Charming Voyage

The San Francisco Opera premiere of Rachel Portman’s The Little Prince was a great success Friday night at Zellerbach Hall. Anyone who has seen the drawings in Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s novella, Le Petit Prince, will immediately recognize it as the inspiration for Francesca Zambello’s whimsical production, jointly presentated by San Francisco Opera and Cal Performances, and conducted by Sara Jobin. The action takes place on a stage of gold and azure framed by a circular frontispiece out of which appear stars, lamps, baobabs, and water, just to name a few. The costumes were clever in concept and design, most notably the velvet-petaled Rose and the Baobab sprouts that “grew” onstage. The latter were, hands down, the favorite of the 12-and-under set.

All photos by Kristen Loken

The event was a destination for many parents and doting grandparents. The younger audience members they brought seemed to enjoy the show immensely, although with its running time of two hours (including one intermission), it may be a bit too much for anyone under seven or eight. An outing to Zellerbach Hall would be well complemented by a trip to the bookstore or library to read all or part of Saint-Exupéry’s novella and see the author’s own illustrations. Portman is mainly known as a composer of film scores. Her credits include Emma (Academy Award for Best Film Score), The Cider House Rules, and Beloved, among many other recognizable titles. Her music shows its roots in film scoring with its facile harmonies, sweeping phrases, and minimalist arpeggios. The moving ensemble number that ends Act 1 outweighs the finale of the opera and leaves the work as a whole feeling a bit unbalanced. And yet, while the hard-core composers of academia might dismiss Portman’s foray into the more classical medium of opera because of her music’s “commercial” trappings, her work joins beautifully with the text of librettist Nicolas Wright to form a drama that was enjoyed by a public that stopped listening to academia long ago.

Well-Matched Performances

Tovi Wayne was charming in the title role with his tousled yellow hair and blue jumpsuit (another nod to the illustrations of Saint-Exupéry’s book). His voice is clear and bright and his portrayal of the prince’s innocent detachment was completely believable. Eugene Brancoveanu sang the role of the Pilot with ease. His rich, ringing baritone filled every corner of Zellerbach Hall and then some. The onstage chemistry between the Pilot and the Prince, the projection of his inner child, was palpable and the work would have been an empty shell without it.

Ji Young Yang played an elegant Rose. It was a pleasure to hear her crystalline soprano voice in a smaller venue than the War Memorial Opera House as it allowed us to appreciate more of the fine nuances of her instrument. She did overpower the rest of the ensemble with her long, lyrical vocalisms in the Act 1 finale and Jobin should have reined her in just a bit to preserve balance. Marie Lenormand, in her first role with San Francisco Opera, held her own as the Fox. Her voice may not be quite as developed as those of some of the other heavy hitters in the cast, but she more than made up for it with her playful romping with the Prince.

The San Francisco Boys Chorus and the San Francisco Girls Chorus did well. They had excellent ensemble, tuning, and diction and were a pleasure to watch onstage first as stars and later as cranes. The choristers as a bed of roses in Act 2 were especially delightful. Rich Fisher and Christopher Sprague added magic from behind the scenes with their lighting design, especially during the “Watching the Sunset” music in the first act.