Odyssey's "Le Medecin Malgre Lui": Mock Doc

The Cast of "Le Medecin Malgre Lui"
(photo: Kathy Wittman)

Charles Gounod, recognized as the creator of lyric opera (with his Faust and Romeo et Juliette), is less known for his opera comique, the rarely produced 1858 work Le Medecin Malgre Lui, based on Moliere's The Doctor in Spite of Himself. The opera in fact was given its Boston premiere by Odyssey Opera this past weekend at the Huntington Avenue Theatre, fully staged, in French with English supertitles. Now in its sixth season, Odyssey Opera presented the piece, with Libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carre, in celebration of the 200^th anniversary of Gounod's birth. The version they presented included sung recitatives commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev from Erik Satie (added in 1924) replacing Moliere's spoken dialog.

Piotr Buszewski in "Le Medecin Malgre Lui"
(photo: Kathy Wittman)

The work takes place in 17^th century rural France, in three acts in ninety minutes without intermission, in a forest, a room in the house of the bourgeois Geronte (baritone James Demler), and a courtyard in the same house. Sganarelle (baritone Stephen Salters), a woodcutter with a taste for alcohol, treats his wife Martine (mezzo soprano Whitney Robinson) poorly. Seeking revenge, she tells Lucas (tenor Stefan Barner) and Valere (baritone Ryne Cherry), Geronte's servants, that her husband is concealing the fact that he is a learned doctor but won't admit it unless flogged first. The servants have been searching for a doctor to attend to Geronte's daughter Lucinde (soprano Kristen Watson), who seems to have been struck speechless. After being beaten, Sganarelle does impersonate a doctor, but Lucinde is in fact feigning illness to avoid being wed to some rich man instead of her poor lover Leandre (tenor Piotr Buszewski). While her father is distracted by the mock doctor with his concocted nonsense words and phony treatments, they make plans to elope. Further distracting is the flirting between the “doctor” and Lucas' wife Jacqueline (mezzo soprano Tascha Anderson). All ends well when Leandre suddenly inherits a fortune and is no longer objectionable to Geronte, and all forgive one another.

The Cast of "Le Medecin Malgre Lui"
(photo: Kathy Wittman)

The singing for the most part was fine, with an occasional glitch (a high C that missed, for example), though neither memorable nor demanding), but the acting never rose above the level of unrestrained mugging (a fault often displayed when taking on the challenge of a play by Moliere). The production also included a nine member chorus (woodcutters, musicians, peasants), who failed to keep in sync with the orchestra. Gil Rose was the Conductor and Daniel Pelzig the Director. The Costume Design was by Brooke Stanton, with Scenic Design by Dan Daly, and Lighting Design by Christopher Ostrom.

After a long series of successes, this opera, part of the company's “GounOdyssey” mini-season, was not one of Odyssey's typically impressive unearthed gems; it would best be left interred. The balance of the current schedule may prove of more interest, with Gluck's Paride ed Elena, Strauss' Die Agyptische Helena and Offenbach's La Belle Helene promising a Helen-of-Troy-centric remaining season.