Metropolitan Opera – Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos. February 4, 2010.

Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center – Dress Circle Seat D106 ($97.50).

Story. This opera has a very interesting structure, a prolog and an opera in one act. The prolog is comic. The richest man in Vienna engages an opera company and a comedy troupe to perform at his house. He eventually changes his mind and wants the abridged versions of the performances performed together so he can start the fireworks celebration in time. This gets both companies upset, with everyone suggesting the others’ parts be cut. The opera is mostly serious, with a bit of comedy thrown in. Ariadne is abandoned by her long-time lover Theseus on an island, and wishes for Hermes the god of death. Instead another god Bacchus shows up in a ship. Ariadne first thinks he is Hermes, then Theseus, and finally realizes he is someone else. After some soul-searching, she joins Bacchus and ascends to heaven. During Ariadne’s internal struggle, Zerbinetta from the comedy troupe shows up and tells her she should move on.

Conductor – Kirill Petrenko; The Composer – Sarah Connolly, Bacchus/The Tenor – Michael Hendrick, Zerbinetta – Kathleen Kim, Ariadne/The Prima Donna – Nina Stemme.

Last week (I am writing this on Sunday) was restaurant week in New York. We booked ourselves into Ed’s Chowder House in the Empire Hotel across from Lincoln Center. At $35 per person for a 3-course meal it sounded like a bargain. Anne had the cod cakes, risotto, and apple crumbs; I had the clam chowder soup, skate, and apple crumbs. With a bottle of sparkling water and one decaf coffee total bill came to about $90, before gratuities. Not a bad meal – and we were full – but these limited menu items tend not to be the most exciting offerings from the restaurant; we are not tempted to go back and pay (say) $60 per person for a regular meal. We were in the back room with two other large parties, and it got quite noisy even though they were all women (except for one lucky/unlucky guy). Another couple asked to be reseated which the restaurant was happy to oblige. The service actually was quite good.

Back to the opera. In theory the structure of talking about how operas are put out and description of behind-the-scenes action can result in an interesting experience for the audience. I am not sure this worked out very well, though. The story of Ariadne itself is quite serious, but the fact that we know it is just a show detracts from one’s emotional involvement; unfortunately you don’t think you should laugh either, so you sit there just trying to enjoy the music.

The set for the prolog is quite interesting, the lower half is where the actors and singers go about their business of chatting and arguing, the upper left quadrant is a staircase of the castle, and the upper right quadrant is the stage at the castle, looking into the audience. So you get to set the actors from the back and realize instead of being on stilts, the actor is actually standing on a platform. This helps explain how the three women singers move around on stage. The set for the opera itself is relatively simple, although by raising and lowering different curtains it produces a very pleasing effect.

Both Ariadne and Zerbinetta sang very well. They both have long and challenges passages in the opera, and both got well-deserved applauses from the audience (usually not done with German operas.) Ariadne has a more mature voice. Kathleen Kim looks to be quite young. She had her Met debut in 2007, and for this season is playing three rather important roles (this, Papagena in The Magic Flute, and Olympia in The Tales of Hoffman. Must be one of the upcoming superstars. The tenor originally scheduled to sing the role of Bacchus was sick, and his substitute had a cold but tried to perform nonetheless. It was a painful sight to see him struggle with the higher notes. Perhaps we can’t fault anyone for this happening, but it is still a pity. The role of the young composer was sung by a woman, which confuses me to no end.

There was a sex scene that was a bit crude and I’m sure made many in the audience uncomfortable. And I am not sure the opera needs it. Many people sitting close to us were looking into the box area where members of the Opera Guild sit. These are all people who contribute substantially to the Met and they make sure people know that by dressing in tuxedos and fancy dresses. There was a lady that everyone was sure had a lot of plastic surgery, and she wore a dress with a wide sash that had to be pinned to her bottom. I am sure she’s glad all her surgery expenses are paying off, at least as far as being noticed goes. Good thing an opera crowd never gets too mean.

I have seen three Strauss operas (Capriccio and Helen of Egypt are the other two) and fail to see heads or tails with any of them. There are always some better known ones that I should see so I will appreciate Strauss as an opera composer. These would be Salome, Der Rosenkavalier, and Die Frau ohne Schatten. Well, I’m not so sure I’ll ever get to that point …

Oh, falling asleep during the show didn’t help either. I woke up early that day, and had a relatively heavy dinner. At least I didn’t snore like the lady next to me. This was one of the least attended Met performances I have been to, both sides of the dress circle were not occupied. We didn’t see them trying to sell half price tickets, though.

The New York Times reviewer saw the same performance. He says Hendrick is an experience Bacchus, so it is really too bad he had the cold. And the reviewer is quite forgiving and is particularly impressed with Stemme's singing. Nonetheless, his overall grade for the opera is about the same as mine.