photo credit: Mark Frohna
The Skylight Music Theatre production of Powder Her Face, which opened last weekend and runs through Feb. 14, is not to be missed. The thrilling performance I took in last Friday was a testimony to the company’s capability in insightful, appropriately chosen chamber opera repertoire.
Premiered in 1995, Powder Her Face is about Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll, who in the 1960s became notorious for explicit sexual conduct revealed in a scandalous divorce case. With a cast of four, three actors play various characters who interact with the duchess’ story over several decades. British composer Thomas Adès’ rich and irresistible score is vivid, vocally flattering and masterfully eclectic, with influences ranging from Cole Porter to Astor Piazzolla to Benjamin Britten. Philip Hensher’s ear-teasing libretto finds a balance between prosaic realism and quirky stylization.
The opera became instantly notorious for its fellatio scene upon its premiere, with the heroine humming as the tenor recipient sings. The Skylight production, directed with taste and intelligence by Robin Guarino and with scenic design by Liliana Duque Piñero, obscures the scene a bit with shadows on a chiffon-ish curtain.
This opera challenges a singing actor to seize the moment. This cast more than succeeded. As the Duchess, Cassandra Black’s voice is richly expressive, with a variety of colors that match the character’s edge, arrogance, desire and vulnerability, whether soaring high or singing in chest voice. Like the character, Black is both fire and ice. Bass-baritone Joseph Beutel burned up the stage in a scene as a court judge—a tyrannical, moralizing beast—singing with gorgeous tone in a huge vocal range and with an actor’s command of language. Coloratura soprano Kaleigh Rae Gamaché’s vocally challenging seduction scene—a potent display of feminine power—was a formidable triumph and wonderfully directed. Lyric tenor Benjamin Robinson sings and acts at the standard of the rest of the cast, but his part doesn’t give him a big, showy, scene-chewing moment.
Stay on top of the news of the day
Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays.
Conductor Viswa Subbaraman led with confidence and style and seems most at home in a contemporary score. The orchestra of thirteen players, while not always refined, gamely tackled the fiendish demands of the music.
