Pittsburgh Opera’s “Armida” Sings in a Language Beyond Words

The French New Wave director Francois Truffaut once remarked of Alfred Hitchcock that he was the only director who did not require sound for his films to be understood; in other words, the effect of his visual narrative was so strong that dialogue was not really necessary.  In much the same way, I found in watching–or I should say, listening to–Pittsburgh Opera’s performance of “Armida,” that I did not really need to read the English supertitles, sung in Italian, which were projected over the stage.  Because the emotional impact of this drama was self-evident in the delivery by the superb cast, such that reading the libretto took me out of the reverie of what these characters were experiencing and conveying in a musical language that did not require literal translation.

That said, if you’re not an opera aficionado, this 1784 work by the Austrian composer Franz Joseph Haydn would be an exhilarating introduction to what this art form can offer.  You can either choose to follow the story–loosely based on a fictionalized account of a love story set during the First Crusade, as envisioned in the 1581 poem Gerusalemme liberata, by Torquato Tasso–or simply recline in your seat, letting the rapture of the singers and the Pittsburgh Opera Orchestra, conducted by Anthony Walker, envelope you.

Playing the title role, soprano Lauryn Davis evokes the sometimes brightly tortured, sometimes darkly ecstatic nature of her character–a sorceress sent to seduce a Christian knight–through the ethereal quality of her voice: she has the melancholic interiority of someone who just stepped out of a Caspar David Friedrich painting.  Ms. Davis captures the subtle antimony of her role–is Armida intrinsically good or evil, we’re never sure–in such a way that whenever she looks into the abyss of her existence, she tries to fill it with the light of her voice, rather than the tragedy of her despair. Brilliantly serving as the counterpart to her amorous vacillations, tenor Fran Daniel Laucerica invests the male lead of Rinaldo with a heroic vocal intensity.  Is he a stoic soldier of the 11^th century, or a sensitive man of the 21^st?  In either case, he offers a consistently powerful performance, even as he maintains the inscrutability of a character torn between love and duty, again and again. 

Completing the remarkably strong cast are bass Matthew Soibelman (Idreno), high-baritone Erik Nordstrom (Ubaldo), mezzo-soprano Audrey Welsh (Clotarca), and soprano Shannon Crowley (Zelmira).

Kejia Yu’s set gives us permission to enter the world of fantasy, but without traveling too far; it features a stone tunnel structure that could have been lifted directly from New York City’s Central Park, as well as two trees and assorted hanging vines that look like vestiges from a JRR Tolkien story.  Mary Ellen Stebbins’ lighting designs are fantastical and evocative, melding with the physical aspects of the set in an organic–and psychologically pregnant–way.

Also adding to the flavor of the production in the role of nymphs are three dancers from Attack Theater: Melissa Burke, Anya Epstein, and Olivia Nellis, who flitter around the action in id-like animation of Armida’s psyche.

Yinxue Wang’s costume designs exude a lush, Pre-Raphaelite sense of enchantment to these souls, trapped in a story that forces them to navigate between the machinations of love and war, as well as myth and reality.

I won’t comment on the ending of the drama, which is better experienced in performance than summary; however, it’s not predictable, and this makes the experience all the more fulfilling.  Whether you come for the sublime music, the vocal artistry, the scintillating imagery, or just for the chance to escape into the dream-like, lost world of chivalric poetry, “Armida” will reward you, especially if you just close your eyes and listen to a sonorous language that needs no translation.

ARMIDA continues through February 2^nd, CAPA School Theater, Downtown, $32.50-60, www.pittsburghopera.org or 412-281-0912