Chicago. (North America).(Opera Review)

Lyric Opera opened its 2002-03 season with a visually lovely, musically respectable, dramatically inert new production of Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci (seen Oct. 11). Though the company has been pushing the theatrical envelope in recent seasons, with daring, sometimes controversial stagings of classics such as Der Fliegende Hollander, Parsifal, Rigoletto and Hansel und Gretel, Elijah Moshinsky's new Cav/Pag proved conservative, resolutely traditional. The most "revolutionary" concept was the visual reference to Fellini's La Strada (1954) in Michael Yeargan's set and costume designs for Pagliacci--not at all an original approach. That said, Yeargan's set designs for both operas were gorgeous: a lavishly decorated Sicilian street (circa 1896) for Cav and an arid exurb (circa the aforementioned 1954) for Pag, easily adaptable to the needs of subsequent directors and performers.

Dolora Zajick's Santuzza dominated the evening. Although her performance lacked the haunted, obsessive quality that makes this character so compelling, Zajick did convey desperation and the sensuality reflected in every note of Mascagni's score. This Santuzza looked too dolled-up for a woman who's been sick with worry all night, but it was clear she was making an all-out effort to win back her man. In a telling musical characterization, the mezzo emphasized vulnerability by relying on a bright, sweet sound. (Just as well: was ever a Turiddu born who could face down the full force of Zajick's mighty instrument?) Fetchingly dressed, Jennifer Dudley sang appealingly in Lola's brief ...