Music Reviews : Nova Thomas as Violetta in Costa Mesa’s ‘La Traviata’

Soprano Nova Thomas made a striking Adalgisa opposite the Norma of Joan Sutherland last season, but failed to make a memorable Violetta in Opera Pacific’s production of Verdi’s “La Traviata” Friday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa.

The second soprano brought in on short notice to replace the originally announced Stephanie Friede (who withdrew, officially, because of health reasons), Thomas had previously sung the role only in a single performance in June at the Saratoga Festival.

That may account for her stiff acting and undeveloped portrayal of the character. (She was, for instance, less a high-class courtesan than a misplaced waif who needed protection in such society.)

Still, she knew enough, or had the good sense, to reject stage director Bernard Uzan’s humiliating novelty of Violetta’s smearing her face with makeup during her heartbreaking farewell to life (“Addio, del passato”).

Vocally, however, she seemed fixated on producing unvarying beauty of tone--which she could produce in ample measure. But it was at the cost of clear enunciation and a full range of emotional expressivity. It also frequently required stretching out tempos and thus slackening dramatic tension and deadening musical impulses.