For the first time in ten years, Toledo Opera will bring one of Giuseppe Verdi’s most beloved operas, La Traviata, back to the stage. The Verdi opera has moved audiences from all over the world for over 150 years, no matter what language they speak or what decade they live in.
Origins
Written in 1853, the opera is based on La Dame aux Camelias, a play written by Alexandre Dumas (The Count of Monte Cristo) which translates in English to “The Lady of the Camellias.” Modern audiences might know this story as simply Camille, a role made famous in the film version by Greta Garbo.
La Traviata’s story revolves around two lovers, Violetta and Alfredo who meet one night at a party at her Paris Salon. They fall in love and run away together, living happily only for a short time. Alfredo’s father begins to interfere. Violeta is a courtesan (a kept mistress), and Alfredo’s family are concerned the relationship will ruin future prospects of Alfredo’s sister. Violetta’s health and the circumstances of her life conspire to complicate the lovers’ fate.
If you read a quick plot summary, one might dismiss it as just another tragic love story, but it’s a woman’s story with Violetta’s strength at its center. Director Marc Verzatt explained, “She is a woman in a male dominated society who is surviving, and the minute that she gives in to her own feelings, where she becomes a human being, is what starts to destroy her, because a woman isn’t equal to a man in that society.” He says that this is what they’ve focused on in the very first day of rehearsals and Verzatt’s inspiration for this 2022 staging of the opera.
Modern Relevance
So much of what women experience in the world is still very relevant to the experiences of this character. “Women have always had to adapt and cut their way through the obstacles placed there by men,” says Verzatt. “Violetta is a survivor and a woman who learns how to negotiate through the turbulent waters of a man’s society in Paris in the mid-1800s — but it’s a timeless story, as is this opera.” Verzatt emphasized to the cast that the women are not inferior to the men because they know how to manage their way through a society that regards them as second-class citizens. “For Violetta, having to be a real 360-degree woman with a heart is the drama and emotional center of Verdi’s opera.”
He goes on to explain that in opera the goal is to have performers sing not at each other but to use that song to make the character they are interacting with understand how they feel.
When asked what his biggest challenge has been with the opera so far, he said it’s getting it off the ground in the first few days and hoping it will come together. But the hard part is quickly over as he gushes that the conductor is a dream to work with and how much he truly loves the singers. “I’m very devoted to this chorus,” he said, “because they are such a diverse group of people and most of them work all day and then they come to the opera and rehearse until nine at night to express their love of this art.”
First Class Cast
The leading roles will be played by Kathryn Lewek, as Violetta and Zach Borichevsky as Alfredo. Kathryn Lewek, who will be debuting the role of Violetta, has established herself as one of opera’s most thrilling coloratura sopranos of this generation. She has performed some of the most vocally challenging roles in the repertoire, joining the top-ranking operatic performers of all time. Both are internationally renowned Metropolitan Opera singers and are a real-life couple, adding a natural emotional depth to Verdi’s music. Also joining the cast are mezzo-soprano and Toledo Opera Resident Artist Katherine Kincaid (Flora Bervoix), baritone-bass Michael Colman (Doctor Grenvil), baritone Jason Budd (Baron Douphol), tenor and Toledo Opera Resident Artist Fran Daniel Laucerica (Gastone), and baritone and Toledo Opera Resident Artist Andrew Payne (Marquis d’Obigny).
Toledo Opera will present Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata on Friday, April 22 at 7:30 pm and Sunday, April 24, at 2 pm. at the Valentine Theatre (400 North Superior).