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Seattle Opera had a presentation of Offenbach's Tales of Hoffmann last night, and Seattlest was there. First we sipped wine in the lobby and raised our eyebrows at McCaw Hall's mid-'90s condo aesthetic: metallic silver columns and artistic use of chainlink fencing. (We raised our eyebrows separately, because we can do that.)
This was good practice because in the course of the opera, magically levitating bottles clunked each other, a remote control prop and magic baton went missing, two singers' costumes stuck together, another singer couldn't get a curtain pull to tie, and during the last act, the stage manager could be heard delivering cues on a live speaker backstage.
Ah, live theater! A different show every night, and mostly, a good one. This Hoffmann sounds wonderful across the board: Vinson Cole's heart-on-his-sleeve poet is beautiful to listen to, and bass-baritone John Relyea's villains throb with malice. The new production got applause for showing up as a spooky, moonlit Venice in the last act. Seattlest wants director Chris Alexander signed to a regular schedule.
How to top that? Just add puppets! Rob D'Arc, who normally haunts Pike Place with his "Professor Humbug's Flea Circus," created three 30" puppets for the show (one a "stunt puppet" that gets thrown around), and taught Relyea how to look like a convincing puppetmaster. D'Arc says puppet discrimination is mainly an American phenomenon; in Europe plenty of all-puppet theaters exist, including one that performs operas. "I don't think there's any big movement to replace opera singers with puppets," he admits, "but it is an alternative!"
Perhaps there is friction, even in tolerant Seattle. The puppets were remarkably absent from the final bow. There are six more performances, through May 22. Students 10 and up can get $15 tickets for the Sunday, May 22, matinee. Order by phone at 206-389-7676 or online.
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Oh! Puppets on stage! More puppets are welcome in MY America. One of the best theater productions I ever saw was Cal Shakes' - The Comedy of Errors. It was particularly clever because of course the play involves two sets of twins. In both cases an actor played one twin while the second twin was played by a puppet operated by the actor (it looked just like them, too!). And as you can see by the cast photo, the puppets were valued members of the team!