start relationships with
pure love, how would we set
about doing that? And if you
could start with pure love, is
that love enough to survive
in what is a really polarized
world, a really judgmental
world and a really detached
world?
“When you think about
all of the devices that are
supposed to connect us,
they have ended up disen-
gaging us from other people.
People who are looking for
love with devices and dating
apps oftentimes feel like
they’re disposable, that
people are judging them
based on a first impression.
Like, it’s their surface-level
experience. And so thinking
about, ‘How do we do the
opposite? How do we make
it a deep experience? How
do we start with love?’ And
that’s where the idea of
talking, just talking without
any distractions, came
from, and in an environment
that’s very intimate and
comfortable, which are the
pods.”
If the show aims to tackle
whether love is blind, why
not cast a truly diverse
group of people?
Some viewers have won-
dered why the series doesn’t
feature a wider range of
sizes, ethnicities and types
of singles.
“The show is not a
gotcha show — we didn’t
plan the show thinking,
‘How can we throw people
curveballs?’ ” Coelen says.
“The goal in casting was,
let’s find people, regardless
of what they look like. We
didn’t cast people because
of how they looked; we cast
people who genuinely
seemed interested in trying
to find love in a different way
and who liked this ap-
proach.
And some of those peo-
ple are more, I guess, ‘con-
ventionally attractive,’
whatever that means. And
some people were less con-
ventionally attractive, and
ultimately we were only able
to follow so many stories. ...
We didn’t pick people for
how they looked, we picked
people for the authenticity
of what they expressed as a
desire, and then within the
group of people who got
engaged we ended up sort
of, at random, picking the
stories that we ended up
wanting to follow. Because
we couldn’t follow all of the
stories.”Why such a short timeline
from pod to wedding bells?
We’ve all heard lovestories of couples who’ve
gotten married within a day,
a week or a few weeks of
meeting — and had lasting
marriages — and some of us
swoon over that version of
intense love. And then there
are those who might think
heading down the aisle after
a little over a month of
“dating” feels more like a
horror story than a love
story.
But it works with this
premise, Coelen says.
“We felt like, if things
went well, that these people
would feel as if they knew
each other better than they
knew any person in their life
ever. They didn’t have to get
engaged. They wouldn’t
have chosen to get engaged
unless they felt like it was
completely up to them ...
Everybody knew going in
that this is what it was going
to be.We felt like the experi-
ment was, if you start with
that depth of feeling, that a
month felt like the right
period of time to allow the
couples to try to turn their
emotional connection into a
physical one, and to naviga-
te some of the obstacles that
the real world might throw
at them. Whether that be
family or friends or circum-
stance or whatever. I think
that if you’ve seen the whole
series, I think it’s evident in
the finale that actually, that
time frame really works.”What’s the deal with Rory?
Rory. Rory. Rory. He’s
the contestant that has
some viewers wondering if
he’s actually really there to
offer emotional support to
the other lovelorn guys. But
if you thought love wasn’t
blind enough for him, you’re
wrong: Rory Newbrough gotengaged! (And then, well, he
got unengaged.)
“He got engaged to a
woman named Danielle
[Drouin], from the show,”
Coelen says. “They were
both in the facility, and they
got engaged. Danielle was
someone that there were
lots of people who were
interested in her, and there
was a guy named Matt
[Thomas] who is really only
seen early on in the show —
he’s actually the first guy
that you see in the show
that’s asked about why he’s
participating. Both of those
guys were interested in her.
She ended up deciding that
she wanted to spend her life
with Rory, and they got
engaged. I know they took a
trip or two together and
they tried to build a life
together. They ended up
breaking up and then she
started dating Matt.”What are the hurdles of
love outside the bubble?
The newly released
batch of episodes find the
couples back to real life, and
it leads to some discussions
on relationship hurdles of
the past and present, like
finances and social-media
usage.
“You look at the things
that tear you apart and the
things that present obsta-
cles to people,” Coelen says.
“Your financial situation, orhow you handle your fi-
nances, are certainly one of
those things. It’s one thing
to be in love and to feel like
you are bonded to someone.
It’s another thing to then
put that love into the real
world, into practice. I
thought that it was fascinat-
ing to look at how Gigi and
Damien sort of handled
their time on social media
and what that was, an im-
pediment or not. Obviously
the idea of age differences or
racial differences also come
into play. ... It’s about judg-
ment from the world or
judgment that you place
upon yourself.”Did those who got married
actually get a marriage
license?
“Yes, it’s legal,” Coelen
says.What’s up with the hosts’
limited screen time?
Husband-and-wife duo
Nick and Vanessa Lachey
have been hitting the publi-
city circuit for “Love Is
Blind” as hosts of the series.
But viewers of the show will
notice the pair don’t have
much screen time as the
series continues — a topic
that Vulture explored in
detail, noting the couple
appear for 13 minutes total
throughout the run of the
series.
“I thought they did a
great job, and I thought
they were terrific. They
couldn’t have been better to
work with,” Coelen says.
“The truth is, we had so
much story to tell. At the
end of the day, it’s not really
Nick and Vanessa’s story
that anyone cares about. It’s
really about the stories of
these participants.”E4 MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2020 LATIMES.COM/CALENDAR
tions, which he denied. A
less starry replacement was
found for him, a rising
Hawaiian baritone, Quinn
Kelsey.
