Metropolitan Opera – Bellini’s La Sonnambula. March 14, 2014.

Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center.  Balcony (Seat B4, $87.50.)

Story.  See previous post.

Conductor – Marco Armiliato.  Amina – Diana Damrau, Elvino – Javier Camerena, Lisa – Rachelle Durkin, Alessio – Jordan Bisch, Teresa – Elisabeth Bishop, Count Rodolfo – Michele Pertusi.

I saw this opera several years back in Australia.  Other than finding it quite enjoyable, I don’t remember much else about it.  I bought tickets to this show because I had to return one ticket (Prince Igor) and decided to get two tickets for this opera – the Met’s rather liberal ticket exchange policy ends up generating more revenue for itself.

There is not much to the story, which is billed as semi-serious.  For most people this is a comedy with some drama thrown in.  On the other hand, the music is great, and the two lead singers were simply superb.

First, some remarks about the staging.  The setting as written by Bellini is Switzerland.  That is what I saw in Sydney.  The sets were not particularly impressive there, and quite dim as – I guess – sleepwalking is often done at night.  Here the producer Mary Zimmerman decides to mix things up a little bit.  What we have is the rehearsal of the cast inside a studio, and some deliberate confusion of what is real-life and what is being rehearsed.   I don’t know if it is possible to distinguish the two aspects, and I decided not to try after reading the synopsis.

What is left then?  The music.  And that is worth the price of admission.  The undisputed star in this is, of course, Damrau.  The last time I heard her was as Violetta in La Traviata, and I thoroughly enjoyed her performance.  I was equally impressed with this performance.  I don’t know how difficult Bellini’s music is for a vocalist, but I know she handled it with ease.  She is one of those whose soft singing can rise effortlessly to all corners of the auditorium.  I must say she does the comedic acting better than the dramatic ones, and at 42 may have some trouble passing herself off as a young woman.  But she managed a couple of full somersaults at the end that really wowed the audience.

The Mexican tenor Camerena started his professional career in 2004, and debuted at the Met in 2011.  This was the first time we heard him, and we were duly impressed.  His voice is beautiful and strong, and he matched Damrau every step of the way.

Rachelle Durkin as Lisa drew a mixed review from Anne.  I thought she acquitted herself quite well.  As someone who is in love with Elvino she shows the appropriate amount of jealousy towards Amina.  Her voice is generally pleasant, although her high registers can sound a bit harsh.  One effect (not sure it is intended or not) is Lisa comes across sometimes as jealous of Amina for Elvino’s love, and sometimes of Amina’s leading role.

Bernard Fitch singing role of Rodolfo did a good job.  I wish that character is developed a bit more in the story.  You go away knowing there is more to the character, but are left with filling in the blanks yourself.

Elizabeth Bishop as Amina’s mother Teresa didn’t have a heavy singing role.  I had seen her as Fricka in Das Rheingold (substituting for Stephanie Blythe) and Mother Marie in Dialogues des Carmelites; she did well in both.

The choreography is cleverly designed.  At the end the chorus came out dressed in Swiss (German?) garb to celebrate the happy ending.  A whole set of wardrobe used only for a few minutes, a bit of a waste.

I found a New York Times review of the opera dated back to the debut of the current production in 2009.  The cast is different, but the set is the same.  The reviewer doesn’t think much of the production either, opining that Zimmerman has not worked out the details of her concept.

After finishing this writeup, I went back to look at my review of the Sydney performance.  I called it "adequate."  So there is a huge difference between the two houses, after all.

A couple of additional points.  One is that Bellini died at the young age of 33.  The other is that what we saw was the first performance of the season; I am a bit surprised the number of empty seats in the auditorium.

Anne has been staying in Jersey City helping out during the week, so I stopped by at around 4:30 pm, had something to eat, and then we drove to Lincoln Center together.  I was pleasantly surprised that traffic wasn’t bad, and that I found off-street parking on Amsterdam.   The trip back to South Amboy was quite straightforward also.