Étienne Dupuis (Jean Sorel), Caroline Bleau (Magda Sorel) (Photo Credit:Yves Renaud)
Bugs clears the ariaMenotti’s opera itself is a drag
by Richard Burnett
The box office at the Monument National reported this night’s presentation of Gian Carlo Menotti’s somber opera The Consul was sold out. But there were many empty seats by the end of the night – not because of the efforts of the pretty good cast, opera singers studying with L’Opera de Montreal’s Atelier Lyrique (who presented the three-act, three-hour opera with the McGill Chamber Orchestra) but rather because Menotti’s opera itself is a drag.
The Consul tells the story of fictional political dissident John Sorel (played by baritone Etienne Dupuis), on the run from the secret police in a totalitarian state, and the tragic end of his family, notably his wife Magda Sorel (played by soprano Caroline Bleau) who (surprise, surprise) commits suicide.
