L'Enfant et les Sortileges &
L'Enfant prodigue
UNCG Opera Theatre

I had a wonderful experience at the opera this past Sunday at UNCG’s matinee of Debussy’s L'Enfant prodigue and Ravel’s L'Enfant et les Sortileges in their Aycock Theatre. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect before the performance and was very impressed by the talent and overall quality of the production.

The performance actually consisted of two pieces; one before intermission and one afterwards, which I thought worked well to keep the attention of modern audiences. The pieces were also very different from each other thematically and atmospherically, which held our interest as well.

The first opera was essentially the Bible story of the prodigal son who returns to his family after leaving them for a life of sin. The characters of the son and the mother were outstanding: with surprising ease their powerful voices carried warmly in the grandiose theatre. The story was clear, simple, and unfolded wonderfully.

Although I wasn’t sure exactly what was happening in the opening scene when the crowd gathers on the rocks behind the screen backdrop, the lighting was striking and tied in well again at the end. It was also difficult to make out who the man was standing behind the screen as the wedding scene was happening, which was one of the turning points in the story. Although the wedding scene was quite fun and festive, I couldn’t help but wonder why the shepherd girls were dancing classical ballet. Was this style chosen simply because opera is classical in nature or because it was the best fit for this story? This choice actually took me out of the story for a moment.

The physical gestures of the performers were a bit over dramatized for my taste. I understand it is “opera” after all, and perhaps this is what we have come to expect, but I still found them unnecessary. The gesturing seemed to attempt to overcompensate for the foreign language used or try to make the story more interesting, but it was actually a bit distracting. I certainly appreciated the passion behind the voices though.

The second opera, L’Enfant et les Sortileges, was a more difficult plot to share with an audience. The spectacular use of costumes was key to understanding this story of a young child who is sent to his room to study and throws a tantrum. He is scolded for his poor behavior by the furniture that comes to life, characters from his story book, and the fire that leaps out of the furnace. He then chases a pair of cats out of his room and into the forest where he finds himself bewildered by the trees and animals who continue to chastise him. Finally, in a moment of kindness the boy bandages an injured squirrel and earns the respect and empathy of the forest animals that help him home and call his mother.

I really enjoyed the final scene where the boy wakes up in his mother’s lap. It was short, tender, and to the point. It was incredible how well this fantastical story was pulled off. The costume and set designer truly rose to the challenge of creating this magical story. The costumes were spectacular, varied, and creative; the furniture was unreal, the fire was exciting. The set of the home was truly beautiful and fit the story perfectly.

I thought the plot could have been clarified a couple of ways. The transition from the boy’s room into the forest could have been clearer if the boy were really following the cats as they tumbled and played. Instead, it seemed as if the bedroom set randomly became a forest for no apparent reason. The backdrop painting for the forest set could have been more articulated and the scene where the squirrel was injured should have been a very punctuated moment; it is the climax of the story. Also, including pandas and giraffes amongst the menagerie of animals in the forest was a bit over the top for me. Our focus in that scene became almost entirely on the exotic costumes instead of the voices, music, and story.

I really loved the scene with the numbers! Using movement and numbers that lit up was a creative and modern choice. I would love to see more of those kinds of risks being taken in contemporary opera. I was also enamored with the Princess whose clear calm voice with the slow vibrato wafted to the ceiling.

The orchestra did a fantastic job! I have played in an orchestra for an opera and it is not an easy task to fit tonally and rhythmically with the instruments (the voices) played on the stage above you. They nailed it. I did think the cello solo towards the end of the second piece could have been played a bit more dynamically and there were a few times in L’Enfant prodigue where I thought the orchestra overpowered the voices a bit. I brought my teenage sister in law along with me to this performance. Rachel had never seen an opera before and there was not a single moment where she was bored nor did she feel it was too long. When she responded in the affirmative to my question about whether she would like to see another opera, I knew the performance was a success!

Overall, this was yet another experience that made me very proud of the arts we have available here in the Triad.