Met Soloist Invigorates UCLA’s ‘Falstaff’

There are benefits and dangers in bringing in a seasoned professional to sing in a college opera production. Both were evident when John Del Carlo sang the title role of Verdi’s “Falstaff” Thursday at Royce Hall, UCLA.

A veteran of the Metropolitan, Los Angeles and San Diego operas, Del Carlo dominated the production, investing the character with life and joy and singing with both robustness and subtlety. He had trouble in the heights at the end of the Honor aria and utilized head voice oddly later in the courting scene. But these were minor glitches.

His performance of the role is very much to be valued and may be the only reason to see the production when it is repeated tonight.

“Falstaff” is an ensemble opera, however, and here Del Carlo showed what a huge gap there is between the professional and the academic worlds. He was surrounded by a game if mixed student cast that sang and acted at best with caution and few lyric flights. Still, Peter Atherton’s Pistol, Erin Wood’s Mrs. Quickly and Hae-Kyung Hwang’s Alice showed promise.

William Vendice conducted the student orchestra with energy. Vincent Liotta’s stage direction was sensible and direct. Dipu Gupta’s low-budget hanging set pieces were serviceable, but his retaining the doorway of the inn for the forest scene made no sense whatsoever.

“Falstaff” was sung in Italian with English supertitles. A few jokes were given away prematurely when a translation appeared before the singer sang a line, but some unintended laughs came when several supertitles were projected backward.

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* “Falstaff” will be repeated with the same cast tonight at 8, Royce Hall, UCLA. $20-$35. (310) 825-2101.