Romeo et Juliette

While we are still awaiting the Second Coming of Christ, there have already been three such of Luciano Pavarotti.

The first Annunciation came with the appearance of the former Parisian cabaret singer, Roberto Alagna. Though all but designated heir to the title of greatest living lyric tenor by Pavarotti himself and heavily promoted by the record companies, Alagna proved to be a false messiah: a pleasant-sounding singer with a comparatively small voice.

The next would-be Luciano to follow was Salvatore Licitra. After Licitra famously filled in brilliantly for Pavarotti at the Met in 2002, The New York Times said he could be "the one to watch." But Licitra's voice soon ran into trouble, turning brittle and metallic, and then two months ago he died following a motor scooter accident.

Now the press and the record companies have cast their eyes towards a 34-year old native of Rome named Vittorio Grigolo. And on Sunday -- as for the next few weeks to come -- Los Angeles audiences will be given the opportunity to judge the hype as Grigolo sings the part of Romeo in Gounod's "Romeo et Juliette."

There is an awful lot to like. Grigolo possesses a larger potential talent than Alagna or Licitra. But Grigolo's voice should not be compared with the young Pavarotti's. It's not that high, nor that dulcet. Indeed, at a moment when more good young tenors have abruptly appeared than at any time since the late 1960's, Grigolo's voice cannot even be described as the stand-out tenor of his generation. Juan Diego-Florez and Joseph Calleja have prettier voices, and Aleksandrs Antonenko offers a more heroic one. But Grigolo has a considerably bigger voice than Diego-Florez, a much more engaged and passionate style of singing than Calleja and an elegant and controlled Italianate manner that Antonenko does not own. Grigolo reminded me a bit of the young Jose Carreras and even of the Giuseppe Di Stefano who sang so beautifully for a time with Maria Callas.

Grigolo is joined by a number of other gifted artists in this LA Opera production. Foremost was Georgian soprano Nino Machaidze, who made a determined and appealing Juliette and showed off a strong, clear coloratura voice. She was assisted by a superb Lord Capulet (Vladimir Chernov) and the charming Renee Rapier in the pants role of Stefano.

Placido Domingo conducted the opera with a firm enough hand that the singers never had to fight to be heard and a sure enough pace that the performance did not flag.
One peculiarity of this production, originally presented in 2005, is its re-setting the action in the Victorian era. Thus, in this version Romeo kills Tybalt with a pistol shot. What purpose this change serves is unclear though, I suspect, many audience members may respond favorably to costume designer Tim Goodchild's effulgent nineteenth century ball-gowns and waistcoats.

Yet the real star of the production isn't the clothes, nor is it John Gunter's partly abstract moveable sets. It is Grigolo. And if he is hammy at times, he still presents a soaring voice and a personality that is continually vital and energetic, as Romeo must be.

LA Opera's remounting of this 2005 production is a powerful rebuke to the widely-held view that Gounod's take on Shakespeare is simply kitsch. "Romeo et Juliette" may not stand on the level of Verdi's "Otello," but it is one of the most consistently tuneful and seductive works in the whole opera repertory -- and you are very unlikely to ever hear it sung better than right now at the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion.