Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center. Balcony (Seat C110, $133).
Conductor: Emmanuel Villaume; Cavaradossi – Vittorio Grigolo,
Tosca – Sonya Yoncheva, Scarpia – Zeljko Lucic.
Program for the Performance.
Story. See
previous posts.
This is a new production credited to David McVicar, headlined
by one of the hottest tenors and sopranos, which in many ways lived up to its
promise.
Having seen this opera several times before, and heard
the well-known arias many times, I have developed a preconceived notion of how
the performance should go. By that
measure the opera was a great success.
The singing by both Yoncheva and Grigolo was superb,
particularly so for Grigolo. Both sang
clearly and acted their roles well (for someone sitting in the balcony, that
is.) Between the two best known arias in
the opera, I must give the nod to Grigolo’s rendition of “E lucenvan le stella”
over Yoncheva’s “Vissi d’arte.” One
major reason was how loud Yoncheva’s volume was. She could have sung the aria several decibels
lower, and would still be clearly heard where I sat. As it was, it was more a scream at god rather
than an expression of helplessness.
Either approach is fine, but I prefer the other. Grigolo built up his performance from a
whisper (a bit of exaggeration) to railing at fate.
Lucic’s voice didn’t come across as well as the main
protagonists, which is understandable given the range of the role. My greatest gripe, however, was he didn’t
come across sinister enough. I still
recall the shock and disgust at the character when I first saw it (a NYC Opera
production, I believe.) For tonight’s
performance, his acting was just not consistent with his words.
The Met has made a great deal out of the new sets, using
the structure in Act 3 in many of their promotional material. I am not sure how big the fuss was. While the cathedral looked grand, replete
with candles burning in the background, I didn’t think the new set is entirely
necessary. Also, the many people walking
along the “street” didn’t add anything to the drama of the story as far as I am
concerned. When the Met was overflowing
with cash (if ever there was such a time,) it might have been okay; given the financial
problems the organization has, I think they could spend the money more productively
somewhere else. A counterargument,
however, is attendance seemed great, from what I could tell. Was the new production a factor?
The new set for Act 3. This is supposed to be the "platform of Castel Sant'Angelo." Not sure if the details are needed, or make any sense.
Act 2 takes place in Scarpia’s residence, with walls around
the stage. It produced an undesirable
effect of drastically different levels of loudness, depending on where the
singers stood. Today’s effects seemed
particularly marked.
The orchestra did a great job. With Puccini a lot of the “music” happens in
the orchestra, so how well it does affects how well the performance goes. The solos and small ensembles did particularly
well. Ceysson, the harpist we saw last
week in Hong Kong, was back in his usual post in the pit.
Curtain Call. Grigolo was exuberant, and ended up sweeping Yoncheva off the stage.
The New York Times review, while heaping praise on many
aspects of the opera, is overall critical in my view. I didn’t know all the principals (Andris
Nelsons, Kristine Opolais, Jonas Kaufmann, and Bryn Terfel) all cancelled; on
the other hand, having heard all these singers before, I didn’t think the
current cast needed to give any apologies.
Traffic was light going in, heavier than expected on the
way back, but quite straightforward both ways.
We had dinner at East Szechuan; it had been a while, and the place seems
to be under new management.
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