SOLOVYANENKO THE YOUNGER MAKES A GOOD START

May 19 and 20 saw a greater than usual number of opera devotees hurrying to the National Opera to attend Anatoly Solovyanenko, Jr.’s debut as assistant stage director in Donicetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor .

This keen interest was explained by several factors. First, the hatchet had been buried between the family of the late celebrated singer and the National Opera’s administration, meaning no more mutual accusations. Second, Solovyanenko’s name has returned to the Opera, this time in the person of his younger son. He rejuvenated Lucia , first staged in Kyiv in 1963, remaining on the box office list ever since, boasting superstars like Anatoly Solovyanenko and Iryna Myroshnychenko, launching talents like Mariya Stefiuk, Oleksandr Vostriakov, Olha Mykytenko, Andriy Romanenko, Roman Maiboroda, Oleksandr Diachenko, and Taras Shkonda, to mention but a few. Now the celebrated cohort includes the names of Olha Nahorna, Susanna Chahoian, and Ihor Bortko.

The younger Solovyanenko breathed a new life in the old rendition (deleted from the repertory half a year ago). Now the opera is performed in the original language, Italian, as is practiced by many opera houses across the world. In Ukraine, in an attempt to broaden the audiences, classical operas were translated for decades, but practice shows that that operas attract devotees, people fully knowledgeable about the plot and coming to enjoy vocal excellence. Here the main thing is good performance, without false notes or mumbled lines. Previously, the audience would often fail to grasp the plot or the language used onstage. In addition, the foreign repertoire of the Kyiv company boasts another title.

It is gratifying to realize that young Solovyanenko did not ruin the whole structure built by the original stage director Iryna Molostova, as so often seen with ambitious youth. Instead, he treated her legacy with utmost consideration. In fact he made some changes in the mise en scenes , shifting accents due to lingual discrepancies. Some of the cast later admitted that they were at first wary about a student being appointed assistant stage director (Anatoly was in his last year of the law school of Shevchenko University taking graduation exams at the University of Culture and the Arts in May). They studied the young man and before long found themselves captivated by his keen awareness of the score and command of the Italian language. He demanded from them complete dramatic identification. The leads were assigned to Olha Mykytenko (Lucia) and Ihor Bortko (Edgar). Anatoly says they started work on the opera four and a half months ago, but had to make intervals between rehearsals, preparing for the Verdi festival and then some of the cast had to leave on tour. In the end, the opera was staged in two and a half weeks. The stage setting and wardrobe was left basically the same, save for cosmetic changes made by production designer Mariya Levytska.

There were no problems with the orchestra and conductor Mykola Diadiura; the score was a well-trodden path, considering the opera’s long box office history. But there was the choir with 80% newcomers. Incidentally, the cast performed their vocal parts faultlessly, although the premiere made it clear that the dramatic aspect needed polishing. The first act showed the chronic disease of many operatic performances, static extras. Ihor Bortko, invited after his successful debut as Edgar Ravenswood at the Odesa Opera, seemed quite nervous, concerned primarily with the music, not dramatic identification. Watching him, one found it hard to believe him really in love with Lucia, he was so tense and rigid. Yet in the finale his sophisticated tenor part turned out brilliantly, calling forth an ovation. Ihor has apparently given fresh impetus to the healthy competition among tenors. Even though he is not a soloist with the National Opera, his debut marked an important event in Kyiv’s theatrical life. Olha Mykytenko came out with a wholesome performanceas Lucia, showing a captivating emotional range, from romantic damsel in the beginning to a tragic personality paying dearly for her love. In her voice one sensed deep passion, tenderness, and despair. The scene of her insanity was truly bewitching. The singer is without doubt one of the brightest stars on the capital’s stage.

Although it is too early to discuss Anatoly’s full-fledged debut as a stage director, he has made a very good start.