Béla Bartók’s intense, atmospheric one-act Bluebeard’s Castle returns to the COC this spring full of tonal dissonance, all-time-great lighting design, and, of course, the horrors. Béla Baláz’s libretto (based on a French folk tale) is dark as pitch, a cautionary tale where the red flags start in the first minute (dude is insecure about the size of his castle; that’s never promising). Robert Lepage (original) & François Racine (revival)’s direction leans into the internal conflict in Karen Cargill’s leading lady Judith as she slowly unlocks terrifying realities punctuated by convenient temptations. Upon discovering a torture chamber, Judith nestles into Bluebeard’s arms as though he can protect her from himself. It’s either next level psychological insight or counterintuitive physical direction as an afterthought to the challenging score.

Paired with Bluebeard in a brutally dramatic double bill, Erwartung creatively uses the same stage structure as the earlier piece but delivers a completely different visual feast full of surprises and delights. Soprano Anna Gabler is unfortunately a bit drowned out by the zealous orchestra delivering Arnold Schoenberg’s discordant grandiosity. Fans of the opera’s trademark opulent visuals and dark musicality will eat up this short, impactful piece with a similarly dark but distinctly more modern impact than Bluebeard.

The COC’s counter programming to their dark double bill is Jules Massenet’s romantic full length piece Werther. A fairly standard opera story, Werther tells the age old tale of a lady who can’t marry the guy she wants and instead marries another guy and someone ends up dead. Not exactly a light contrast to the intensity of the double bill, the music’s soaring accessible beauty and the design’s flimsy dreariness nevertheless make them total opposites. COC star couple Simone Osborne and Gordon Bintner offer bright eyed supporting performances while the technically solid leads sound great but suffer with mechanical blocking and a brutal lack of chemistry. Not one destined to be remembered but easy enough to enjoy, Werther is standard opera fare delivered decently but not particularly elevated by the capable company.