Glimmerglass Festival Review: From Baroque to Bernstein

Starting in the 1990s, the Glimmerglass Festival pioneered baroque opera in the U.S., staging numerous titles over many summers in its ideally sized 900-seat theater. This season, in a project originally planned for 2020 but upended by the Covid-19 pandemic, the company mounted a riveting production of Handel’s “Rinaldo” with the renowned countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, this year’s Artist-in-Residence, as its star. Director Louisa Proske’s concept places this tale of Crusaders and sorcery in a children’s hospital, where a boy recovering from a brain operation imagines his way out of the total powerlessness of childhood and illness by adopting the storybook role of knight and rescuer.

Streamlined by some score cuts and aided by the design team— Matt Saunders (set), Amith Chandrashaker (lighting), Montana Blanco (costumes), Jorge Cousineau (projections)—the production morphed elegantly between hospital room and fantasy land while remaining grounded in the universe of a child’s imagination. A large central window became both a portal and a backdrop for animations of the imagined world. Crusaders burst through it and used medical supplies to outfit the boy/Rinaldo (Mr. Costanzo) with their red-crossed uniform. As the captured maiden Almirena (Jasmine Habersham) lamented her fate (here she was a critically ill patient sharing Rinaldo’s room), her dancer double underwent a brain scan, with its CT images flashed on the window. To rescue her, Rinaldo and the Crusaders transformed the boy’s hospital bed into a boat and sailed off, violently buffeted by the winds (the aria is Rinaldo’s “Venti, turbini, prestate”). The elaborate storybook costumes of the villains—the Saracen general Argante and the sorceress Armida—contrasted smartly with the modern technology of the hospital; a trio of leaping black-clad dancers, choreographed by Jorrell Lawyer-Jefferson, intensified Armida’s witchiness.

Mr. Costanzo’s distinctive, muscular sound was arresting in Rinaldo’s calls to battle, and softened effectively in laments such as “Cara sposa”; he was convincing throughout as a child. Keely Futterer was a thrilling whirlwind as Armida, ornamenting wildly and unafraid to take high notes into shriek territory. Korin Thomas-Smith (Argante) was announced as indisposed before the show. He got through his florid opening aria, “Sibillar,” with only a few wobbles in his imposing baritone, but after intermission he walked the role while his cover, Jason Zacher, capably sang from the side of the stage. Ms. Habersham was an affecting Almirena; Kyle Sanchez Tingzon displayed a powerful countertenor as Goffredo, the Crusader king, contrasting effectively with Nicholas Kelliher’s lighter countertenor as the Sorcerer. Conductor Emily Senturia’s stylish reading was much enhanced by the work of the continuo group and some excellent solo instrumentalists.

The updating of Gounod’s “Romeo and Juliet” by director Simon Godwin was less successful. Several arcades topped by parapets, rearranged to form the various settings, could have been from any period, except for the graffiti tags that appeared in the marketplace scene; the costumes—including outfits for a circus-themed masked ball, multicolored lamé overalls, and some sharp suits—were eye-catching rather than illuminating. ( Dan Soule designed the sets, Loren Shaw the costumes, Robert Wierzel the lighting.) The directing was most successful in crowd scenes, like the killings of Mercutio and Tybalt. Intimate scenes were formulaic, and Juliet’s “Je veux vivre” was upstaged by Gertrude and some friends doing surreptitious shots from a flask.

Duke Kim was a youthful, ardent Romeo. As Juliet, Magdalena Kuźma’s bright, flexible soprano felt too large for the theater, and she was better in the passionate intensity of the potion aria than in the tenderness and heartbreak of her romantic duets with Romeo. Joseph Colaneri’s conducting—other than the magical interlude before the balcony scene—also missed that expansive tenderness. Sergio Martinez displayed an imposing bass as Friar Laurence and Lisa Marie Rogali was a pert Stephano.

E. Loren Meeker’s production of Puccini’s “La Bohème” stuck to the original period with simple but effective sets by Kevin Depinet and attractive costumes by Erik Teague. The Café Momus scene was especially colorful, thanks to some banners, awnings, and a trio of ruffled can-can dresses; the detailed directing made the horseplay scenes in the garret seem authentic. Tenor Joshua Blue was a charmingly shy Rodolfo and Teresa Perrotta a robust Mimi. Both have large, well-controlled instruments; their conclusion of the Act 3 quartet was especially moving. Darren Lekeith Drone (Marcello ), Emilie Kealani (Musetta) and conductor Nader Abbassi made solid contributions.

This is the first season for Rob Ainsley, Glimmerglass’s new general and artistic director. But one of the shows was a revival of Leonard Bernstein’s “Candide,” originally directed by its previous leader, Francesca Zambello, in 2015. This vivid staging, which has traveled extensively, was remounted this season by its choreographer, Eric Sean Fogel. The splendid underwear-clad dance ensemble that tied the show together was a tribute to his work, and to Ms. Zambello’s decade-long project of mounting classic musicals with appropriate casting and no amplification at Glimmerglass.

“Candide” exists in multiple versions; this one, which runs a bit long and includes some unfamiliar lyrics, emphasizes the darkly satirical nature of the source material as expressed through Bernstein’s effervescent score. Brian Vu’s light tenor made for a poignant Candide, hanging on to his optimism through episodes of war, death, flogging, betrayal, and more. Katrina Galka’s brittle coloratura soprano was perfectly suited to Cunegonde, who blithely sells herself to survive; Meredith Arwady captured the Old Lady with her booming contralto and big personality; actor Bradley Dean ably did the honors as the narrator Pangloss/Voltaire. Big-voiced standouts in smaller roles included Jonathan Patton as the pessimist Martin, Jonathan Pierce Rhodes as Candide’s friend Cacambo, and Ms. Futterer as the slave trader Vanderdendur—her high E-flat in “Bon Voyage” brought back memories of her Armida the previous night. Mr. Colaneri was the ebullient conductor.

The weekend’s finale continued another of Ms. Zambello’s initiatives: the commissioning of operas designed to be performed by children and teenagers along with a few of the company’s young artists. “The Rip Van Winkles, ” with music by Ben Morris and libretto by Laura Fuentes, is a witty, hour-long modern take on the Washington Irving story, dealing with a rural town (not unlike Cooperstown) in which the adults have blocked cell service to protect their children from the evils of constant connection to the internet.

Performed in the company theater, with an attractive set by James F. Rotondo III, directed by Brenna Corner, and conducted by Kamna Gupta with piano accompaniment, the piece deftly showcased the young performers in music of appropriate difficulty for each age group. The catchiest number of the evening came from the ensemble of grandparents: Performed by the youngest children, bent over walkers, their disco-inspired theme song urged the nervous parents to remember that “You have to live a little while you’re a kid.” The audience of enthusiastic adults and children was a testament to Glimmerglass’s efforts to be not just an artistic powerhouse, but a centerpiece of its upstate community.

—Ms. Waleson writes on opera for the Journal and is the author of “Mad Scenes and Exit Arias: The Death of the New York City Opera and the Future of Opera in America” (Metropolitan).