Unmasking Don Giovanni

This blog post is by Emily Schweich, senior broadcast journalism major.

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Who is Don Giovanni? The title character in Mozart’s 1787 opera has a larger-than-life personality, but what lies beneath?

Before the Sunday matinee of the Maryland Opera Studio’s production of Don Giovanni, directed by Andrea Dorf McGray, School of Music professors Nick Olcott and Olga Haldey joined Maryland Opera Studio alumna Jennifer Forni for the inaugural Opera Resonates! discussion. The panelists talked gender, sex and class in Don Giovanni, and I agree with their conclusion: Though the opera is named for the infamous male character, it really belongs to the women.

Is he a complex character, or is he simply one-sided? Eversole gives a compelling performance with a strong baritone that cuts through the chamber music. He projects a convincing sense of entitlement, a haughtiness in his rich, resonant voice, and when he faces his final fate, the audience is almost giddy with satisfaction.

Don Giovanni (Anthony Eversole) is a womanizer, a seducer and a murderer. He kills the Commodore (the stoic, yet sly Ethan Lee Greene) and then seduces his daughter Donna Anna (Chelsea Davidson). Donna Anna and her fiancée Ottavio (Alec Feiss) decide to seek revenge, and they’re not the only ones looking for vengeance. The jilted Donna Elvira, played masterfully by Louisa Waycott, wants Don Giovanni to get what he deserves, even though she still has feelings for him. Meanwhile, Don Giovanni has his eyes on Zerlina (Laynee Dell Woodward), a young peasant girl betrothed to the hapless Masetto (Mark Wanich).

Don Giovanni is ruthless, and we never quite figure out his motivation. Though he is the title character, he really only has two solo arias in the entire three-hour opera – in “Fin ch'han dal vino” he sings about inviting as many girls as he can to a party to get tipsy, and in “Deh, vieni alla finestra” he seduces a chambermaid.

Is he a complex character, or is he simply one-sided? Eversole gives a compelling performance with a strong baritone that cuts through the chamber music. He projects a convincing sense of entitlement, a haughtiness in his rich, resonant voice, and when he faces his final fate, the audience is almost giddy with satisfaction.

And Don Giovanni is the ultimate chameleon. As denoted in the pre-show discussion, he doesn’t discriminate when it comes to class, going after noblewomen, peasant women and chambermaids alike. He molds himself to the woman he’s seeking, whether it’s the noble Donna Anna, the peasant Zerlina or even Donna Elvira’s chambermaid. Each of the female characters has her own musical theme and motif that Giovanni adopts as he works to win over each one.

Of the three women, Waycott blew me away most with her powerful, versatile voice. Waycott is a mezzo-soprano, but she sang the soprano role of Donna Elvira beautifully, navigating the passagio especially well in the challenging “Mi tradì quell'alma ingrata.”

As Leporello, Don Giovanni’s valet, Daren Jackson brought more than comedic relief to the stage. His timing and facial expressions were stellar, especially when he switched places with his master to help him win over a chambermaid. But he also brought a nuanced sense of humanity to the stage, faced with a conflict between loyalty to his master and disapproval of his lifestyle, between dreams of being his own master and acceptance of his lot in life as a servant. As with the female characters, his character almost gives more insight into Don Giovanni than Don Giovanni does himself.

As cliché as it might sound, Don Giovanni is still relevant today. The title character uses his wealth and status to get away with crimes against humanity and morality. It’s likely that many women today know a Don Giovanni in their lives.