DON GIOVANNI - OPERA COLUMBUS 2021
Stage Director, Eve Summer
Conductor, Kelly Kuo
ProMusica Chamber Orchestra
Projections & Lighting, Tlaloc Lopez-Watermann
Stage Manager, Danielle Ranno
Photos, Terry Gilliam
Cast: Jorell Williams, Carl Dupont, Meghan Kasanders, Amber Monroe, Victor Cardamone, Aryssa Leigh Burrs, Miguel Pedroza, Christopher Humbert, Columbus Gay Men's Chorus
Don Giovanni at Opera Columbus
“Opera Columbus Returns With Magical, Magnetic Don Giovanni.
Opera Columbus roars back to life with a trimmed-down and vibrant take on Mozart’s masterpiece... The production, directed by Eve Summer, keeps all the blast furnace intensity and marvelous, twisted beauty that’s kept audiences captivated for over 200 years...
…The brilliant cast, under Summer’s direction, made the most of those boxes. Implying a distinct heat, and the fury of a very physical production raging against these almost invisible constraints. Jorell Williams’ Don Giovanni seducing Zerlina (Aryssa Leigh Burrs), against the walls of their respective boxes, and a knife fight between Giovanni and Commendatore (a dazzling Christopher Humbert Jr.) from three boxes away were two examples of the action rippling with uncanny electricity...
Summer and her cast made the most out of the thematic charge of those boxes, as well – the story of Don Giovanni leads to a hell of his own making. They amplify the deep loneliness of the libertine and his victims and the teeth-gnashing frustration of attempts at revenge and forgiveness.
A marvelous triptych/bit of verbal trench warfare between Donna Elvira (an exquisite Amber Monroe) and Giovanni with Leporello (Carl DuPont) in the middle left my jaw in my lap. The gut-wrenching confession/vow of revenge between Donna Anna (Megan Kasanders) and Don Ottavio (Victor Cardamone) and the parallel argument between Zerlina and Masetto (Miguel Pedroza) are some of the finest operatic acting I’ve ever seen, using the limitations of the staging to heighten the mood.
…the digital program opens with a content warning about the recounting of sexual assault ... one of the highlights of the production is that it neither whitewashes nor shies away from its ugliness. It balances a knowing, contemporary lens with grounding the characters in their time and place in a way I marveled at.
...it’s hard for me to imagine a better return to live performance than this dazzling Don Giovanni.”
Columbus Underground