Review: Lyric Opera of Chicago’s ‘Boris Godunov’
By Betty Mohr Opera Review/bettybmohr@aol.com November 17, 2011 10:44AM
Ferruccio Furlanetto plays the title character in Lyric Opera of Chicago's "Boris Godunov." | Dan Rest photo
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Updated: May 9, 2012 10:02AM
It’s well-known that those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
Indeed, from the beginning of time, man has repeated the ongoing mistake in which power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
That’s why “Boris Godunov,” an opera about Russian power politics, can serve as an instructive lesson for our own time.
The brooding Russian opera by Modest Mussorgsky, as revived by the Lyric Opera of Chicago, offers a penetrating and insightful take on a real historical event.
Here we have a story that centers on Russian czar Boris Godunov who can’t escape the guilt he feels over his part in the murder of Dmitri, the second son of Ivan the Terrible.
It was the young czarevitch’s death that provided Boris with the crown of all Russia.
The Slavic opera offers more than a history lesson, though.
As directed by Julia Pevzner, in her Lyric debut, and with an ensemble of sumptuous vocal performances, the opera is filled with thrilling intrigue and offers moody melodies of deep resonance.
Although Mussorgsky’s original version of 1869 has been changed and revised many times through the years, the Lyric got it right when officials decided to mount the composer’s original work.
Considered the best of Russian operas, “Boris Godunov” really needs a great bass singer to pull off the part of the scheming, conscience-ridden, power-lusting czar.
That’s no problem here as Italian bass Ferruccio Furlanetto fascinates in a riveting portrayal of the late 16th century czar.
With a powerful voice and a majestic frame, Furlanetto towers over everyone around him and delivers on the czar’s rise and fall with grand eloquence.
His performance is especially chilling in the scene in which the title character descends into madness and wraps himself in a giant map of Russia.
Other highlight performances include that of Italian bass Andrea Silvestrelli as Pimen, the aging monk, and tenor Stefan Margita, who is magnificent as the cunning and devious Shuisky.
The vigorous Lyric opera chorus, led by Michael Black, is in fine form and conjures up a starved, oppressed and superstitious Russian peasantry.
It is startling to see the rag-tag group juxtaposed with costume designer Kari Gravklev’s red-garbed, high-ranking, aristocratic boyars and gold-draped royals.
The gray-blue minimalist set by Goran Wassberg provides a dark-hued backdrop in which the powerless are pitted against the powerful and the ruled are forced down by the rulers.
In addition, Sir Andrew Davis conducts the Lyric with a masterful baton as he brings out the dark lyricism of Mussorgsky’s musical score.
It’s rare to find an opera that’s as true to history as is “Boris Godunov” and with a score that so well matches its gripping tale. It’s a don’t-miss production.
Betty Mohr is a local free-lance writer.
‘BORIS GODUNOV’
♦ Through Nov. 29
♦ Civic Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive, Chicago
♦ Tickets: $44-$229
♦ (312) 332-2244; lyricopera.org
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