When the Washington National Opera decided to perform Puccini’s “Turandot” for the first time, it called on master director Andrei Serban. The oft-honored professor of theater arts at Columbia University and veteran of the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Mass., has directed operas and dramas in major venues worldwide, but the production of “Turandot” he conceived at London’s Royal Opera House Covent Garden two decades ago remains a favorite.
“It’s been playing there a long time and is consistently sold out,” he says. “When I was asked to direct it for WNO, I tried to remember what I did that makes it so popular at Covent Garden.
“There are always new soloists, new dancers and a new chorus that don’t come with the set. I was delighted to learn that soprano Maria Guleghina, who sings the title role [shared with Sylvie Valayre for the final three performances], is an actress who can move well because she was into sports before discovering her voice. The performers make this production unique, and so do the details.”
Serban explains the typical production features a “super-cluttered” stage with an operatic staircase that characters run up and down. He eliminates the staircase, keeps the stage free of excess action and presents the opera as a play within a play. The chorus sits in a balcony built onstage as it watches the play.
“The acting techniques are taken from the Japanese Kabuki theater of the 17th century combined with Western and Eastern techniques to tell the fairy tale,” he says. “There is one real story and one allegory symbolized by the girl who puts on a mask of iciness when all she wants is love.”
Serban, a native of Bucharest, Romania, studied at drama school for three years before realizing that his primary interest lay in directing. One of his student productions culminated with Julius Caesar dying in slow motion on a bridge built over the audience. Today that production would be regarded by audiences and critics alike as exceptionally creative, but the resulting scandal prevented him from finding a job in Romania.
Undeterred, he immigrated to the United States on a Ford Foundation grant. An early triumph, a production of Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchestra” starring Irene Worth and Meryl Streep, received a 1977 Tony Award nomination. Among his subsequent honors are the George Abbott Award and the Prize for Excellence in Romanian Culture, both in 1999, and grants from the Guggenheim and Rockefeller foundations.
Puccini died before completing Act III of “Turandot.” The premiere in 1926 conducted by Arturo Toscanini ended when the orchestra finished playing the composer’s score and the curtain was lowered. Franco Alfano later completed the opera based on directions Puccini left in sketches. Serban utilizes that history in his production.
“Puccini’s writing ends at the moment when the beautiful girl dies,” he says. “Everything stops, and the lights in the orchestra go down in homage to Puccini. Then Alfano’s addition begins, the lights come up and the tale continues to the end.”
If you go
Washington National Opera presents Puccini’s “Turandot” in Italian with English subtitles
Where: Kennedy Center Opera House
When: Through June 4
Info: $50-$300; 202-295-2400, dc-opera.org
The Washington National Opera will perform “Turandot” at 7:30 p.m. June 2 at the Lyric Opera House in Baltimore. Tickets are $40-$100 at 410-547-7328 or ticketmaster.com. For information, call 410-900-1150.
