🎭 Never Piss Off Smart Women | "Falstaff" @ LA Opera

[cahwyguy]

Back in the early 2000s, I picked up the original cast recording of what was then an off-Broadway musical, Lone Star Love. Subtitled, “The Merry Wives of Windsor TX”, this was a musicalized version of the Shakespeare story transplanted to the West in Post-Civil War times. Alas, it never made it to Broadway thanks to the antics of Randy Quaid, one of the few folks to receive a permanent ban from Actors Equity.  There was a concert performance of the show in 2025, but otherwise it hasn’t seen an attempt at revival. As for me, I loved the music from the show and have always wanted to see it.

I mention this because of an interesting set of circumstances. We had tickets for Sat 5/2 to see Anyone Can Whistle, a rarely done Sondheim show, at the El Portal from a new theatre company, but it ended up getting canceled. While hunting around for a replacement show, we thought about Reefer Madness: The Musical  at the Wisteria Theatre, but their seating was strange and overpriced. Then I saw LA Opera advertising Verdi’s opera, Falstaff.

Many many years before the folks behind Lone Star Love attempted to musicalize Shakespeare, the noted opera composer Verdi did the same thing. It was Verdi’s second comedy (and the only successful one), written in his late 1970s. It was also one of the last shows to be conducted by James Conlon. So, we thought…. why not? We normally go to traditional theatre and musicals, but it’s worthwhile to go out of our comfort zone occasionally. Why not a real opera, with a known fun story. So we dressed up (because you dress up for the opera), trotted down to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, and went to the Opera. We went early enough so we could attend a pre-show lecture by James Conlon about the show and its history. That helped quite a bit.

Here’s the summary of the story as described by LA Opera: “Sir John Falstaff finds himself a bit short on cash, so he hatches a scheme: seduce two merry (and wealthy) wives of Windsor and live out his days in luxury. Too bad this bumbling knight happened to send both his targets the same love letter! Now Alice Ford and Meg Page are set on teaching Falstaff a lesson, and it’s not long before a long list of his adversaries join in. Audiences are in for a whirlwind of disguises and deceptions, and maybe even an unexpected dip in the River Thames.”

First, some thoughts of the opera itself, and then this specific show.

There are some key differences between opera and musical theatre, beyond being “sung through”. After all, Sweeney Todd is sung through, and Evita is sung through, but they aren’t opera. First and foremost, opera isn’t amplified. At least we couldn’t see or detect any, and yet we could hear the performers clearly from the topmost balcony. Second, it typically isn’t in English, so you need to follow projected super-titles that provide translation (unless you know Italian). Last, there’s emphasis on the orchestra, which is SIGNIFICANTLY larger than the smallish orchestras one sees in musical theatre these days.

Now some thoughts on this show itself:

First, the music wasn’t something you could “hum”. It was pretty and all that, but I didn’t walk out of the show humming any of the arias. That might be different if I was a big opera person, but I’ m not. I didn’t have the urge to go out and get a recording of the opera (instead, I’m listening to Lone Star Love as I’m writing this).

Even with the language difference, the story was easy to follow. The roles were played with fun and joy, and I particularly enjoyed the playfulness of Hyona Kim’s Mistress Quickly and Craig Coiciough’s Sir John Falstaff. The voices were lovely, and as I noted before, were quite clear without amplification in the top balcony of the Dorothy Chandler. It was clear that they were having fun with this (and it was great watching the littles in the final scene of the third act).

The scenery was much more traditional / Shakespearean than one finds in modern theatre. There were no projects. Nothing flew in from the fly space. Nothing was carried in by the actors or stage crew. There were just traditional flats and structures and such. They were pretty, but a different style. If I had a sound complaint, it was more that the scenery changes were quite noisy.

It might be interesting to see operas such as this stage in the modern theatrical style: that is, modern scenery, amplification, quasi-realistic performances. Would that improve the audiences?

Speaking of the audiences: It was a delight to see folks all dressed up. Folks used to dress up for theatre in LA (I remember it from the days of the LA Civic Light Opera), but you don’t see that anymore.

The large orchestra was wonderful to listen to.

Falstaff continues at LA Opera through May 10, 2025, which will be Conlon’s last conducting performance, IIRC. Tickets are available through the LA Opera website.

Credits

Falstaff. Music by Giuseppe Verdi. Liberetto by Arrigo Boito after William Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry IV, Parts I and II. Directed by Shawna Lucey. Conducted by James Conlon.

Cast:

• Principals: Nathan Bowles Dr. Caius; Craig Coiciough Sir John Falstaff; Yuntong Han Bardolph; Vinicius Costa Pistol; Sarah Saturnino Meg Page; Nicole Heaston Alice Ford; Hyona Kim Mistress Quickly; Deanna Brelwick Nannetta; Anthony Leon Fenton; Ernesto Petti Ford. 
• LA Opera Chorus: Sopranos Christina Borgioli, Alannah Garnier, Karen Hogle-Brown, Stephanie Jones, Elizabeth Lee, Lori Stinson, Courtney Taylor, Janet Todd, Sunjoo Yeo, Ella Yewon Yoon; Altos Elizabeth Anderson, Natalie Beck, Danielle Marcello Bond, Molly Burnside, Sara Campbell, Veronica Christenson, Kelly Krantz, Andriana Manfredi, Jessie Schulman, Bonnie Snell Schindler; Tenors James Callon, Christopher Craig, Omar Crook, Adam Faruqi, Sung Bong Kim, Charles Lane, JJ Lopez, Francis Lucaric, Sal Malaki, Todd Strange, Daniel Suk; Bass Tim Campbell, Abdiel Gonzalez, James Hayden, Mark Kelley, David Kress, E. Scott Levin, Connor Licharz, Gabriel Manro, Steve Pence, James Martin Schaefer.
• Supernumeraries (* indicates children): Ryan Benson, Jeff Cook, Tony Cronin Innkeeper, Tucker Futnell, Dane Halvorson, Slim Khezri, Howard Morales, Sean Wrinkle, Enzo Ma*, Anastasia Michel*, Violette Michel*, Osgood Shelby-Szyzsko, Schroeder Shelby-Syzsko Robin, Falstaff’s Page, Bellami Smith*, Koa Spiegel-Shaw*, Ean Sun*.

