A dark and dangerous 'Don Giovanni'

The Lyric Opera of Chicago launched its 60th anniversary season this past weekend with a new production of “Don Giovanni” — the same work that marked the company's debut in 1954 and was last staged at Lyric 10 years ago.

But this time around, the 1787 masterpiece by composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte has a decidedly different look. That's because Tony Award-winning Goodman Theatre artistic director Robert Falls and his fine design team have updated the time period of “Don Giovanni” away from the 18th century to 1920s rural Spain.

Though not as envelope-pushing as director Diane Paulus' New York nightclub “Don Giovanni” for Chicago Opera Theater in 2008, traditionalists might still be shocked by Falls' stylish approach to the Don Juan-inspired tale of a serial seducer who gets a supernatural comeuppance.

When this louche lothario isn't showing off his Charleston dance steps and snazzy dress sense, he's snorting cocaine on the side. This short-tempered Don Giovanni also shows a violently sadistic streak as handcuffs and other restraints are revealed to be a part of his sexual conquests.

These touches allow Falls to take “Don Giovanni” to more disturbing places while also making this dark comedy more relatable to 21st century audiences. The Lyric cast and crew throw themselves into Falls' approach, and what results is an impressive theatrical and musically intensive brew that will have you laughing one minute while gasping with indignation the next.

Commanding Polish baritone Mariusz Kwiecien shows Lyric audiences why he has been one of the world's top purveyors of Don Giovanni with his fine physique and overconfident bravado. Kwiecien is vocally partnered well with the firm-voiced American baritone Kyle Ketelsen as Leporello, Don Giovanni's flunky servant who simultaneously resents and respects his wayward boss.

Among Don Giovanni's aristocratic conquests, Puerto Rican soprano Ana María Martínez is wonderfully fiery with a dusky sound as the revenge-bent Donna Elivra (she also clearly relishes her “modern woman” role reconceptualization — even arriving via motorcycle).

As Donna Anna, Latvian soprano Marina Rebeka brings a bright shimmer to her role of a conflicted young woman horrified at the murder of her father (strong Italian bass Andrea Silvestrelli, returning as the Commendatore) and the aftermath of Don Giovanni's sexual assault. Doing his best to console Donna Anna and aid in her quest for justice is the Don Ottavio of honey-voiced Italian tenor Antonio Poli.

As the rustic newlyweds Zerlina and Masetto who get drawn into Don Giovanni's twisted schemes, Canadian soprano Andriana Chuchman and American baritone Michael Sumuel make for an amusing and vocally plush couple who spar and make up with lots of tender affection.

Lyric music director Sir Andrew Davis conducted the Lyric Orchestra with plenty of panache, bringing out the light and dark colors of Mozart's timeless score with buoyant style.

Though Falls decidedly breaks stylistically with all the Lyric's past “Don Giovanni” productions, his dramatic approach is fully justified and compelling right to end. The Lyric couldn't have asked for a finer start to its diamond anniversary season.