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In 2005 LA Opera had a surprise smash with Gounod’s ROMEO ET JULIETTE. This was due far more to the exciting casting of Rolando Villazon and Anna Netrrbko as the titular lovers than to Gounod’s dramatically inert adaptation of Shakespeare. With Villazon’s career in question and Netrebko firmly ensconced as the new diva at the Met, the pressure was on to find a comparable pair of lovers for this season’s revival.

It is hard to imagine a stronger combination of voice, looks and acting talent than Vittorio Grigolo and Nino Machaidze. Machaidze has been consistently impressive since her LA Opera debut, but Grigolo, whose resume includes a number of pop recordings, is a revelation. He is a natural stage animal with boundless energy, total commitment, and an easy, unforced charisma. His voice is strong, bright and vibrant with a clarion top that thrills. And, if his sound has more Italian bravado than French finesse, no one will argue with the results in this role. But this is no careless performance full of bluster. Grigolo takes care to make the most of his reflective moments as well.

As his Juliette, Machaidze proves to be his match in every respect. If the perky chirping of Juliette’s opening Waltz doesn’t completely suit her darker-hued tone, the rest of the score greatly benefits from her intelligent and stylish singing. Juliette is the character who truly matures throughout the course the opera, and Machaidze carefully charts that growth from impatient daughter to passionate young girl to self-possessed woman. Machaidze may have been less revealing in the staging’s central bed scene than Netrebko, but there’s no denying the heat she generates with Grigolo.

The rest of the company is well-cast with Vitalij Kowaljow providing a sonorous Friar Lawrence and Vladimir Chernov a particularly compassionate Lord Capulet. Renee Rapier iss plucky and worth hearing as Romeo’s page, while Muesop Kim brings clear diction and a lovely tone but little variety to Mercutio. Ronnita Nicole Miller finds less of interest in this Nurse than the one she played in ONEGIN, while Alexy Sayapin is a convincingly fierce Tybalt..

Ian Judge returns to stage the revival which feels tighter and less ponderous than the original, though it seems that the few comic moments the opera does allow has mostly vanished. John Gunter’s colossal moving towers work well as the set and, once again, Tim Goodchild’s stunning costumes (updated to the mid-Victorian Era) bring cohesion to the visual vocabulary of the production. In the pit, Placido Domingo is able to mine a surprising amount of variety from Gounod’s treacly score.

Dorothy Chandler Pavilion    November 6 – 26, 2011 www.laopera.com