Review: 'Jenufa'

Washington National Opera
May 5, Kennedy Center, Washington

Leos Janáček’s “Jenufa,” introduced in 1904, waited the better part of a century to be recognized as a masterpiece outside its Czech homeland. Its breakthrough came with Charles Mackerras’ 1983 Decca recording; but even now, American productions are infrequent.

The current Washington National Opera production, staged in 2004 by the Houston Grand Opera and last year by the English National Opera, will make believers of many who are new to "Jenufa;" but it may do so entirely on the strength of its voices.

Patricia Racette, as Jenufa, a Moravian village girl jilted by her lover after she has borne their son, and Catherine Malfitano, as Jenufa’s mother, the domineering Kostelnička Buryjovka, who kills the infant to erase the family’s shame, are vocally intense, dramatically taut presences. Their extended exchange, consuming most of Act 2, is the most compelling dramatic vocalizing I’ve experienced in years.

Kim Begley, as Laca, a laborer nursing an unreciprocated passion for Jenufa, and Raymond Very, as Števa, the handsome rake who debauches and abandons her, admirably fill their more physically animated roles while serving as near-ideal vocal foils for the leading women. Judith Christin (Grandmother Buryjovka), Elizabeth Andrews Roberts (the boy Jano), Charles Robert Austin (the village mayor), Jeffrey Wells (the mill foreman) and the company’s excellent chorus, prepared by Steven Gathman, are reliably musical and know their way around a stage.

You’ll have noticed the lack of Czech names among the cast. These singers have mastered the sound of the language, even making music of its densest consonants. That’s essential, because the music of "Jenufa" is not just deeply integrated with language but often sounds to be a byproduct of speech.

The voices received tepid, chronically scrappy orchestral support on opening night. The orchestra is led by Jiři Belohlávek, a veteran Czech conductor who presumably knows this music intimately – and so, presumably, will redress imbalances and flabby attacks, and perhaps raise the tonal-emotional temperature, as the run continues.

Stage director David Alden gives Jenufa and her mother time and space to convey their emotional claustrophobia and the unremitting tension between them. Alden’s blocking is nicely complemented by some of the shadows cast by lighting designer Jon Clark (other parts of his shadow play appear random, though).

Charles Edwards’ sets – a factory yard and a vast, empty interior space, both on a fairly steeply raked stage – jab you in the ribs with the symbolism of the triangle and glaringly amplify with empty space the aloneness of the characters. Edwards’ décor and Jon Morrell’s costumes place the story in the mid-20th century, on the glum and crumbling side of the Iron Curtain.

This production, which won the Society of London Theatre’s 2007 Laurence Olivier Award for best new opera production, is deliberately, bluntly grim. It looks and feels as if a layer of soot had been applied to every surface.

Repeat performances are at 7:30 p.m. May 10, 16 and 24, 2 p.m. May 13 and 7 p.m. May 19 and 21 in the Kennedy Center Opera House. Tickets: $50-$300. Information: (202) 295-2400 or www.dc-opera.org