At ‘La Sonnambula' - ‘Twas I Who Slept (But Didn't Walk - and Should've)
Mar 22 '09
The Bottom Line Despite excellent singing overall, the play-within-a-play, grubby, realistic cynical postmodernist silliness does nothing for Bellini's lightweight excuse for bel canto singing and fireworks.
Unless you like time-wasting, post-modernist rubbish infecting the opera stage, I wouldn't recommend you see this at all.
Yesterday's Live High-Definition broadcast of the New York Metropolitan Opera's new production of Vincenzo Bellini's ‘La Sonnambula' was a real bust. We just thanked goodness for the excellent singing cast of star Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez as the put-upon, simple-minded male lead, Elvino, who did his usual power-vocalisations that remind me of blaring trumpets (he can easily outsing orchestra and full-bodied chorus), and tireless and agile French soprano Natalie Dessay as the sleepwalking Amina, wrongly accused of infidelity by fiancé Elvino, thanks to a curious sleep pathology - somnambulism! Both gave it their all, doing what they could with their respective parts. As Count Rodolfo, Italian bass-baritone Michele Pertusi bore down into those low notes with ease. Also most pleasing was Jane Bunnell's liquid mezzo singing as Teresa. Least satisfying was Jennifer Black's vocalizations for Lisa, Amina's rival for the attentions of Elvino - she seemed to have difficulty pinning down the exact notes, wobbling a bit too much.
And then there's the utter silliness of the plot, such as it is, which was a mere excuse to string together vocal pieces that are lovely to hear and pose many virtuosic challenges. I'm not a huge bel canto fan, and the fireworks and beauty of the music existing for their own sake really fail to do it for me (no need for a full-scale opera - concert arias will do), so take my comments here with a grain of salt.
However, I could have been fairly happy with a straightforward interpretation of the simple story. What made it such an unusually dissatisfying afternoon at the virtual opera was theatre director Mary Zimmerman's decision to set the story in a contemporary rehearsal studio, with the cast and chorus merely practicing their songs and moves for the real production, wherever that may be. This play-within-a-play adopts a cynical view of a work that only serves to alienate the audience from the material. What is the listener/viewer to make of these creatures moving and making noises on the stage? The added layer of artifice that comes with the ‘rehearsal' concept leaves us, the audience, not caring about anyone or anything, since it's all really make-believe from the start. How much more unattractive and uninspiring can you make a thin plot by setting it in an ugly, grubby downtown rehearsal studio - the gritty reality of the sets makes a further mockery of the sweet and lightweight story. What was up with the chorus ripping to shreds the sheet music and tossing costumes all about the stage in some kind of rage as Elvino decries the alleged betrayal by Amina? They all looked the world like little children throwing a mass temper tantrum. How appropriate and enlightening and delightful for Bellini! (insert sarcasm here.) This was only one of the many bits of ridiculousness imposed upon the viewer – not to mention the incongruity of the vital plot element – a bed – being present in a rehearsal studio – and this was Count Rodolfo’s room at the inn? What sheer nonsense.
Was it conceived thus to save on costume expenses? Hardly so, since the final scene has the singers, chorus and dancers all dressed in Tyrolean attire. Was it an attempt to be hip and shake up the fairly conservative New York opera audience by imposing those dreadful Regietheater concepts so enamoured of the European (especially German and Austrian) directors upon them? Really haven't the foggiest why this got a go-signal from the higher-ups, but seems like Ms Zimmerman just wanted things to be ‘different' just for the sake of it. These witless, humour- and wit-free innovations rarely ever gel to good effect even in Germany and Austria (recall the many sins foisted upon the Salzburg 'Mozart22' festivalgoers a couple of years ago), and while Ms Zimmerman's concepts never attain the heights (or depths) of provocative outrageousness typical of those productions, perhaps the worse sin committed here is that of unrelenting dullness. I dozed off a few times in both acts, and mostly just listened to the singing, ignoring the meaningless onstage business, and at least I got to spend some minutes engaged in more pleasurable (non-)activity.
Given such a disrespectful treatment of the opera, methinks Ms Zimmerman secretly harbours a deep contempt of the material. Oh, gawd, where's the brilliant yet sane David McVicar when you need him?
Bottom line? I'd skip this HD broadcast, if I were you. Apparently, my companions and I were not the only ones massively disappointed by this production. I had no idea before now of the general negative reaction towards the production at premiere night, but many news outlets have report ed that the unmistakable sound of loud booing greeted Ms Zimmerman's curtain calls - which is a highly unusual overt expression of disapproval by a US operatic audience (unlike, say, an Italian one). (On edit: Seems that Ms Dessay shares part of the blame - insisting that the opera be set anywhere else but a Swiss village. Even if she and Ms Zimmerman hardly saw eye-to-eye in last year's staging of 'Lucia de Lammermoor'.)
You could, of course, opt to satisfy your own curiosity by taking in an encore broadcast of the show on Wednesday, April 1, 2009, and find out more info by visiting this page:
http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/broadcast/hd_events_next.aspx
Just don't say you weren't warned.
Finis.
(c) virtuelle2 2009
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