J’nai Bridges.

Wow.

Camille Saint-Saëns’ Samson and Delilah isn’t a great opera, but the right cast can make it a pretty enjoyable experience. Thankfully, Washington National Opera’s new production hits that mark with a solid cast led by American mezzo-soprano J’nai Bridges in a stand-out performance as Delilah. Bridges is so good that it’s hard not to see her destined to be among the great American mezzos of her generation, eventually taking her place at the top alongside singers like Joyce DiDonato and Susan Graham. Among women in their 30s, Jamie Barton and Isabel Leonard are the only other mezzos I’ve heard who have as much power and presence on stage. Unless one has a fondness for French grand opera, Bridges is the primary reason to attend this production, and she’s reason enough.

The plot, if you don’t remember, is pretty much the biblical story of the femme fatale who uses her charms to find out the source of the hero’s great strength, and after a couple of unsuccessful tries, finally gets him to reveal his secret. Bad move on his part, and he ends up blind, bald, and bound to the pillars of a temple, which, with the help of the Lord, he brings down upon his tormentors. It provides an opportunity for some sensuous duets, some lusty dancing, and if there’s enough money around (in this case there isn’t), what should be a spectacular finale. At it’s core it’s tale of betrayal, but what makes it problematic, apart from Saint-Saëns’ inability to come up with more than 20 or so minutes of truly interesting music, is that the leads aren’t well-written characters, and remain mostly unsympathetic in Ferdinand Lemaire’s libretto. Success depends on lots of glitz and distractions to make it compelling, unless the singers are on fire.

As her foil, the Italian tenor Roberto Aronica makes his company debut as Samson. Aronica is a master of the Italian repertoire, but his excursions into French roles aren’t unwelcome. Here he does an admirable and convincing job, but he can’t compete with Bridges’ overwhelming presence. I found myself having a hard time paying attention to him when the two shared the stage, and the opera begins to sag noticeably when Samson steps into the spotlight in the third act (that’s Saint-Saëns’ fault, not Aronica’s). Other notable debuts here include Noel Bouley as the High Priest and Tomas Tomasson as Abimelech. Peter Volpe, also part of WNO’s current Don Giovanni, is the Old Hebrew. Matthew Pearce and Samuel J. Weiser, both of the Cafritz Young Artist program, play the Philistines, and Joshua Blue, also from CYA, is the Messenger. The WNO Chorus under Steven Gathman provided drama and support, as did the dancers, whose modern style were well integrated into the whole without distraction by choreographer and assistant director Eric Sean Fogel. As good as the dancers were, they struggled to make the opera’s famous bacchanale into the opera’s highpoint, which it often is, as the orchestra led by John Fiore, suddenly went flat-footed after a 90-odd minutes of rich, luxuriant, accompaniment. Peter Kazaras’ direction rightly had the focus on Bridges whenever possible.

The net result is a production of Samson and Delilah that’s far more interesting and worthwhile than the opera actually merits, mostly because of Bridges’ truly amazing performance.

Photos by Scott Suchman.