WNO’s “Little Prince” brings seasonal holiday magic for all ages
Robby Potter III as the Prince and Chandler Benn as the Pilot in The Little Prince at Washington National Opera. Photo: Scott Suchman/KC
Francesca Zambello conceived of a family-oriented opera based on Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince, enlisted composer Rachel Portman and librettist Nicholas Wright to bring it to life, and premiered it at the Houston Grand Opera in 2003.
Zambello is now the artistic director of Washington National Opera, which has its own wintertime family opera tradition, so it was no surprise to see The Little Prince returning to the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater on Friday evening, with many young people both onstage and in the audience.
Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince concerns itself with two topics of evergreen interest to kids: the ridiculousness of adults, and how to make a place in the wide world for yourself. Portman and Wright have added a great deal to the book but retained its spirit — for example, finding the musical possibilities in the Little Prince visiting an asteroid inhabited by a vain man by having him toot out an anthem to himself on a kazoo.
Though none of the tunes stick long in the mind, Portman’s music unspools pleasantly, with ear-tickling orchestral effects worthy of her cinematic background (she was the first woman to win an Oscar for Best Score, for Emma). Wisely, Wright used as much of the book as he could in the libretto, adding rhyming couplets only where necessary to fill out a scene; apart from occasional clunkers like “in the starlight, thoughts have wings,” the additions bring wit and verve.
The WNO performers certainly put the opera in its best possible light. Robby Potter, III took the role of the Prince at Friday night’s opening performance. After his voice warmed up a bit, it sounded light and clean, with occasional trembles underscoring the incongruity of a young man so far from home yet so sure of himself. He nailed his final scene, when the Prince departs the desert, with firm resolve.
Participants in the WNO’s Cafritz Young Artists Program took the adult roles. As in the book, the Pilot, whose plane has crashed in the Sahara, serves as the narrator. Baritone Chandler Benn brought a handsome voice to the role, well-rounded throughout his register, though he couldn’t quite convey the sympathy for the Prince that the Pilot shows in Saint-Exupéry’s novel.
Soprano Lauren Carroll showed an alluring voice as the Rose and did a commendable job opening and closing the organza petals of her costume to emphasize her character’s alternating self-regard and anxiety. (Green tights festooned with poky thorns completed this finest of Maria Björnson’s excellent costumes.) As the Fox, mezzo-soprano Michelle Mariposa showed equal parts vocal and physical agility, her fluidity of movement complementing her glowing aria explaining to the Prince the process of taming an animal.
Hakeem Henderson portrayed both the aforementioned Vain Man and the sinister Snake, suitably flamboyant while buzzing the kazoo, threatening yet magnetic in the second, using his commanding tenor well in both. Atticus Rego, as the king with no subjects until the Prince arrives, sold the joke with his rich, firm bass giving ironic weight to his feckless orders. Nicholas Huff slurred appropriately as the Drunkard and sang with a melancholy tenor as the Lamplighter, just following orders no matter how nonsensical. And Thandolwethu Mamba made a suitably myopic Businessman, straining his baritone to count the stars in the sky.
Zambello directed the WNO’s previous production of The Little Prince; for the current one, she has yielded that duty to Corrine M. Hayes. The Washington National Opera Youth Chorus had several effective bits of business under Hayes’ direction, flapping cranes across the stage to suggest flight or holding lamps in the aisles, while projecting effectively and with commendable tone. Micah Gleason conducted the small orchestra, which kept the rhythms bright and effectively limned the colors in Portman’s score.
In the finale, the full cast gathered for a rousing tribute to the Prince. One missed the reflective ending of the book, but it was good to hear the Youth Chorus again, and certainly the kids in the audience seemed satisfied.
The Little Prince will be repeated at 12 p.m. and 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, with Robby Potter, III, in the title role for the 12 p.m. performances and Clarence Payne in the role for the 5 p.m. performances. kennedy-center.org
Leave a Comment
