# Gotham Chamber Opera at Brooklyn Botanic Garden



## Cavaradossi (Aug 2, 2012)

I had a triply pleasant surprise on Monday night in the form of a new-to-me work (_La hija de Rappaccini)_ by a new-to-me composer (Daniel Catán) put on by a new-to-me company (Gotham Chamber Opera). That the venue was a grassy meadow flanked by rows of cherry trees on a warm summer's eve was just an added bonus.

The work concerns a certain Dr. Rappaccini, a mad-botanist type, and his sheltered daughter and her encounter with a newly arrived young researcher. Think _Rigoletto_ meets "Little Shop of Horrors". The score, from 1991, also reflects a hybrid style with some soaring Puccini-esque set pieces and lots of Britten-esque declamation. The work was performed in a highly effective small ensemble reduction arranged by Catán himself for two pianos, harp, and percussion. (Getting two Steinway grands settled in a semi-soggy cherry orchard must have been a feat in itself!) I believe the aural contributions by the avian residents of the botanic garden were improvised, but nevertheless also quite effective in setting the atmosphere.

The cast was lead by Elaine Alvarez and Daniel Montenegro as the ill fated young tree huggers, and both gave moving dramatic and vocal performances. Montenegro stopped the otherwise continuous show with his love aria. Three stunningly attired and seductive "flower maidens", who had a lot more stage business to do than singing, gave committed performances and were well-directed in what I imagine must have been tricky roles to execute.

The sets representing the botany student's room and the sinister secret garden were a few raised platforms and much use was made of the grassy space in between. The sunset and the trees of the Cherry Esplanade at BBG served as the backdrop. The audience was invited to spread their blankets on the lawn facing the stage. The singers were mic'd, but unobstrusively and I suppose necessarily so.

All in all, GCO presented themselves as a substantial and self-confident institution on the cultural landscape and one to be reckoned with. Nothing rough about this gem.


----------



## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

I read somewhere that it's based on a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Could you tell us what it's about?


----------



## dionisio (Jul 30, 2012)

Gotham? Is Batman the heldentenor there?


----------



## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

guythegreg said:


> I read somewhere that it's based on a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Could you tell us what it's about?


Never mind - I found it on wikipedia. Looks pretty interesting, actually!


----------



## Cavaradossi (Aug 2, 2012)

guythegreg said:


> I read somewhere that it's based on a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Could you tell us what it's about?


The libretto (in Spanish) by Juan Tovar is based on a play by Octavio Paz which is based on a Nathaniel Hawthorne story. The setting is nominally 19th century Florence. Dr. Rappaccini specializes in poisonous plants. His daughter Beatriz, raised in a walled garden isolated from society, has become as poisonous as the plants she helps her father tend but is immune to the poison herself. Giovanni, a young biologist recently arrived from Naples is installed in a room overlooking the poisonous garden. Warned against Dr. Rappaccini by one of his colleagues, Giovanni nevertheless and inevitably falls in love with Beatriz at first sight, egged on by vivid dreams and the creepy landlady. In doing so he inadvertently (and inevitably) becomes poisoned and poisonous himself and a pawn in the evil doctor's plot for world domination thru bio-toxo-pharmacology.

So you've got an American story set in a Italian city imbued with Latin American magical realism. Turns out to be a pretty potent combination.

GCO has put up a slide slow of photos from the production on their website:
http://www.gothamchamberopera.org/production/rappaccinis_daughter


----------



## Cavaradossi (Aug 2, 2012)

dionisio said:


> Gotham? Is Batman the heldentenor there?


Ha! The tenor is more of a boy wonder. But the mad botanist Dr. Rappaccini and his colorful, comely henchwomen definitely make for a good Batman-style good archvillian.


----------



## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

Cavaradossi said:


> The libretto (in Spanish) by Juan Tovar is based on a play by Octavio Paz which is based on a Nathaniel Hawthorne story. The setting is nominally 19th century Florence. Dr. Rappaccini specializes in poisonous plants. His daughter Beatriz, raised in a walled garden isolated from society, has become as poisonous as the plants she helps her father tend but is immune to the poison herself. Giovanni, a young biologist recently arrived from Naples is installed in a room overlooking the poisonous garden. Warned against Dr. Rappaccini by one of his colleagues, Giovanni nevertheless and inevitably falls in love with Beatriz at first sight, egged on by vivid dreams and the creepy landlady. In doing so he inadvertently (and inevitably) becomes poisoned and poisonous himself and a pawn in the evil doctor's plot for world domination thru bio-toxo-pharmacology.
> 
> So you've got an American story set in a Italian city imbued with Latin American magical realism. Turns out to be a pretty potent combination.
> 
> ...


Looks fantastic. Thanks!


----------

