#eric ferring

My whirlwind tour of Europe may be over, but I’m still traveling to see my baroque operas! I saw a production of Ariodante in Chicago this past weekend that I have thoughts and feelings about so I decided to revive this little blog to share them.

Prior to seeing this production of Ariodante, I had seen one production on DVD, and had the great pleasure of seeing it performed in concert at the Kennedy Center with Joyce DiDonato and the English Concert.

The production I saw at the Lyric brought out aspects of the drama that I had not focused on when it was presented in concert. The traditional plot of Ariodante is sort of a cross between Othello and the Hero/Claudius plot from Much Ado About Nothing. Ariodante and the princess Ginevra are in love, Polinesso is jealous, so he convinces Ginevra’s maid, Dalinda, to dress up as her, and on the night before Ariodante and Ginevra are to be married, invite him in as a lover. Ariodante, despondent after seeing this, leaves the castle to commit suicide, over his brother Lurcano’s objections. After Ariodante throws himself from a cliff, Lurcano goes to Ginevra’s father and demands justice, namely that either Genevra be put to death, or he be given the chance to battle with her champion in a trial by combat. Reluctantly, the king agrees, but Polinesso offers himself as her champion. Meanwhile, Ariodante has in fact survived his suicide attempt, and finds a horrified Dalinda in the woods. Dalinda confesses, and they rush back. Polinesso and Lurcano fight, and Lurcano mortally wounds Polinesso. Polinesso confesses, Ariodante returns and explains what he has learned, the all is forgiven and the lovers marry.

The Chicago production made some changes to the more traditional plot. In a typical production, Ariodante is the outsider, and much of Polinesso’s jealousy comes from the Polinesso’s feeling that Ariodante has stolen what is rightfully his. In the Chicago production, which was updated to 1970s Isle of Skye, it is Polinesso who is the outsider, a charlatan priest from the mainland, who also may have been in a biker gang (that part was not clear). As well as updating the time line, the production had an updated message about sexual expectations and exploitation of women. Rather than a mostly harmless misunderstanding, the punishment of Ginevra is a brutal ostracization and slut shaming by the comunity she calls home. Polinesso, rather than an emotionally manipulative and ambitious power seeker, becomes a bonafide sexual predator, who stalks and harasses Ginevra and then turns the community against her when she refuses his advances. In this production also in a stylized way, depicts him violently raping Dalinda, after she dresses as Ginevra and invites him in. In light of these more realistic choices, the show also changes the ending. Rather than forgiving her community, her father, and her betrothed, Ginevra leaves the island and sets off on her own journey of discovery.

These choices take the play from one that has a depressing second act, to a very dark and dismal place. In light of this, the choice to search for some place to find humor or levity is a reasonable one. What I did not think was reasonable, was the choice to attempt to find it in Polinesso, a character they had turned into a sexual predator. Stalking is not funny. Harassment is not funny. Breaking into a woman’s room to sniff her underwear is stalking and it should not be played for laughs.

The only other gripe I had about this production, and it is a small gripe, is that in the first act Ginevra is portrayed as quirky and slightly ditzy. I like the choice to have her be quirky, because, as my father pointed out, it helps explain why the community was so easily persuaded that she was a sexual deviant. However, in light of the updated, empowering ending, I think they played her a little too stupid in the first act to really make the empowering ending ring true. 

But enough about the production, let’s talk about the music. From top to bottom, musically, I have nothing but praise for this production. In terms of fully staged opera productions I have seen, this falls only short of Glyndbourne. Henry Bicket was conducting, and I, the queen of complaining about tempos, have nothing to say. The tempos were perfect, the balance was perfect. 

I have had the privilege of seeing Alice Coote singing Ruggiero at an Alcina in concert, but this was my first time seeing her in a staged production. Her Ariodante was sublime. She is now 2/2 of making me cry. Scherza Infida is 12 minutes long, and has four lines of unique lyrics, and she held the stage for the whole time.

This was my first time seeing Brenda Rae, who was Ginevra, but she sang and acted beautifully. Her feelings of betrayal when her community turned against her were heartbreaking to watch. 

Heidi Stober, who played Dalinda also acted Dalinda’s shame and suffering after her rape in a subtle, moving way, and her voice was clear and beatuiful.

I had forgotten, until I read the program, that I had seen Iestyn Davies in the Lyric’s production of Rinaldo when I was a student at Chicago. He was excellent then, and, though I didn’t agree with some of the choices for his character, he was a very menacing Polinesso, and his voice was very well suited to the role. 

I feel like I have seen Kyle Ketelsen, who plays the King of Scotland, somewhere before, but I cannot figure it out. He is a great young bass, and I think he has a lot of potential. In this production the king is more of a villain and he carried it off.

Finally, for me, one of the absolute joys of the production was the young Eric Ferring as Lurcano. Mark my words, this man is going places. His acting was good, his ornamentation was tastefully done, and he was a joy to listen to. He sang fearlessly and note perfect. I can’t wait to see where he goes next. He’s a special singer, and I know I’ll see him again.