Lyric opera performs 'Regina' with power By Erik Eriksson News-Chronicle On our journey to Los Angeles to cover the Disney Hall opening, we visited Lyric Opera of Chicago on Oct. 24 for the final performance of the company's production of Marc Blitzstein's "Regina," an American opera of enormous excellence and importance. Lyric met the assignment head-on with a sharply drawn staging, an outstanding cast and a conductor who co-authored a just performing edition and who clearly appreciates the work for its manifold qualities. Blitzstein, known for his leftist musical "The Cradle Will Rock" and (later) his edition of Kurt Weill's "Threepenny Opera," should have achieved celebrity with "Regina," but at the time of its October 1949 premiere, critical reaction was mixed. The reasons had to do with the pressures applied to the composer to treat the work as a musical, particularly in terms of writing pieces that might become hit tunes on their own. Tensions with Lillian Hellmann, whose "Little Foxes" provided the libretto, were further hindrances: Hellmann felt that the play needed no explication and disliked the overtly "Southern" scenes added by Blitzstein. Thus, the prologue was abandoned and the second act was cut to shreds, omitting much of what gave Blitzstein's work its unique tang. Still, many theatrical people believed in the work and it was afforded revivals by New York's City Center Opera in 1953 and 1958. For these, Blitzstein reworked and recopyrighted "Regina," though still not restoring the work to his original concept. That was left to John Mauceri and Tommy Kranker, who were engaged to produce a definitive edition for a 1991 production by the Scottish Opera. Mauceri, conductor of Lyric's production, did his work carefully, exhaustively, in getting the work right. The prologue was restored and Act II was presented in its entirety, all the set pieces (polkas, gallops stomps, waltzes and even an excerpt of Gottschalk) intact. The Scottish production was subsequently recorded by London/Decca, although that CD has now been deleted. Long before the first curtain went up, Lyric's preparation had been exemplary and the results told in performances of great theatricality and power. Most audience members weren't familiar with the work, weren't even aware of it, but the opera is so immediately accessible, so persuasive, that beholders were enthralled. Set designer John Culbert produced a uniset dominated by a long, curving staircase that glowed crimson in most of the lighting and stage director Charles Newell kept the work focused through all the comings and goings. The decision to omit the Angel Band and Chinkypin portions was a wise one; for all their musical interest, the racial stereotyping works counter to the composer's vision. Catherine Malfitano was a riveting Regina. The soprano, a fixture at the Lyric for nearly three decades, is recognized as one of the great singing-actresses of our present age. Her Regina was more than a harridan: Emotionally stunted by an avaricious family, this Regina betrayed the reasons that underlay her monstrous behavior, her callous willingness to bring back to the South her gravely ill husband, Horace Giddens, to hasten his death and her inheritance. Signs of vocal wear were evident (her rather detached chest register now betrays a guttural sound), but her intensity burned the scenery while never lurching into caricature. Veteran bass Kevin Langan embodied Horace with resigned authority and a resonant deep bass that sounded newly refreshed. His gasping ascent of the staircase just before his final collapse was harrowing. The opera's most touching role, Birdie Hubbard, wife of Regina's brother Oscar, was realized exquisitely by Sheryl Woods. A refined woman married into a family of grasping personalities, Birdie finds fleeting surcease in the bottle, but retains her humanity despite her situation (not helped by the shallowness of her son, Leo, here portrayed incisively by Chad Shelton). Oscar Hubbard was made startling real by baritone Timothy Nolen while bass-baritone Dale Travis was smoothly plausible as Ben Hubbard. Sari Gruber made a firm-voiced Alexandra, the daughter who finally resolves to escape Regina's clutches. Green Bay's Scott Ramsay made a major role of William Marshall (the gentleman "from Chicago") and sang the part with polished lyric sound. Marietta Simpson was a strong, moving Addie and Patrick Blackwell was vivid, handsome-voiced Cal. Finally, the Lyric Opera orchestra under Mauceri played superbly. Erik Eriksson writes on classical music and jazz for The News-Chronicle. A member of the Music Critics Association of North America and the Jazz Journalists Association, he may be reached by e-mail at [email protected].