New York Grand Opera’s ‘Traviata’ in the Park

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

Summer in the city can be a difficult time for music lovers: The surging river of New York culture dries up to a mere trickle in a dry bed due to the mass exodus of the finest musicians to the comfort of the country and its wealth of interesting festivals. One of the few bright spots of the season is New York Grand Opera, which mounts fully staged productions of the Italian repertoire under the stars at the Naumburg Bandshell in our own verdant escape from urbanity, Frederick Law Olmsted’s soothing Central Park. The audiences always overflow for these free events and invariably one runs into old acquaintances enjoying good quality performances in the sultry night air.

One of the best contemporary operas staged in New York in the past decade was Mark Adamo’s “Little Women” at New York City Opera. The most poignant number is “Things Change, Jo,” which gently but firmly establishes the transitory nature of the human condition. I thought of this lovely set piece often on Wednesday evening as Maestro Vincent La Selva conducted Verdi’s “La Traviata.”

It wasn’t so much a musical similarity but rather a gnawing feeling that most of us would like to camp out in the March family attic and never have to deal with change. But life goes on, and the removal of these productions from the much more attractive Rumsey Playfield has had a deleterious effect on the overall New York Grand experience. It is difficult to lie on a blanket on the unforgiving asphalt in front of the band shell after years of luxuriating in the grass at SummerStage. In fact, many of the hard-core celebrants moved far into the back reaches, giving up their view of the stage for the pleasures of alfresco dining.

While the Metropolitan Opera has abandoned its park productions, New York Grand endeavors to re-create the total operatic experience with a highly dedicated group of musicians who obviously perform for the sheer joy of it all. The quality varies at these productions — at a “Rigoletto” in the 1990s the Gilda was so bad that when she was killed by Sparafucile everyone applauded. The weather, too, is unpredictable — it rained so incessantly at a production of “Un Ballo in Maschera” some years ago that the opera ended before the hero was assassinated, putting a new spin on the old tale. But these factors are all part of the productions’ overall charm.

This type of musical evening is an acquired taste — you either love it or hate it. One major downside is the amplification system, which, unlike many mixing board environments, does not make the voices — whether instrumental or human — homogenous, but rather suffers from the anomalous phenomenon of emphasizing odd voices at odd times. Thus the chorus will be dominated by one individual chorister’s sound or a minor character will boom above the principals surrealistically. There is a lot of sorting out for the ear and mind.

But Mr. La Selva is a true scholar who has spent years presenting the entire Verdian output in the park in chronological order. He expertly captures the spirit of the work even when the details are a bit ragged. It mattered little that our Violetta possessed a soprano much too heavy for the role or that the Alfredo, when he sang “Croce e Delizia,” or “Torment and Delight,” exhibited neither. This was a night for toe-tapping, big-picture Italian opera, and what could be more pleasant?


The New York Sun

© 2024 The New York Sun Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The material on this site is protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used.

The New York Sun

Sign in or  Create a free account

or
By continuing you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use