But this production had
always seemed a little curi-
ous in having Domingo as
its selling point. The portrait
of Elizabeth — a ferociously
powerful queen at the end
of her reign whose downfall
is jealousy — is the essence
of the opera.
Although there is effec-
tive musical characteriza-
tion for the rest of
the cast, none matters ex-
cept in relationship to Eliza-
beth and how everyone else
feeds into her self-destruc-
tion. The role is like some old
Hollywood vehicle for an
over-the-top star.
There have been few
modern Elizabeths. Today,
Sondra Radvanovsky owns
the role. Four years ago,
the Metropolitan Opera cre-
ated its gripping David
McVicar production around
her. L.A. Opera decided to
take a chance on a young
Spanish soprano, Davinia
Rodríguez, for its produc-
tion, a well-traveled one by
Steven Lawless.
Last week, the company
announced that illness had
forced Rodríguez to with-
draw at the last minute. Im-
pressively, Angela Meade, an
American soprano who has
what may be the best voice
to become the next great
Elizabeth, jumped aboard
with next to no time to pre-
pare. She had by coinci-
dence just eight days earlier
been starring in Bellini’s
“Norma” at Teatro di San
Carlo, the very house in
Naples, Italy, where “Deve-
reux” had its cholera-scare
premiere.
It also turns out that 11
years ago, Meade, then an
emerging soprano, had sung
Elizabeth in Lawless’ then-
new production at Dallas
Opera, in an alternate cast
for performances at schools.
Now, as one of the finest
bel canto voices, she will
star in the Met’s revival of
its “Devereux” production
in the fall.
Meade arrived in L.A. on
Tuesday, and with little time
to prepare, she sang Sat-
urday standing at the side
of the stage at a music stand
with a score. The produc-
tion’s choreographer, Ni-
cola Bowie, acted the role
onstage.
This meant there was
some exceptionally fine
singing. Meade’s voice has
lustrous body and brilliant
volume. There is dark rich-
ness that holds the potential
for exceptional expressivity
when that weight of sound
is moved with graceful ease.
But at this point, the so-
prano sounded as though
still reading the notes, how-
ever impressively and pow-erfully. Meanwhile, Bowie
flitted onstage, more like
a visage of Elizabeth than
the actual queen. The other
flesh-and-blood (well, some-
what) characters seemed to
be fighting their natural
instinct to address the sing-
er in the wings.
There may have been
no other option. The curse
of “Devereux” persists, al-
though the Los Angeles Phil-
harmonic did demonstrate a
week earlier how it is not
only possible but also dra-
matically arresting to divide
a role between dancer and
singer in its production of
Kurt Weill’s “The Seven
Deadly Sins.”
A bit of theatrical
chance-taking might have
been interesting. This,though, is not much of a
theatrical chance-taking
production. Set as though
a Shakespearean play in
the Old Globe — this is the
Elizabethan era after all —
it begins with a pantomime
during the overture in which
the Bard himself pops up
and does a skit from “A Mid-
summer Night’s Dream.”
Though there is a hint of
modernization and attitude,
the production is essentially
more a contrived setting
dependent on the singers to
make it live.
The plot sort of goes like
this: Devereux was the lover
of Elizabeth but is now the
lover of Sara, who had been
the queen’s best friend. The
queen, not knowing that
Sara and Devereux were se-
cretly in love, forced Sara to
marry Nottingham. Notting-
ham was Devereux’s best
friend until he found out
about Sara.
Devereux is sentenced to
death for treason; the queen
might have saved him had
Sara gotten a ring that Eliza-
beth had given to Devereux,
but Nottingham stopped
her, and so on. It doesn’t end
well for anyone.
The one great advantage
of Benoit Dugardyn’s Old
Globe set is that it serves
as an acoustic shell doing
wonders for the Chandler’s
acoustics. Those wonders
meant that Ramón Vargas’
sturdy Devereux had ten-orial ping. Ashley Dixon,
a young mezzo-soprano
worth paying attention to,
brought an excellent fluidity
to Sara. Kelsey proved an
Othello-scary Nottingham,
apt enough for the Old
Globe.
The other news of the
night was conductor Eun
Sun Kim, who recently was
appointed music director of
San Francisco Opera. She
made the orchestra standout as though there were a
resonator of some sort in
the pit. I’m not sure how she
did it, but it was effective.
Meade is expected to
take the stage Thursday for
the second performance,
and we’ll know more then,
although various cast and
conductor changes come
later in the run.
Don’t forget “Roberto
Devereux” has overcome its
jinx more than once.‘Roberto
Devereux’
by L.A. OperaWhere: Dorothy Chandler
Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave.,
Los Angeles
When:7:30 p.m. Thursday,
March 5 and 14; 2 p.m.
Sunday and March 14
Tickets: $74-$374 (subject
to change)
Information:(213)
972-8001 or LAOpera.org
Running time:2 hours,
45 minutes (one
intermission)‘Love Is Blind’
Where: Netflix
When: Any time
Rated: TV-MA (may be
unsuitable for children
under age 17)THE ‘LOVE IS BLIND’dating show on Netflix uses these isolating pods to allow prospective couples to get to know each other before actually meeting face to face.
Photographs by NetflixCan pod dates bloom into ‘Love’?
ON THE unscripted program, couples that click can end up getting engaged.[‘Love,’ from E1]
RAMÓN VARGASplays the title role in the L.A.
Opera production of Donizetti’s “Roberto Devereux.”Cory Weaver‘Devereux’ jinx in L.A.?
[Opera,from E1]