Puccini's 'Golden West' shines despite dated depiction

After exposure to unvarnished modern Westerns like the HBO-TV series “Deadwood” or Clint Eastwood's 1992 film “Unforgiven,” the Italian-filtered opera view of America's Wild West in “The Girl of the Golden West” (“La Fanciulla del West”) can seem naively laughable.

Indeed, the audience at the Lyric Opera of Chicago's opening night revival of Giacomo Puccini's 1910 California Gold Rush opera frequently broke out into titters of laughter now and then, like when the Italian-singing miners broke out into a brief chorus of “doo da doo da day.” And with our modern sensibilities it's hard to believe that the heroine Minnie, a pistol-packing Bible-quoting saloon owner, is truthful when she reveals that she's never been kissed.

But logic can fly out the window when Puccini's music is as romantically lush as it is here. There may not be as many hit breakout arias as in Puccini's other operas, but “The Girl of the Golden West” succeeds as an overarching romantic melodrama, and it's a pleasure through and through when taken on its own many impressive merits.

It's easy to see why soprano and Wheeling native Deborah Voigt has been the “Golden Girl” of choice for major American centennial revivals of this work. With her beautifully sunny portrayal, Voigt gets across the tough-love niceties of a savvy businesswoman who truly cares for all the miners in camp. True, Voigt vocally showed effort in producing the top notes during Act I. But Voigt later warmed up and hit her vocal stride for Acts II and III as the drama was ratcheted up (though she could spend a couple more hours with fight director Nick Sandys to make the Act III dust-ups more believable).

Opening night saw Italian tenor Marcello Giordani in fine voice as the seemingly posh stranger Dick Johnson, who later steals Minnie's heart even after he's exposed as the thieving bandit Ramerrez. Fellow Italian Marco Vratogna made an outstanding Lyric debut as Sheriff Jack Rance, whose sturdy baritone brings a chilling authority to his character's unwanted advances on Minnie and his relentless drive for frontier justice.

Conductor Sir Andrew Davis brought out many enchanting orchestral colors from the Lyric Opera Orchestra (only overpowering the singers on a couple of occasions). Chorus master Donald Nally and stage revival Director Vincent Liotta both worked together well to wrangle the large male ensemble into a very credible rough and tumble ensemble of gold miners who also show their soft side when pining for home (or pining romantically after Minnie). Some ensemble standouts include tenor David Cangelosi as the wily bartender Nick, baritone Daniel Sutin as the conscience-filled miner's spokesman Sonora and bass-baritone Paul Corona as the sentimental balladeer Jack Wallace.

Though Lyric audiences have seen this same production by Tony Award-winning Director Harold Price twice before in 1978 and 1990, designer Scott Marr has brightened things up with new elements that freshen up the original rustic work of set designer Eugene Lee and costume designer Frannie Lee. Aiding the mood of the piece through its many sunrises and sunset is lighting designer Jason Brown's wonderfully atmospheric work.

Though local audiences will find plenty of instances to laugh at “The Girl of the Golden West's” depiction of 19th century America, it's probably no different from Chinese audiences finding absurdities in Puccini's ancient China-set “Turandot” or Japanese audiences rolling their eyes at the heroine's suicidal sacrifice in his “Madama Butterfly.” Puccini was drawn to exotic locales, and America's Wild West gets a musically melodramatic tribute in “The Girl of the Golden West.”