Review

Rufus Wainwright is certainly a polarizing figure. Celebrated by some, panned by others, for his fawning song-by-song recreation of Judy Garland’s concerts. He has been a ubiquitous presence at the Toronto Luminato Festival and is now a recorded opera composer. Wait, what? Yes, his 2009 opera Prima Donna, seen in Toronto at Luminato, recently received the full Deutsche Grammophon treatment with a stellar cast. Wainwright says he was inspired by a late-in-life interview with Maria Callas, apparently conducted in French, hence the language of the opera. Instigated apparently as a promise of commission from Peter Gelb and the Metropolitan Opera, it did not end up at the Met – Gelb insisted on a new opera in English, not French. Instead, the Manchester Festival and the now defunct New York City Opera staged it to little fanfare. So, how is it? Surprisingly listenable. Wainwright does not break any new ground here, but it is a competent piece of Puccini-esque nostalgia. The interesting part is that Wainwright writes the best melodies not for his Prima Donna, but for her imagined lover, the journalist André Letourneur. Late in the work, in the fifth scene of the second act, the beautiful voice of Antonio Figueroa brings to life some fine operatic writing. In an intriguing twist of the libretto, the scene is a recreation of the past glory of the Prima Donna and her partner, foreshadowing the sad ending. Nostalgic musically and thematically, Prima Donna is a surprisingly enjoyable effort from the bad boy of torch song.