Just one or two representatives, like Lucas Meachem, of that leaky school of stagecraft that can remove energy from any scene. Remarkably, there were no weak voices in the enormous cast of twenty-two named roles (all in role debuts except Graham) and a frightening chorus almost one hundred strong. Lyric Opera of Chicago: Les Troyens (Photo: Todd Rosenberg)Ĭorey Bix was to sing Helenus, but on Saturday he replaced a sick Brandon Jovanovich as Aeneas and earned himself the traditional honourable pass from critics. Susan Graham was captivating as Dido, a role she has mastered she held back in the formal third act, when she welcomes the Trojan refugees, standing like the Statue of Liberty on her concrete island and singing an accidentally biting “our gates will never be closed to those in need.” Then she bloomed in the romantic forth and curdled when Aeneas abandons her in the vengeful, terrifying fifth. The second half takes place in Carthage, which Queen Dido has recently established as a kind of urban exoskeleton against persistent suitors, and this is where the Trojan survivors head with their cargo of relics and weapons. Could it be that Cassandra enjoys her tragic role? Lyric Opera of Chicago: Les Troyens (Photo: Todd Rosenberg) Christine Goerke was splendidly bloody as Cassandra “drunk on her song of death.” As Troy burns, she seems to relish whipping the Trojan women into a teeth-gnashing, fiery-eyed mass suicide. After years of war, the people are so desperate that they will believe anything, even ignoring suspicious sounds from inside the horse - it is as if their craving for peace has made them crazy. Cassandra, the clairvoyant daughter of Trojan King Priam, is alone in her terrible apprehension. The first half takes place in Troy as the celebrating Trojans, believing the Greeks have abandoned their siege, open their walls and welcome the secret Greek weapon. It is also five hours of futile rage, which has recently become a familiar feeling. This retelling of the Aeneid is a grim illustration of the Greeks’ belief in the implacability of fate and the tragedies bred by humanity’s struggle against it. Attended at the end of a disastrous November, there is something portentous about Chicago Lyric Opera’s magnificent new production of Berlioz’s Les Troyens. (Photo: Todd Rosenberg) Lyric Opera of Chicago: Les Troyens at the Civic Opera House.ĬHICAGO - Current events and opera seasons have independent orbits, so when a freakish alignment of stage story and street time occurs, it is more powerful because it feels like an omen. Baritone Lucas Meachem, Soprano Christine Goerke.
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