'Falstaff' delights opening night audience

Audience members were smiling as they left Utah Opera’s opening night performance of “Falstaff” on Saturday, May 14. One season ticket holder said it was the best opera she’s seen at the Utah Opera in a long time.

Truly a Verdi masterpiece, the production is well-directed by Christopher Mattaliano, and gave the appreciative audience a lot to smile about. All the elements of a fine opera production — orchestra, singing, acting and design — came together with a polished ease that belied the complexity of the opera. It was evident that the cast, as well as the audience, was having a good time.

Falstaff, an aging knight who loves his wine, has run low on money. Hoping to better his fortune, he shamelessly writes and has delivered two identical letters, wooing the wives of two well-to-do gentlemen, Mistress Ford and Mistress Page. The women compare letters and discover his ruse. They, along with Dame Quickly and Ford’s daughter, Nanetta, decide to “teach mankind to respect an honest woman and fear a good actress.”

Thanks to Pistola and Bardolfo, Falstaff’s former accomplices, Master Ford discovers Falstaff’s plan. Filled with jealousy, and not trusting his wife’s fidelity, he comes up with his own plot to foil his wife and Falstaff. Ford has also arranged a marriage for Nanetta to Dr. Caius. But she is in love with Fenton, of whom her father does not approve. The merry wives trick Ford as well as Falstaff, and make their point with good humor.

Steven Condy is delightful as Falstaff. He goes from pompous to pitiful, repentant rogue who realizes he’s been had. He brays along with the orchestra. but in the next moment claims credit for the cleverness of those who have made him look the fool. “It is I who make you clever,” he proclaims as the story ends in a lively fugue full of laughter and dance.

Soprano Sharin Apostolou, as Nanetta, and Cynthia Hanna, as Meg Page, make successful debuts on the Utah Opera stage. Vocalists in the cast already familiar to Utah Opera audiences are: Albert J. Glueckert, Dr. Caius; Todd Miller, Bardolfo; Branch Fields, Pistola; Cynthia Clayton, Alice Ford; Melissa Parks, Dame Quickly; Michael Chioldi, Ford; Aaron Blake, Fenton; and Scott Noel, Innkeeper. The chorus in Act 3 includes children cast as some of the fairies in the midnight revelry.

All voices and characters are well-matched and together form a sparkling ensemble. Aside from two 20-minute intermissions and brief pauses for scene changes in the first two acts, the singing and acting are well-paced, and impeccably performed. The two hours and 45 minutes go by quickly.