Pop Weekend : MUSIC REVIEW : Thomas Takes a Turn as Violetta

COSTA MESA — 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.

Thomas was the second of two sopranos brought in on short notice to replace the originally announced Stephanie Friede, who withdrew, officially, because of health reasons. She had previously sung the role only once, 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.

Opposite Thomas were Rico Serbo as Alfredo and Andreas Poulimenos as Germont; Mark Flint again conducted. All were previously reviewed.