LA Opera Orchestra: First Violin: Alyssa Park Stuart Canin Concertmaster; Armen Anassian Assoc Concertmaster; Lisa Sutton Asst Concertmaster; Cheryl Norma; Olivia Tsu; Beau Henson; Katie Sloan; Heather Powell; Radu Pieptia; Adam Millstein; Erica UzCa; Myroslava Khomik. Second Violin: Ana Laudauer Principal; Grace Oh Assoc Principal; Florence Titmus; Leslie Katz; Michele Kikuchi; Cynthia Moussas; Lorand Lokuszta; Haesol Lee; Ina Veli; Irina Voloshina; Viola: Erik Rynearson Principal; Even Antes Assoc Principal; Peng Jing; Kate Vincent; Aaron Oltman; Diana Wade; Linnea Powell; Carrie Holzman-Little. Cello: Rowena Hammill Principal; Michael Kaufman Assoc Principal; Dane Little; Helen Altenbach; Nadine Hall; Trevor Handy. Bass: Nathan Farrington Principal; Evan Hillis Assoc Principal; Frances Liu Wu; Zach Histop; Timothy Eckert. Flute: Heather Clark Principal; Angela Wiegand; Sarah Weisz Piccolo. Oboe: Leslie Reed Principal; Jennifer Cullinan English Horn. Clarinet: Stuart Clark Principal; Donald Foster Bass Clarinet. Bassoon: William May Principal; William Wood. Horn: Steven Becknell Principal; Daniel Kelley, Jenny Kim Assoc Principal; Aija Mattson-Jovel. Trumpet: Ryan Darke Principal; David Washburn Assoc Principal; Bryce Schmidt. Trombone: William Booth Principal; Alvin Veeh; Terry Cravens; Todd Eames Bass Trombone. Guitar: Paul Viapiano Principal. Harp: JoAnn Turovsky Principal. Timpani: Gregory Goodall Principal. Percussion: Theresa Dimond Principal; John Wakefield. Others: Melisandra Dunker Music Librarian; Brady Steel Orchestra Personnel Manager; Julian Garvue, Bryndon Hassman, and Bin Yu Sanford Musical Preparation.

Production and Creative: James Conlon Conductor; Lee Blakeley Original Production; Shawna Lucey Director; Adrian Linford Scenic and Costume Designer; Pable Santiago Lighting Designer; Jeremy Frank Chorus Director and Asst. Conductor; Andrew Kenneth Moss Fight Director; Sara E. Widzer Intimacy Director; Ky Chassells Asst Director; Whitney McAnally Stage Manager; Peter Walsh Prompter; Randall Behr Supertitles; CBS Scenic Studios Scenery Construction; Studio Sereno Additional Props; Los Angeles Opera Costume Shop Costumes; Los Angels Opera Wig Department Wigs.

Administrivia

I am not a professional critic. I’m a retired cybersecurity professional, a roadgeek who does a highway site and a podcast about California Highways, and someone who loves live performance. I buy all my own tickets, unless explicitly noted otherwise. I do these writeups to share my thoughts on shows with my friends and the community. I encourage you to go to your local theatres and support them (ideally, by purchasing full price tickets, if you can afford to do so). We currently subscribe or have memberships at: Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre; BIH/Pantages; Pasadena Playhouse; The Soraya, Chromolume Theatre, and 5-Star Theatricals.

Want to find a show: Check out the Theatre Commons LA show list. Other good lists are the Theatre in LA listings; the TodayTix listings; OnStage 411 (use the “shows” drop down); and Theatermania.

I used to do more detailed writeups; here’s my current approach.

Upcoming

Key: ♦ Theatre / ♣ Music / ◊ Other Live Performance – Next 90ish Days (⊕ indicates ticketing is pending).

• May: ♦ The Sound of Music at BIH/Pantages; ♦ Brigadoon at The Pasadena Playhouse; ♦ Fat Ham at Black Reperatory Theatre (St. Louis) ♦ Hells Kitchen at BIH/Pantages.
• June: ♦⊕ Ain’t Misbehavin’ at Ebony Rep; ♦ Elegies at Chromolume; ♦ Primary Trust at CTG/Taper; ♦ Mamma Mia at CTG/Ahmanson; plus whatever I schedule from the Hollywood Fringe Festival.
• July: ♦ Mexodus at Pasadena Playhouse; ♦ The Wizard of Oz at 5-Star Theatricals; ♦ If/Then at Chromolume Theatre.
• August: ♦ Beauty and the Beast at BIH/Pantages;

This entry was originally posted on Observations Along the Road as 🎭 Never Piss Off Smart Women | "Falstaff" @ LA Opera by cahwyguy. Although you can comment on DW, please make comments on original post at the Wordpress blog using the link to the left. You can sign in with your LJ, DW, FB, or a myriad of other accounts. Note: Subsequent changes made to the post on the blog are not propagated by the SNAP Crossposter; please visit the original post to see the latest version. P.S.: If you see share buttons above, note that they do not work outside of the Wordpress blog.