Opera fans or just lovers of exquisite storytelling and musical comedy won’t want to miss the double billing of “Gianni Schicchi” and “Buoso’s Ghost” staged by Florida Grand Opera (FGO) in late January and early February at the Adrienne Arsht Center and Broward Center for the Performing Arts.
(Eric Woolsey)
A scene from “Gianni Schicchi” in the Opera Theatre St. Louis 2021 production.
The second one-act opera is a continuation of the first, although composed as a sequel nearly 80 years later. The composer of “Buoso’s Ghost,” Michael Ching, who will enjoy the rare opportunity to conduct both opera’s during their run, spoke to Biscayne Times about the ease of which these are performed together.
“The elegance about Buoso’s is that you keep the same cast and keep going. This allows you to make it a whole comic evening … This is not highfalutin opera, it’s entertaining … I want people to laugh and enjoy themselves,” said Ching.
(FGO)
Michael Ching, composer and conductor
“Gianni Schicchi” (pronounced Johnny Skee-ky) is a comic opera by Giacomo Puccini, who is regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi. His most renowned works are “La bohème,” “Madama Butterfly,” and “Turandot.” The libretto of “Gianni Schicchi” is based on an incident mentioned in the narrative poem “Dante's Divine Comedy,” and was composed between 1917-19 by Italian playwright, stage, and film director Giovacchino Forzano.
(FGO)
Mo Zhou, stage director
The story is set in 1299 Florence, Italy. As Buoso Donati lies dead in his bed, his relatives gather to learn the contents of his will while pretending to mourn his passing. Among those present are his cousins Zita and Simone, Zita's nephew Rinuccio, and his poor-relation brother-in-law Betto, who shares a rumor that Donati has left everything to a monastery. Young Rinuccio is convinced his uncle has left him plenty of money, but those hopes are dashed when the potential heirs find and read the will, discovering that the rumor is true. A scheme worthy of Agatha Christie ensues to undue Donati’s will and replace it with another. This, of course, involves an elaborate deception to make it appear that Donati is still alive and has chosen to amend his own will. Intertwined in all of this and central to the story is Rinuccio’s desire to marry Lauretta and the matter of a dowry that must be paid to her father, Gianni Schicchi, for love to prevail.
“Audiences can relate to greedy relatives and class struggle,” Ching said. “It’s one of the reasons that the piece has survived. People have been arguing about wills for a long time, it stays with us.”
Ching’s “Buoso’s Ghost” takes up the story at the precise point where the last opera of Puccini’s career ends. Written in 1997, the plot continues in
(FGO)
Franco Pomponi, baritone
English with Schicchi sending the young lovers off to make wedding plans while he faces the disappointed heirs who were cheated by the scheme he devised in Puccini’s opera to pocket a tidy sum and ensure his daughter’s marriage. To his horror, Schicchi discovers that the food the ‘grieving’ Donati relatives had been bringing was poisoned and that they, in fact, killed Donati off. Next comes the threat of a murder trial, more deception, a fake suicide note and, ah yes, a “ghost.” Will Schicchi triumph again? Does the end justify the means? That’s up for the audience to decide and you’ll have to attend this ‘two-fer’ to find out.
It sounds like the basis of a nail-biting Netflix series to me. “Gianni Schicchi” is a sporadically performed opera (last staged here in 1953), that is now forever linked to its modern-day sequel, “Buoso’s Ghost,” which makes FGO’s staging of these two one-acts that much more exciting. Miss it now and it could be years before this opportunity comes around again.
The production features sumptuous costumes by Howard Tsvi Kaplan, sets from Chautauqua Opera, and lighting by Mary Ellen Stebbins. Noted Chinese American stage director Mo Zhou will direct. Internationally acclaimed baritone Franco Pomponi is cast in the title role. Venerable Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano and local favorite
Robynne Redmon returns in the role of Aunt Zita and Zita’s nephew,
(FGO)
Page Michels, soprano
Rinuccio, is played by FGO's second-year studio artist, tenor Charles Calotta. Schicchi’s daughter, Lauretta, will be portrayed by second-year studio artist, soprano Page Michels.
Ching demurs at the notion that the two operas are now an inseparable pair but says his sequel needs to be anchored -- “They were meant to be done together.” And although the topics tackled in their storyline sound weighty, Ching says both operas are instead quite a romp, calling them “laugh-out-loud funny.”
Born in Hawaii but raised in New Orleans, LA and Saint Paul, MN, Ching is widely known as the composer of innovative operas, including his 2011 a cappella adaptation of Shakespeare's “A Midsummer Night's Dream.” Besides “Buoso's Ghost,” his other major operas include “Corps of Discovery,” “Slaying the Dragon,” “Speed Dating Tonight!” and “Alice Ryley.” He’s written the librettos of many of his own operas and has done so for all since 2012. Composing in English, he says, has its advantages.
“It perks you up … it engages you immediately in a way that an opera in a foreign language doesn’t always do,” Ching said.
(FGO)
Charles Calotta, tenor
His upcoming South Florida gig will be a homecoming of sorts. Very early in his career, Ching worked for FGO’s predecessor, the Greater Miami Opera
Association, where he served as a pianist, a coach, and then chorus master between 1981-1985. He remembers visiting The
Adrienne Arsht Center when it first opened and he’s “Very excited to be back.”
As for his place in the world of contemporary opera, Ching says, “I’m a lifer -- either conducting, writing, or producing my whole career. I really love it and believe it has a limitless potential.”
Next up for him is a sequel to Gioachino Rossini’s 1817 “La Cenerentola” (Cinderella), which is being workshopped at the Savannah Voice Festival with middle school students helping to conceive the new iteration.
“We’re in the era of sequels, right?” Ching said.
Indeed, we are.
If You Go
“Gianni Schicchi” and “Buoso’s Ghost”
Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts
(University of Miami)
Robynne Redmon, mezzo-soprano
1300 Biscayne Blvd.
Miami, FL 33132
Saturday, Jan. 28; 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, Jan. 29; 2:00 p.m.
Tuesday, Jan. 31; 8:00 p.m.
Broward Center for the Performing Arts
201 SW 5th Ave.
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33312
Thursday, Feb. 9; 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 11; 7:30 p.m.
Tickets run from $18 - $255 depending on venue and location and may be purchased at fgo.org or by calling the ticket office at 800.741.1010.