Since its founding in 2011, Pacific Opera Project (POP), under the direction of Josh Shaw, has carved out a unique niche for itself in Los Angeles and along the way developed a steadfast audience. Its production style is often decidedly quirky and whimsical. At POP performances, audiences often have a chance to combine arias with a bottle of wine and a plate of antipasto.
That being said, the company’s production of Giacomo Puccini’s Turandot, which opened Saturday, March 14 at the JACCC Aratani Theatre in Little Tokyo, would have benefited from investing more of its budget on instrumental forces and less on a mega-glittery production that looks like Disney's Frozen with a dollop of Busby Berkeley. The company’s website even describes the show as “a magical world of ice and snow — frozen, like the heart of its title character.” And it’s set, unaccountably, in the Himalayas instead of Peking.
Shaw’s staging felt cramped and cluttered as the large cast and chorus scrambled for positions on the towering snow-covered staircase or fled from whip-wielding palace guards. Hailey Springer’s costumes, following the concept, beggar description, a bizarre combination of Frozen and Mulan, with Turandot’s ladies-in-waiting dressed in slinky, glittery gowns more appropriate in fabric and line for a party in The Great Gatsby.
But at the core, the company casts well and features high-level soloists and solid choral work, and that makes a big difference to its Turandot.
Making her company debut, Shannon Jennings is one of those rare sopranos who can actually project the to-die-for beauty of Turandot with the icy steel of the role’s vocal challenge. Jennings is also a fine actress whose gradual melting under the persistence of Calaf’s adoration was believable. She will hopefully become one of POP’s regulars.
The first time I encountered tenor Clay Hilley, the show’s Calaf, he was singing the demonic role of Peter Quint in POP’s brilliant production of Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw. There is no question about his vocal power — he’s sung Tristan, Parsifal, and Tannhäuser. At full voice, Hilley rattled the rafters of the Aratani Theatre. And in the role’s biggest moment, except for a slight waver, he hit “Nessun dorma” out of the park. He followed that with an impressive showing in the confrontational, ultimately heart-melting duet with Jennings in Act 3, when love finally triumphs over decapitation.
Sara Duchovnay, a company regular, is a decidedly mature Liù. But vocally she still conveys the plaintive innocent devotion integral to the role. Bass Colin Ramsey, on the other hand, does his best to appear ancient as Timur, imbuing the role with resonant singing.
Puccini's commedia dell’arte trio of imperial courtiers appear in this production as a jaunty threesome of merry Mongols sung by Sergio Manzo (Ping), Spencer Hamlin (Pang), and James Callon (Pong).
Understaffed and under-rehearsed, the orchestra — 21 musicians led by conductor Ben Makino — at best offered an approximation of Puccini’s score, marred by an embarrassing number of instrumental flubs, wayward pitch, and frayed ensemble.
Much of the performance was held together by the fine work by both the adult and children's choirs, prepared by Benjamin Beckman, David Conley, and Valerie Stern.
It may be contrary to POP’s mandate, but had Shaw put the same effort and expense he lavished on this production into a full-scale concert version of the opera this could have been a Turandot of the first order.
