Metropolitan
Opera at Lincoln Center. Orchestra (Seat
O32, $25).
Story. Cyrano is a poet and a
swashbuckler with a huge nose. He is
secretly in love with his cousin Roxane.
Roxane is attracted to the new recruit Christian. Both express their desire to Cyrano and ask
him to be their go-between. Christian is
bad at expressing his love and asks Cyrano for help. Count de Guiche, another of Roxane’s suitors,
sends the soldiers to war. Christian has Cyrano write letters to Roxane – whom he
has married – during the deployment.
Roxane visits Christian and tells him she has been moved by the letters,
and says she would still marry him even if he were ugly. Christian is killed in the siege of Arras and
his last letter to Roxanne is discovered on his body. Fifteen years have passed, Roxane now lives
in a convent, and Cyrano visits regularly.
One day he arrives wounded by an unknown enemy, and asks to read
Christian’s final letter. Roxane
realizes that Cyrano has been the one writing the letters she love. Cyrano dies in her arms.
Conductor –
Marco Armiliato. Christian – Atalla Ayan,
Cyrano – Roberto Alagna, Roxane – Jennifer Rowley, de Guiche – Juan Jesus
Rodriguez.
If the story
sounds very familiar, it is because the movie “Roxanne,” starring Steve Martin
and Darryl Hannah, is also based on the play by Edmond Rostand. I don’t remember seeing the entire movie, but
vaguely remember it has a good ending – no one dies.
Marco Alfano is
best known as the composer who completed Puccini’s Turandot when Puccini’s
death in 1924 left the opera’s third act unfinished. Cyrano was composed more than 10 years later,
and I certainly wouldn’t be able to make the connection between the two
works. Cyrano was premiered in Italian,
today we heard the French version, as Alfano originally intended.
The Playbill
characterizes the opera as “tragicomedy.”
In my opinion, the first two acts – mostly about unrequited and mistaken
love interests, work mostly as comedy, and the second two acts – battle scenes
and death – are in the tragedy column. I
recall some light-hearted moments. The
scene where Roxane asks to meet with Cyrano and tells about her love for
someone, he initially thinks it is him, only to realize she is talking about
someone else; it was done in a comedic manner.
The scene with Roxane in the balcony and Christian expressing his love,
with Cyrano providing the prompts initially and eventually taking over, is also
funny. Acts 3 and 4 are basically sad,
with the exception of Roxane describing how she charmed her way to the battle
front.
The sets are
quite cleverly designed: moderately complex, realistic, and effective. They were first used in 2005 when the opera
first appeared at the Met. The various
scenes depicted are: town square, bakery, house with balcony, battle scene at
Arras, and convent. There were shorts
pauses between Acts so the sets could be switched. Tonight’s was the tenth performance by the
Met, ever.
The music does
not sound as modern as one would think.
One comparison is with Lulu, which was composed at around the same time. While there are really no memorable melodies,
the lines were smooth, the harmony close to traditional. I couldn’t tell if it was more French or Italian. Also, my seat was off to the right side, so a
lot of the orchestra music sounded a bit muddled. The principal singers all did well, and there
are a few memorable arias that both showcased their technical prowess and their
emotional range. The chorus was
well-prepared for the choral numbers.
The New York
Times has a background article on the opera, and a mostly positive review of
the first performance (same one I saw.)
It turns out Rowley was an understudy for the role, but got this
breakthrough chance because Patricia Racette withdrew due to illness.
Jennifer Rowley sang the role of Roxane.
I took the train
in, and it was about 12:30 am that I got home.
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