:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/sfr/IK3BCGIMDFBS3BHR77VB5G5R3I.jpg)
Giuseppe Verdi composed three operas based on Shakespeare’s plays: MacBeth, Otello and Falstaff; the third was his last opera and only his second foray into comedy.
Verdi collaborated with librettist Arrigo Boito—with whom he also created Otello—crafting the opera’s plot from Shakespeare’s sometimes maligned The Merry Wives of Windsor but drawing from Sir John Falstaff’s more nuanced character as depicted in King Henry IV. That character—disreputable, witty, human—shines in Santa Fe Opera’s production in a command performance by baritone Quinn Kelsey.
Verdi and Boito corresponded at length about the opera, both referring to Falstaff in their letters as “Big Belly,” as they created a character with enduring appeal, as much for his resilience as his roguishness. Literary critic Harold Bloom once described him as “the grandest personality in all of Shakespeare,” writing in his book Falstaff: Give Me Life of his own lifetime affinity toward the character versus some critics’ ambivalence: “I wonder that the greatest wit in literature should be chastised for his vices since all of them are perfectly open and cheerfully self-acknowledged. Supreme wit is one of the highest cognitive powers. Falstaff is as intelligent as Hamlet. But Hamlet is death’s ambassador while Falstaff is the embassy of life.”
Verdi also may have found Falstaff highly relatable. As SFO educator Oliver Prezant pointed out in his opening night lecture, at 75, Verdi had basically retired when he started working on Falstaff with Boito and he was 79 by the time it premiered in 1893. “I can only wonder at how Verdi must have felt writing about Falstaff,” Prezant said, “who is saying at various points in the opera…'John, he says, you still have it, my friend.’ He’s talking himself into it.”
In an interview for SFO’s Destination Santa Fe Opera podcast, host Jane Trembley asked Kelsey, who debuted in 2015 at SFO as Rigoletto in Verdi’s Rigoletto, what challenges he faced playing Falstaff.
“I don’t normally get to play comedic characters,” Kelsey said. “Falstaff is very, very serious, but there’s a lot of comedy as well. I felt vulnerable in that way. Because it’s just not what I’m used to. And so, in studying the music and the role, you just have to understand how gullible he can be. How much he lets his pride get the better of him more than once. One of the things that was brought to my attention when I prepared this the first time was that when Verdi writes certain emotions in the character…you have to really embody that idea—no pun intended—and become as big of an entity as possible in that character.”
SFO’s Falstaff was co-produced with Scottish Opera, which premiered it last summer. Sir David McVicar directs and acts as the scenic and costume designer. The three-act opera opens at The Garter Inn, a simple set, where Falstaff is writing letters at his desk. Doctor Caius (tenor Brian Frutiger, a former SFO apprentice) arrives and accuses Falstaff and his pals Bardolfo (tenor and SFO apprentice Thomas Cilluffo) and Pistola (bass Scott Conner) of various wrongdoings. Falstaff, in need of funds, decides to woo two wealthy wives: Mrs. Alice Ford (soprano Alexandra LoBianco in her SFO debut) and Mrs. Meg Page (mezzo-soprano Megan Marino, a former SFO apprentice). He dispatches those letters with a page when Bardolfo and Pistola refuse to take them. In the gardens at Ford’s house, the two women discover, along with Mistress Quickly (mezzo soprano Ann McMahon Quintero, a former SFO apprentice in her SFO debut) and Ford’s daughter Nannetta (the wonderful soprano Elena Villalón in her SFO debut) that they have received identical love letters and begin to plot their revenge.
Meanwhile, the audience learns Caius is betrothed to Nannetta, who loves Fenton (tenor Eric Ferring, a former SFO apprentice in his SFO debut); Bardolfo and Pistola tell Ford (baritone Roland Wood) Falstaff is courting his wife; and all the characters make plans—which unfold in Act II—to teach Falstaff a lesson.
Back at the inn at the start of Act III, Falstaff is unhappy by his thwarted plans, but livens up when he receives an invitation via Mistress Quickly to meet Alice at the haunted Great Oak of Herne and to disguise himself as the Black Hunter of Herne. All the characters are dressed as other-worldly spirits, scaring Falstaff. But they are then un-masked and he realizes he has been had. From there, a double wedding ensues—more mistaken identity is discovered (Nannetta marries her true love Fenton and Doctor Caius ends up marrying Bardolfo). The opera famously ends with a cheerful fugue in which Falstaff sings: “All the world’s a joke, and only the jolly are wise,” ending Verdi’s final opera and his career on plenty of high notes.
The audience, likewise, spent Falstaff’s opening night in good cheer. In addition to Kelsey’s tremendous performance, Villalón and Ferring provided wonderful vocal performances. I personally appreciated the robust orchestra under conductor Paul Daniel, though I could barely hear several of the singers in the first act. The final scene in the Great Oak provided the most interesting visuals (although the costumes were wonderful throughout), but otherwise I mostly found the sets anodyne.
If that sounds half-hearted, it shouldn’t. The production is fun and amusing and as zippy as intended. While the opera didn’t produce the sort of rapturous state of The Barber of Seville, it’s jolly enough and Kelsey’s performance and voice—he’s been described as one of the leading Verdi baritones of the last half century—shouldn’t be missed.
In her interview with Kelsey, Trembley asked him what one question he would pose to Verdi if given the opportunity. He said: “I guess the one question that I would want to ask him is, did I get it right?”
Judging on the response from the opening night audience, the answer would be a resounding yes.
8:30 pm, July 20, 29
8 pm, Aug 4, 9, 16, 25
Tickets: $44-$333, subject to change. Standing room is $15
First-time NM residents are eligible for a 40% discount; call the box office in advance: (505) 986-5900 or (800) 280-4654. Day-of discounts available for students, seniors and military via the box office by phone or in person.