Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center. Orchestra (Seat Q16, $25).
Story. The sisters
Fiordiligi and Dorabella are in love with Guglielmo and Ferrando
respectively. The men’s friend Don
Alfonso bets that these women will quickly fall for other people if the opportunity
arises. They place a bet on whether the
women will remain faithful. To do so, the
men pretend they are being called up to the war. The girls are heartbroken, and the maid
Despina is bribed by Alfonso to introduce the disguised men as infatuated
admirers of the two women. While they resist
at first, the women decide there is no harm in amusing themselves, with each
woman picking the other’s finance (in disguise). Dorabella quickly gives in to Guglielmo, and
eventually Fiordiligi falls for Ferrando.
They agree to get married, and as the ceremony proceeds the two men
switch back to themselves. After the
entire plot is reviewed, the lovers are reconciled.
Conductor – Harry Bicket.
Ferrando – Ben Bliss, Guglielmo – Luca Pisaroni, Don Alfonso – Gerald Finley,
Fiordiligi – Nicole Car, Dorabell – Serena Malfi, Despina – Heidi Stober.
Continuo.
Harpsichord – Jonathan C. Kelly, Cello – David Heiss.
I remember seeing this opera a while ago (in 2005, per my
blog entry). What I remembered of it was
mostly neutral, and that it is a comedy trying to have a moral statement that doesn’t
make sense. I decided to grab a rush
ticket for tonight’s performance.
It is a different production. The set reminds one of Coney Island in the
1950s. During the overture, many characters
come out from a box at the front of the stage (think clowns from a VW bug), they
are “sideshow” characters ranging from a bearded woman to a tribal chief – not sure
that’s politically correct nowadays.
With the inclusion of a fire-eater and a couple of sword swallowers, this
set is not for young children. The audience felt the need to applaud, several times, as the characters emerged from the box, making the music in audible; which was too bad.
The basic Coney Island set morphs into a motel and circus
grounds. Walls of the motel rotate so we
can have outside and inside views. The
pleasure garden scene has this gizmo whose function isn’t clear to me a couple
of days after the performance.
It was a good performance, as long as one doesn’t try to
read too much into the story. This is
the third comedy in a row I have seen, and surprising they all work to some
extent.
The final scene of the opera has these three hearts and swans for the wedding ceremony. From left: Don Alfonso, Dorabella, Ferrando, Fiordiligi, Guglielmo and Despina.
From the Met website.
And the singing by all six principals was great. I sat in seat Q6 for the performance
(attendance not good), and the acoustics at the seat helped. We heard Nicole Car on a couple of occasions
as Luisa in Luisa Miller and Marguerite in Faust (Gounod), in Sydney. She began appearing at the Met a couple of
years ago, and if tonight’s performance was any indication, she belongs
here. We have seen Gerald Finley quite a
few times before, both at the Met and as a soloist with New York Phil. I could also find the names Luca Pisaroni and
Heidi Stober in my blog entries.
I just realized that I have seen quite a few Mozart
operas in the past couple of years. Is
it me, or is his opera back in vogue?
My train was supposed to get in at around 6:30 pm, which
would leave me a lot of time for a leisurely meal or a walk to Lincoln
Center. Signaling problems forced our
train to linger around Secaucus Junction for a while, and I barely made it to
the Met for the 7:30 pm start. The $20
ham and brie sandwich during the intermission tasted great. The signaling problems were fixed, so I had
to wait for the 12:05 am train. Anne
drove by to pick me up.
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