REVIEW BY KATE BRAUER

Fernando de la Mora and Dina Kuznetsova make their Cincinnati debuts in Roméo et Juliette.

Cincinnati Opera opened its 2002 Summer Festival on June 20 with Charles Gonoud's Roméo et Juliette. The famous French opera debuted in Paris in 1867, and was last seen by Cincinnati audiences in 1995. The production's final performance is Friday night.

Based on Shakespeare's play, the opera tells the story of two young people from feuding families who fall in love and marry in secret, in spite of family objections. Their plans to escape and be together are tragically thwarted, and the opera concludes with the lovers committing a double suicide. They die side by side, determined to be together in death, if not in life.

Artistic Director Nicholas Muni has once again assembled an international cast. In the title roles, Mexican tenor Fernando de la Mora and Russian soprano Dina Kuznetsova make their Cincinnati debuts. The pair is engaging and dynamic, and both sing their roles with conviction and feeling.

The onstage chemistry of the lovers is thrilling, and their voices are full of passion. As an audience member, I found myself practically lifted out of my seat on the sublime emotional heights achieved during de la Mora's and Kuznetsova's impassioned duets.

Kuznetsova is entirely convincing as the young Juliette, taking the character from coquettish to tragic over the course of the three-hour opera. De la Mora shows somewhat less of an emotional transformation as Roméo, but it is but a small matter -- his ardor and energy are electric.

The costumes, sets and lighting design are lavish and rich, adding appropriately to the emotional impact of the production. The sets and costumes, initially created by Claude Girard for L'Opéra de Montréal, lend a period flavor to the production, but with imagination and flair. Costuming the Capulets in predominantly red tones and the Montagues in greens helps the audience discern characterization, particularly in large crowd scenes.

Resident Lighting Designer Thomas C. Hase's lighting adds a layer of emotional complexity to the onstage action. For instance, during the scene in which Roméo, seized by a fit of rage and determined to avenge the slaying death of his good friend Mercutio, murders Juliette's cousin, Tybalt, the stage is slowly bathed in red light. The proscenium transforms itself in the excruciating agony that follows, and Roméo alone appears to wear the Montague green, alienated from the sea of blood red that surrounds him. The result is stunning.

The fiery passion between de la Mora and Kuznetsova is the driving force of this production, but the two are given apt support from a gifted cast. Of particular note, American mezzo-soprano Frankie Hatcher is delightful as Stéphano, the mischievous boy servant to Roméo. She is animated in her adolescent characterization, adding an element of fun to this tragic story. Also quite wonderful is Jean-François Lapointe, a richly voiced baritone from Canada who made his Cincinnati debut in Pelléas et Mélisande in the 2000 Summer Festival. Lapointe brings his characteristic charm and dashing wit to the role of Mercutio. The camaraderie he creates with Roméo is believable and engaging.

A few minor faults: The stage fight choreography was quite limited and did little to forward the emotional impact of the fight scenes. This likely cannot be blamed on experienced fight director k. Jenny Jones. It seems more likely that some of the performers might lack the physical fitness and agility required for dynamic and convincing swordplay. More thrilling fight scenes would have added greatly to the climax of the production.

Early scenes involving the large chorus did not seem animated enough, and this detracted from the production's energy. The chorus sang in beautiful, full voice, so this was not the problem. Rather, it seemed to come from limited movement and entirely linear blocking of most crowd scenes. For instance, in the opening scene the chorus appears as revelers at a Capulet party. However, other than the jugglers, gymnasts and fire-eater, nearly no one onstage was given any movement. This lack of physical momentum stalled the opera's initial dramatic action, but the lead players had the vigor and focus needed to drive it successfully out of the lackluster crowd scenes and into the intimate, intensely emotional scenes that followed.

These are minor setbacks to an extremely beautiful and moving production that on all other counts succeeds, thrilling the audience and bringing us to the emotional heights that only a truly wonderful opera can achieve.

E-mail Kate Brauer

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