The 59th Opening Night Gala of the Lyric Opera premiering “Otello” was not the quintessential opera night. Saturday, Oct. 5, opera patrons walked the Lyric’s red carpet, spotlighted in camera flashes. The foyer staged buffets of smoked salmon pinwheels and flutes of champagne. Offbook conversations featuring French, English and Italian were exchanged in the Mezzanine. When the house doors opened, men and women costumed in bowties and ball gowns bustled to their seats. Yet for all the pomp in the evening’s prologue, “Otello’s” four acts portraying the beauty of human tragedy received the standing ovation.
“Otello’s” cast exudes madness, passion and talent fitting of the opera’s inspiring Shakespearean work, “Othello.” The title character, Otello, and his wife, Desdemona, share an intense relationship formed in love and destroyed in insanity. The walls of the Opera echo this fierceness with the chemistry between the two lead actors, Johan Botha and Ana Maria Martinez. Their first embrace is not a compelled kiss like 1920’s movie stars; instead, Botha gently kisses Martinez’s forehead with a sincerity that reaches his fingertips entwined in her hair.
Yet despite loving a woman he describes as the “sun,” Otello is insecure in their relationship. When the villain, Iago (Falk Struckmann), falsely accuses Desdemona of adultery, Botha captures Otello’s despair in the width of his body and strength of his tenor.
At the play’s opening, Botha stands as the proud, squaredshouldered general, but by the third act, his posture wilts to look like an overgrown, defeated child. As the exchanges between Otello and Desdemona intensify, Botha alters his voice from gentle in “Gi’Ûξ nella notte densa” to a crimson-faced tirade in “A terra! … s’ÛÎŒ … nel livido fango.”
Martinez’s talent in Desdemona’s portrayal also lies in her voice and body’s conviction. While the male characters stand when singing to easily reach their diaphragm’s span, Martinez not only conquers the range of her soprano on her knees, but she also delivers a convincing performance of a heartbroken woman.
This star-crossed lovers’ journey would not sail without the windpipes of the chorus. Guiseppe Verdi, “Otello’s” composer, challenges the chorus in the opening scene. Against percussion, brass and organ, their song projects over the orchestra’s “storm.” Men, women and children overtake the stage with an energy that moves the already brief, two hour opera, into an illusion of fleeting time.
However, this 15th century illusion could not be experienced without the authentic trust between the cast members. From the stage fighting to the bedroombrawl between Desdemona and Otello, the actors hold nothing back.
In real life’s unfortunate circumstances, Struckmann, who struggled with allergies during the week’s rehearsals, relied on his understudy, Todd Thomas, to play Iago when Struckmann stepped down after the first act. Thomas received a standing ovation at the opera’s conclusion.
“Otello’s” revival, not only on stage but also in the orchestra, recreates the best and worst of human emotions. While the characters are extreme and irrational, the empathy they extract is palpable. Those wishing to spend a night at the opera can do so for as little as $44 a ticket.
“Otello” plays at the Lyric Opera, located on 20 N. Wacker Drive, until Nov. 2.
