Waiting in the Wings, Part 2
Surely the great star of the operatic acting profession must be Adriana Lecouvreur, who in Cilea's eponymous 1902 work is drawn from a genuine historical figure, an actress at the Comédie-Français of the early 1700s. Offering a wonderful role for a seasoned soprano –- like Clairon, this is certainly not a role for an ingenue -– the opera makes an interesting study of the differences between the illusions of the stage and the delusions of those who would deceive.
Adriana is in love with Maurizio, whom she believes is only an employee of the Count of Saxony. He is, of course, the Count himself, a man who wishes to keep this affair under wraps because he needs the help of the Princess of Bouillon –- a former conquest, and jealous woman –- to advance his career. Contrasting with this is Adriana's own rivalry with a fellow actress, Mlle. Duclos, with whom she has the misfortune to be performing in the same show, Corneille's classic drama, Bajazet. The Princess's husband happens to be Mlle. Duclos's lover –- and so we have something of a ménage à cinq among our leading players on- and offstage.
When Adriana, invited to a fête where she hopes to meet Maurizio, learns his aristocratic identity...and the Princess realizes the nature of Maurizio's new relationship, verbal daggers are drawn. Called upon to perform for the royal party-goers, Adriana pointedly chooses a scene from Racine's Phedre, in which she as good as denounces the Princess before all for her unfaithfulness to the Prince. Although, if anything, it is Maurizio who should be faulted (and let's not forget about the Prince's dalliance with Mlle. Duclos, which apparently goes unpunished), we all know what can erupt when a woman has been scorned...and it is Adriana who pays for her blatant honesty amidst everyone else swept up in role-playing. She dies when the Princess has a bouquet of poisoned violets delivered to her dressing room, labeled as being from the Count.
In a subplot, Adriana has had the unrequited devotion of her troupe's stage director, who has even used his own money (an inheritance) to buy back the jewelry the actress, far from living royally despite her fame, has sold to pay for everyday expenses. (In Part 1 of this article, we encountered another underappreciated colleague in the form of Philine's fellow-actor, Laertes. If there is a moral to be had from such plots, it would be to take one's colleagues' opinions more seriously, non?)
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