Among the several supporting singers, Robert Cantrell (Gubetta) and Yingxi Zhang (Rustighello) stood out for expressive vibrancy. The chorus did generally strong work.
WNO general director Placido Domingo conducted. Not every detail was neatly attended to, but he achieved an effective balance between propulsion and breadth of phrasing. After a rocky start, the orchestra offered secure, colorful playing.
Pascoe, who designed the sets and costumes and also served as director, gave the production a distinctive look. A threatening world of towering walls conjures up 16th-century Italy, while a startling variety of raiments, suggesting assorted eras, provides dashes and splashes of color.
One goal was to emphasize the masculine world Lucrezia lived in, but things got a little campy. Fleming, previously moving about in swirling, super-elegant gowns, entered the final scene yielding a sword and sporting a kind of dominatrix outfit. And Grigolo was outfitted in what looked liked a glittery old David Bowie get-up, with super-spiked blond coif (Fleming suddenly revealed the same hairstyle in that finale, perhaps a sign of Lucrezia's close psychic bond with her son).
For the most part, though, the fanciful visual touches proved entertaining, as did Pascoe's most daring directorial flourish. Lucrezia Borgia has no conventional male-female love story since Alfonso and Lucrezia are hardly a romantic couple, but two male characters do express great affection: Gennaro and Orsini (the latter is a "trouser role" - opera has a long tradition of women portraying men).
Finding abundant justification in the libretto for a gay subplot, Pascoe cleverly draws it out to provide an extra dimension to the doomed characters, who kiss in the shadows and talk of running off together, before the Borgia curse falls heavily on them.
if you go
Lucrezia Borgia will be performed with Sondra Radvanovsky in the title role at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow and 7 p.m. Nov. 15 and 17; Renee Fleming sings the title role at 2 p.m. Sunday and 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Kennedy Center, 2700 F St. N.W., Washington. Tickets are $68-$250. Call 202-295-2400 or go to dc-opera.org.
