Timothy Mix (Ford) in the Jealousy Aria, Falstaff, Washington National Opera (photo by Karin Cooper)

On Saturday night, Washington National Opera opened the second production of its downsized fall season, Verdi’s Falstaff. The regrettable postponement of the company’s American Ring Cycle led to a hasty but resourceful reconfiguration of this year’s programming, quickly putting together a group of operas that could allow the company and the singers to honor their existing contracts. On one hand, these circumstances caused WNO to return to this masterpiece — Verdi’s last and perhaps greatest opera — for the first time in over a quarter-century. On the other, it is lamentable to hear it performed in a musically uninspired way, with this magnificent score generally outclassing a cast that was vocally adequate at best.

Alan Opie was drafted on short notice to replace Gordon Hawkins in the title role, who had originally been picked as Ford. Opie won high praise for the role a decade ago, but although he remained humorous enough in his acting, his voice has faded. (Just for comparison, the WNO’s last Falstaff, in 1982, featured none other than Thomas Stewart as the fat knight.) Young soprano Tamara Wilson got the job done as Alice Ford, but did not soar when she needed to soar. Elizabeth Bishop was similarly pale as Meg Page, making Nancy Maultsby‘s Quickly the best part of the wives’ quartet. Robin Leggate was clear and cutting as Dr. Caius, and Russian bass and former Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Grigory Soloviov stood out for a robust sound as Pistola on the male side.

As Ford, Timothy Mix acted well but did not have the needed snarl for most of the character’s jealous rages, except for the Jealousy Aria, when he was placed at the very front of the stage, with a scrim positioning an enormous pair of horns on his head (image shown above). JiYoung Lee, who has had some success in the roles given her by WNO since her apprenticeship there, was a disappointment as Nannetta, an overactive vibrato souring flat on the part’s angelic high notes. As Fenton, former Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Yingxi Zhang was more on the mark, singing with the same sweet ping he had as Pong in last season’s Turandot.