Don Giovanni Impresses All

In the aftermath of last Fall's Manon, Oberlin's most expensive opera to date, Mozart's masterpiece Don Giovanni could have easily been an under-budgeted disaster were it not for strategic planning. Luckily, the Opera Theater program took a careful approach to this semester's production, and it shows. The Giovanni singers are strong, while the direction is crafty and the set is minimal. This is Mozart at his finest, with a little twist. No longer is Don Giovanni the lewd, crude 18th century predator of Mozart's original opera; instead, it's 1930 and the legendary protagonist finds himself in a California metropolis that hints at Los Angeles.

Fortunately, director Jonathan Field has strayed from an over-the-top Romeo + Juliet -style rehash of classical opera. What is successful about Field's transition from late-18th century Spain to a throbbing American cityscape is the remarkable ease into which the plot slides into its alternative. The music is left untouched, but visually, the audience is transported.

Don Giovanni, the seductive scoundrel of a Spaniard double cast with senior Kevin Moreno and Conservatory graduate student Michael Chipman, is as sleazy as on-stage merit allows. He laughs wickedly at the drop of a hat. He pours wine over his mistress's head, then throws the glass down to break it as an exclamation mark. He is evil and deceiving, and yet we are attracted to him; he is, after all, Don Juan, lover of 1,003 women. But Don Giovanni, as irresistible and amusing as he may often seem, is nevertheless traveling down a path toward destruction, and this is a story that imparts a cryptic morale: "As you do it shall be done unto you."

Primarily, Don Giovanni succeeds on the heels of its reputation alone, propelled forward by a talented cast. The witty libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, who collaborated with Mozart for his three most famous operas (including Le Nozze di Figaro and Cosi fan tutte), allows for the leeway of Field's success. Given the performers' familiarity with Mozart, it is no wonder that the cast is able to carry off the score brilliantly. This familiarity was significant, as it allowed for the cast to focus on more subtle theatric techniques.

This production of Don Giovanni is a prime example: students had their singing parts nailed from the start, and were therefore able to spend a great deal of time working on their acting skills. Manon was the other way around, which did make for a beautiful opera, though it wasn't nearly as entertaining.

The one disappointment of Don Giovanni is its weak set, which consists solely of a pair of tall, faux-stucco doorways arranged according to scene specifications. However, one can just as easily write this off as a downfall of low-budgeting, and enjoy the opera for its incredible directional creativity. Watching the lead woman strut onstage in a pencil skirt and pumps, hair pinned under a scarf movie star-style, is enough to make the audience swoon. Field has dressed Donna Elvira just so, and her character fits its costume: senior Dea Lunsford and junior Jacqueline Enrique succeed in displaying Elvira's frustrated romantic hopelessness with voluptuous class, and their singing is superb.

Another of Don Giovanni's objects of lust, the peasant Zerlina is played with innocently erotic enthusiasm by Conservatory graduate student Erika Tolano and protégé first-year Malia Bendi Merad. As Merad pulls off Zerlina's unassuming sensuality in such sweet solos, it is no wonder Don Giovanni is so attracted. Junior Benjamin Cahn, who plays Don Giovanni's servant (clad in a police uniform, though it is unclear why) is the best entertainer of the opera, perhaps second to only Don Juan himself, whose actions and indications flush out every definition of the word scoundrel. And at Oberlin, a crafty new take on the story makes the production a success.