Story. See previous post.
Conductor - John Fiore; Andrea Chenier - Martin Muehle, Carlo Gerard - Juan Jesus Rodriguez, Maddalena di Coigny - Arianna Manganello; Madelon - Stefanie Toczyska.
The last Andrea Chenier we saw was in London, in 2019, and the headliners were Roberto Alagna and Sondra Radvanovsky. That was a great performance, and I didn't expect tonight's show would top that (or what I remember of it). It didn't, but came close though.
Taken from Opera's website. Top one shows Chenier being tried and sentenced to death.
How the rich lived before the revolution.
While I suspected there is a sound enhancement system at the State Opera, there is no doubt that here there is none. Given our proximity to the stage, I was quite surprised at how weak some of the singers sounded if they were in the "wrong" place acoustically.
Fortunately, they all came through when it counted. Watching it for the third time, I did more than just wait for "la mamma morta" to come out. Both Gerard and Chenier have some memorable arias and both singers did very well. Maddalena didn't disappoint either. She first did that lying on the floor and slowly worked herself off the floor as the aria continued. It made for a great effect. Madelon's giving up her grandson to the revolution was quite moving (as opposed to what I saw at Covent Garden). Perhaps the political climate today is very different from that of three years ago?
The set was very simple. Basically a raised platform with a sofa. The sides are either decorated with curtains, or with the words "Equality, Fraternity and Justice" on the walls. People came out from under the platform, and the area also doubled as a prison. Whatever budget they had was blown on the costumes the elite wore at the beginning of the opera.
Yesterday at Staatsoper we were surprised there was no applause after some well-done arias. The music and action continued without any break. Today there were many instances of the audience applauding after an aria; the one after "la mamma morta" was so long that I thought there would be an encore. I boldly attributed Staatsoper is in the old East Berlin while Deutsche Oper is in the West. (I could be wrong, of course; my 2019 entry for Deutsche Oper Berlin also noted the lack of applause.) What's equally puzzling is the cost of our tickets yesterday was about twice as that of today's, for about the same seat (category 2 pricing).
With the Reign of Terror lurking in the background, it would be very easy to have a lot of blood and gore should a director choose to do so. Not today. If I remember correctly, the Met showed the shadow of a guillotine, Covent Garden had Chenier and Maddalena carted off to be executed, tonight we just had the curtains closed from the side showing the couple standing there, and a third curtain with a slanted edge coming down to close the set. For Turandot in 2019 there was manufactured violence.
Chenier, Maddalena, and Gerard.
Curtain call at the end of the performance.
During intermission we went across the street and bought some chilled coffee and a pastry, and enjoyed them in the nearby park.
So on this trip we saw the Passion Show and five different operas. The Passion Show and the two Wagner operas are rare events (Passion Show once a decade, for instances), and I am glad we got to see them.
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