Michele Angelini (left) plays a conspirator, and Andriana Chuchman a peasant. (Cory Weaver)
Sometimes an obscure opera is revived, and everyone hails a lost masterpiece. Other times — as with Chabrier’s “Le Roi Malgré Lui” at Bard SummerScape — you realize posterity had the right idea in forgetting all about it.
“Le Roi” — loosely translated as “The King in Spite of Himself,” or “The Reluctant King” — has a high-profile advocate in Bard College president Leon Botstein, who conducted Sunday afternoon’s performance with the American Symphony Orchestra.
But even in expert hands, the 1887 work sounded like a hybrid: too sophisticated for operetta, but too frivolous for grand opera.
The frothy libretto centers on Henri, a 16th-century French prince who’s just been made king of Poland. But he doesn’t want the job — the climate in Krakow is miserable! — so, disguised, he joins a conspiracy to overthrow himself.
As Henri, Liam Bonner made a striking first entrance wearing nothing but a Speedo patterned with the French flag. Though he looked buff, his gravelly baritone disappointed.
And that Speedo? It’s just part of an updated staging by director Thaddeus Strassberger in which the king recalls the sunshine of far-off France from the comfort of a tanning bed.
The gimmicky production — which transformed the coronation ball into a kitschy TV variety show — failed to win more than a few chuckles during the 3 1/2 -hour performance.
Best among the generally strong cast was Michele Angelini as the king’s sidekick, Nangis, his light tenor sailing nonchalantly up to high notes that seemed to go on forever. Frédéric Goncalves and Jeffrey Mattsey whipped up some exciting baritone bluster as the conspirators Fritelli and Laski.
Soprano Andriana Chuchman, as the peasant girl Minka, didn’t make much of a case for her coloratura gypsy song in the second act. Later, though, she joined another soprano, Nathalie Paulin as Henri’s ex, Alexina, for a luscious duet that could hold its own with the celebrated trio from Strauss’ “Der Rosenkavalier.”
It was interesting to experience “Le Roi Malgré Lui” just this once, but as for hearing it again . . . well, call me reluctant.