The Boston-based chamber opera group Intermezzo opened the show Friday night with a mesmerizing rendition of Leonard Bernstein's "Trouble in Tahiti" and the world premier of "A Question of Love" by Charles Shadle and Michael Ouellette.  

 

Intermezzo's productions are accessible, smaller scale chamber operas that merge the musical and dramatic flavor of grand opera with the immediacy of art song. And, they're sung in English.

 

"Trouble in Tahiti," set in the 1950s, is about a married couple struggling to hold their marriage together and a jazz radio trio.  John Whittlesey and Gale Fuller enthralled the audience as the couple, Sam and Dinah. Whittlesey's full, deep baritone meshed beautifully with Fuller's rich, smooth mezzo-soprano. The opera trained vocalists also delivered emotionally charged performances.  All dialogue was sung in the seven-scene performance except for an argument in the final scene. Solo highlights included Sam alone in the locker room in scene five and Dinah's critique of the movie in scene six.  Mezzo-soprano Krista River, tenor Jason McStoots and baritone Paul Soper lent the finishing touch as the delightfully harmonious radio trio. Musical Director James Busby provided piano and percussionist Don Holm was featured on the drums.

 

"A Question of Love," set on the coast of Maine in the summer of 1946, again featured Whittlesey, this time as reputed painter Carter Winslow. McStoots returned as Carter's brother, Talbot. In addition, the talented cast featured soprano Cheryl Medeiros Nancarrow as Carter's wife Jane, tenor Joseph Demarest as Carter's apprentice Ted Reilly and mezzo-soprano Jena Eison as Reilly's fiancé.  Similarly, "A Question of Love" focused on relationships and societal expectations but added a new dimension by introducing a homosexual attraction between Carter and Reilly. The opera also lamented that Talbot was forced to end a relationship with a woman because she was Jewish.  The entire cast delivered stellar vocal and acting performances. Busby returned on piano, with violinist Dawn Perlner and cello player Robert Bethel providing perfectly eerie accompaniment.

 

Intermezzo hopes to return next year. For more information, visit the website at www.intermezzo-opera.org.

April Boyle is a free-lance writer from Casco.

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