the heart of the opera is just not there.

World-renowned mezzo soprano and Associate Professor of Voice at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music, Cynthia Munzer, commented on Trelinski’s adaptation of Mozart’s beloved opera—“It is always a pleasure to see an opera by one of our great composers, performed with the intentions of the composer intact. We are all familiar with updated and geographically altered productions of classic operas. Hopefully these changes serve to heighten the musical values and to honor the dramatic intent of the composer.”

Opera is meant to appeal to every sense of the viewer, particularly the sound of the human voice to our keen ears. Only music has that ability to stir profound emotions in us, but once that classic medium attempts to fit into a contemporary mold for the sole purpose of exceeding a crowd’s imagination or, as Schrott explains as “the very American thing”—the desire “to be a part of show business,” it loses its meaning.

“Of course, opera was not meant for everyone,” adds Schrott. “If everyone enjoyed opera, it would become crazy, and no longer an art form. The conception has always been boring, old and in the past, but I love opera and I believe that we can always be better.”

PRODUCTION DATES
Friday November 30, 2007 7:30 p.m.
Sunday December 2, 2007 2:00 p.m.
Tuesday December 4, 2007 7:30 p.m.
Friday December 7, 2007 7:30 p.m.
Sunday December 9, 2007 8:00 p.m.
Wednesday December 12, 2007 1:00 p.m.
Saturday December 15, 2007 2:00 p.m.

Danielle Jacoby

Photo Credit: Robert Millard