AVA's "Kát'a Kabanová'

Going the extra mile for Janacek

STEVE COHEN

No matter how you look at it, the production of Leos Janacek’s opera Kát'a Kabanová by the Academy of Vocal Arts was a significant achievement. Even more so when you consider the obstacles.

This apparently was the first time this 1921 opera, set in Russia, has been staged in Philadelphia.

No one at the AVA spoke Czech, but the company chose to produce Kát'a in its original language. Conductor/pianist/vocal coach Luke Hausner studied Czech for a year and started teaching it to his cast in October. A language coach joined early this year. Finally, the Wilma Theater’s Czech-born co-founder Blanka Zizka came in to direct and touch up whatever language problems remained.

It’s a tough tongue. The marks that normally denote accents are inoperative in Czech. Instead, all words are accented on the first syllable. The markings show us how long to hold each syllable. This causes the timing of words to sometimes be out-of-synch with the notes, which is intentional on Janacek’s part. He uses it to create tension.

A river? On this stage?

A second handicap is the small stage at the AVA’s Helen Corning Warden Theater. I’ve seen productions of Kát'a Kabanová where gardens and fields stretch to the horizon and where the Volga River flows downstage. That’s impossible at 1920 Spruce Street. Zizka used the cramped set to stress the claustrophobic pressures on the characters of Kát'a, her husband Tichon and Boris, the man who becomes her lover.

Kát'a is a woman whose life is dominated by her distant husband and her abusive mother-in-law. She falls into an affair with Boris, an orphaned man who is beholden to and bossed around by his merchant uncle. Torn with guilt, Kát'a confesses her affair, then commits suicide.

Zizka’s direction underlines the domineering way that Boris’s uncle treats him– an important consideration that’s been glossed over in some other productions. It shows the common thread that draws Boris and Kát'a together: Both of them feel trapped.

A single piano, but…

A third obstacle is that Janacek’s colorful orchestration was rendered by a single pianist. But what a pianist! Luke Housner has done wonders with Das Rheingold, Vanessa and Elektra in the past, and he played the Kát'a Kabanová score superbly.

Ariya Sawadivong was the Kát'a in the performance I saw. (There were alternate casts.) She brought pathos and beauty to the role. Tenor Bryan Hymel was a strong-voiced, convincing Boris. Nina Yoshida Nelsen is such a fine actress that she convinced us she was old enough to be Kát'a’s mother-in-law and that she was tyrannical and cruel. Her rich mezzo voice was outstanding.

Joseph Demarest as Tichon played a man who is meek towards his mother and neglectful of his wife. He did that successfully while downplaying the alcoholism that’s alluded to in the script. Cody Austin and Elsbeth Kincaid portrayed a contrastingly happy pair of lovers and did so convincingly.

This is a fine opera by a composer who is gaining in stature with the passage of time. Once a year the AVA gives a full staging of a relatively uncommercial opera, albeit with piano rather than the AVA’s usual orchestra. I'm glad that the AVA gave this honor this year to Kát'a Kabanová.