CCM's "Albert Herring" Edgy but Funny

(first published in The Cincinnati Post Feb. 11, 2006)

Orange blossom crown on the curb, his shadow splayed against the wall, "Adam the Good" - tipsy but determined - followed a lady of the evening offstage at the end of act II of "Albert Herring" Friday and Sunday in the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music's Patricia Corbett Theater.

The Benjamin Britten opera about a virtuous young man crowned King of the May in an English village when a virginal girl cannot be found is a comedy, but it takes on darker tones in the updated CCM Opera production by guest director Nicholas Muni.

Even the set, designed by CCM's Paul Shortt to capture the atmosphere of post-World War II England (the original is set circa 1900), is dark, drab and foursquare, consisting of sooty pre-fab housing against a bleak sky.

This makes the lighting and the colorful costumes that much more effective in telling the story and helps assure that its comedic elements are not neglected.

With a be-flowered May King in white suit and gloves, an elderly matriarch (Lady Billows) resembling fussy Hyacinth Bucket in BBC-TV's "Keeping up Appearances," a daffy school teacher with carrot-colored curls (Miss Wordsworth), a swaggering village swain with Elvis sideburns (Sid) and a doddering Vicar, it can't help but be funny. (The characters are seen through the windows of a large housing unit at the beginning of each act.). And for an opera that spoofs Victorian morals, the scene where Nancy squeezes ripe peaches against her body while flirting with Sid is hilarious.

Then there are the edgier moments, as when Albert's smothering "Mum" simulates a beating by lashing at him with her apron when he resists accepting the May King honor (which includes money). Also, the street kids who rob Albert's shop (they only steal apples in the original) and the girl who teases Albert cruelly by forcibly kissing him and running away.

The point is, says Muni, that with a bit of context, everyone in the opera can be understood, even the moralistic Lady Billows, who only pines for the good old days when the sun had not yet set on the British Empire and young people "behaved" themselves.

Albert sums up his experience in the last act when, apparently none the worse for wear, he returns clad in black leather and boots to ask what all the fuss is about (the entire village has been engaged in a manhunt).  He confesses his transgressions --  "drunkenness, dirt and worse" -- and tongue-lashes his Mum, "who wrapped me in cotton-wool."  But it's a well-meaning tongue-lashing, and he ends with "it wasn't much fun," it's time to "get on" and, tossing his orange blossom hat to the crowd, "jolly good riddance." 

Musically, it's a brilliant work, and the student cast, headed by two sterling-voiced tenors as Albert, Randall Umstead and Brendan Tuohy (Friday and Sunday, respectively) , handled its often rapid dialogue and operatic flights of fancy well. There was an almost Puccini-esque moment in act I when Anthony Beck as the Vicar, bathed in silver light, suddenly realizes that a May King (Albert) is not such a bad idea. Conductor Mark Gibson led a chamber ensemble of 12 smartly in the pit, giving the challenging score lots of character and definition.

Repeats, with alternating student casts, are 2:30 and 8 p.m. today, and 2:30 p.m. Sunday in Patricia Corbett Theater.