Medea has shocked and unsettled audiences across millennia, stretching back to and beyond the 431 B.C. tragedy by Greek playwright Euripides. In its most famous operatic adaptation, Medea continues to disturb in a thrilling Lyric Opera of Chicago premiere that adds visual details to uncomfortably tie this ancient Greek tragedy very much to the here and now.
Italian composer Luigi Cherubini’s opera Medea premiered in 1797 in Paris amid the chaotic end of the French Revolution before Napoleon came to power. Originally performed in French with interspersed spoken dialogue, Medea is now mostly seen in a 1953 Italian translation by Carlo Zangarini (based upon a sung-through 1855 German version by Franz Lachner) that put the opera back on the map thanks to legendary performances by the Greek-American soprano Maria Callas.
It’s received wisdom that you don’t stage Medea unless you a have a soprano who can handle the herculean vocal and dramatic demands of the title role. But the Lyric certainly has that in spades with soprano and Berwyn native Sondra Radvanovsky. She has previously triumphed in Medea in this shared 2022 co-production with the Metropolitan Opera in New York and in 2024 with the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto.
Radvanovsky impressively writhes around the stage like a snake as she delivers a performance wallowing in despair and riven with rage. The sorceress Medea has been betrayed by her husband, Giasone (Jason of the Argonauts fame), who plans to abandon her and their two sons in favor of marrying into the Greek royal family of Corinth.
Medea makes last-ditch attempts to get Giasone to return to her, dredging up their past love and reminding him of her devious efforts to help him steal the Golden Fleece from her native land of Colchis. But now facing a forced banishment, Medea is torn as she weighs the consequences of committing infanticide as the ultimate revenge.
Radvanovsky delivers a shattering performance that is buttressed by a strong supporting cast.
Tenor and Evanston native Matthew Polenzani returns as Giasone, having previously played the unfaithful adventurer opposite Radvanovsky’s Medea in New York and Toronto. Despite their characters’ obvious hatred toward each other, Polenzani and Radvanovsky once again make for a musically simpatico pairing as adversarial ex-lovers.
As the Corinthian princess Glauce who is set to marry Giasone, Cuban-American Elena Villalón shares a lovely soprano voice as her character alternately puts her faith in the gods of love while also delving into terrifying premonitions of her future.
Louisiana native Alfred Walker bring a solid and stentorian quality to his powerful bass-baritone voice as King Creonte. He unflinchingly menaces Medea while supporting Giasone’s plans of political advancement.
Also much worthy of mention is Chicago native and mezzo-soprano Zoie Reams as Medea’s faithful servant Neris, a role she previously triumphed in Toronto. Reams delivers plenty of dramatic aplomb to both Neris’ big aria of devotion and frightful exchanges of discovering Medea’s murderous motives.
Lyric music director Enrique Mazzola conducts the Lyric Opera Orchestra in a fleet and propulsive performance of Medea, despite the sometimes-tangential plot meanderings of this much-tinkered-with opera. The Lyric Opera Chorus under the direction of Michael Black also provide great dramatic and aural support.
Scottish director and set designer Sir David McVicar has returned to the Lyric stage his co-production of Medea (which is also shared by Greek National Opera in Athens). Perhaps to match the style of Cherubini’s music, McVicar has chosen to update the opera to visually suggest the revived classicism of Napoleonic France.
Staged outside and within a forbidding temple, McVicar adds a compelling visual flourish with a tilted grand mirror that recalls the Palace of Versailles while also giving the audience a god’s-eye overhead view of the fraught proceedings. The horror is also enhanced by the stormy and fiery doom-and-gloom projection designs of S. Katy Tucker along with the eery lighting designs of Paule Constable (recreated for the Lyric by Clare O’Donoghue and Chris Maravich).
Despite all the elegant empire fashions created by costume designer Doey Lüthi, a sense of moral decay also exists. Look closely for plenty of visual spatters across the fabrics amid select white-fright facial makeup applied to members of the ensemble. Its also fun to see the Argonauts re-imagined and dressed as a band of rambunctious pirates.
With his revival of Medea, McVicar is also clearly commenting upon what is happening now in Chicago with a simple, but telling costume addition. In a scene when Creonte menaces the foreign-born Medea with physical violence and an impending deportation, several of his troops now wear facial masks to parallel the federal forces in town who are disappearing anyone who looks like an immigrant to them.
It may not be much, but this added visual detail for Medea makes this centuries-old opera feel unfortunately timely for Chicago today. Cherubini’s Medea historically emerged in very turbulent times, so it’s only fitting that the opera is having such an electrifying and unsettling debut at the Lyric now.
The Lyric Opera of Chicago premiere of Cherubini’s Medea continues through Oct. 26 at the Lyric Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive. Sung in Italian with projected English translations. Remaining performances are at 7 p.m. Oct. 14, 17 and 20, with 2 p.m. matinees Oct. 23 and 26. Tickets are $47-$404. Call 312-827-5600 or visit LyricOpera.org/medea.