Un Ballo in Maschera
Giuseppe Verdi
-PRODUCTION PHOTOS UNAVALIBLE-
PRINCIPAL CAST
Conductor: Gianandrea Noseda
Amelia: Michèle Crider
Oscar: Kathleen Kim
Ulrica: Stephanie Blythe
Riccardo: Salvatore Licitra
Renato: Dmitri Hvorostovsky
PRODUCTION TEAM
Production: Piero Faggioni
Set Designer: Piero Faggioni
Costume Designer: Piero Faggioni
Lighting Designer: Piero Faggioni
Stage Director: Laurie Feldman, Laurie Feldman
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – (December 29, 2007) This production of Un Ballo in Maschera was the most uneven performance I have seen at the Metropolitan Opera House this season. The casts two heaviest hitters were not the pieces romantic leads, Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Renato nearly stole the show with his smart and complex portrayal of the roll. I found the singing divine. The Russian Baritone’s “Alla vita che t'arride” was wonderful and his “Eri tu” deservingly received the loudest bravos of the night. One thing I never noticed was Hvorostovosky’s loud breathing. It was obnoxious.
The Russian baritone would have taken the night had it not been for Metropolitan Opera Veteran Stephanie Blythe. Her Ulrica was aggressive but didn’t fall into the insane Verdian cliché of the “Gypsy Mezzos”. This Ulrica was a woman in control of her destiny. The singing was unbelievable. When Blythe’s voice joined with those of her cast mates it was hers which was the largest and most attractive. Her lower register shook the gaudy walls of the Metropolitan Opera House.
The evening was a trio of great performers the last of which was young coloratura Kathleen Kim who’s Oscar was enjoyable, bubbly and generally perfect. I would like to see her again soon.
The opera’s romantic leads were performed by less able singers Michèle Crider and Salvatore Licitra. Neither of the two was awful, but both had moments where they were just that. Crider’s voice is very abrasive at times, this is what makes it special and were the voice slightly bigger she would make a great Aida. When the soprano came on stage the voice was a little too sour for my taste. Later she changed my mind with her perfectly phrased “Morrò, ma prima in grazia”. It was old fashioned in all the best ways.
Licitra was a friendly Riccardo and moved well on stage. He was warm commanding as the King of Sweden and I enjoyed it very much. His singing was less warm, the tenor’s top often sounding strained and tired. In his opening aria, “La rivedrà nell'estasi”, the tenor displayed a lack of security as he sang the final cadence of the piece. Any sort of “Bel Cantoesque” phrase sounded awkward and didn’t flow well. In his middle and on less lyric passages Licitra’s voice was good.
The sets were large and opulent. The color blue dominated the stage. It was sort of what you might expect of Ballo, provided the house doesn’t offer it in that ridicules Boston version. I had seen this production before, in a DVD with Aprile Millo (our Goddess Devine) and at times the blocking was exactly the same. Michèle Crider at one point did a whole aria that was just like that of Millo…not vocally.
Gianandrea Noseda nearly lost control of the orchestra a several times. Had it not been for the trio of great singers the evening would have been a waste.
Showing posts with label Metropolitan Opera. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Metropolitan Opera. Show all posts
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
IN REVIEW: Metropolitan Opera – Hansel and Gretel
Hansel and Gretel
Engelbert Humperdinck
PRINCIPAL CAST:
Conductor: Vladimir Jurowski
Gretel: Christine Schäfer
Hansel: Alice Coote
Gertrude: Rosalind Plowright
The Witch: Philip Langridge
Peter: Alan Held
PRODUCTION TEAM:
Production: Richard Jones
Set & Costume Designer: John Macfarlane
Lighting Designer: Jennifer Tipton
Choreographer: Linda Dobell
English Version: David Pountney
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – (December 29, 2007) The Metropolitan Opera House closed the year with a bang (and a lovely bang too) with a broadcast of Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel. This gym of the German Repertoire is neglected in large part. This is because the opera was written for children in large part, and people still believe it’s subject matter to be childish – and in some ways it is – but this doesn’t mean that the opera has nothing to say.
The was some evidence of Peter Gelb (the Great Satan) and his style in this production but for once I found it completely satisfying. Conductor Vladimir Jurowski – Glyndebourne’s Music Director – led the orchestra in the finest playing I’ve ever heard them in. For once the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra had a German sound and his tempo and volume was completely appropriate.
German Soprano Christine Schäfer was difficult to understand in the English version of the opera, but as the performance went on it became unnoticeable. Schäfer’s sweet lyric soprano was perfect for Gretel. She worked perfectly moving about the registers seamlessly with a nearly perfect technique. Her physical portrayal was convincing and she proved herself not just a singing actress, but also a fine comic with her witty performance
Alice Coote’s Hansel was also very fine. Like Schäfer, Coote was a smart actress and provided sufficient charm for the boy. She had the awkwardness of a seven year old child and made me smile as the opera went forward.
The low point of the evening was the Gertrude (Mother) of Rosalind Plowright. The Mezzo had that squawk that some dramatic mezzos have. She proved fine for the part, but I wouldn’t like to hear her as much else. The voice was large and her acting was convincing. Her prayer that her children return was very beautiful.
American Baritone Alan Held’s portrayal of Peter (Father) was the highlight of the evening. He sings a sort monologue about the difficulty of life as a poor man, and he left the crowd wanting more. He was fatherly and kind. Held will appear as the Dutchman in Washington later this season, and it will be worth a trip.
Philip Langridge appeared as the Witch. The role was perfect for him, and it gave him an opportunity to show off his gift as an actor. The voice was large yet
brilliant and lyric, it was perfect for parts like this or Loge. The Witch’s part is also very small, and he left us wanting more or wishing that the villain had consumed the children so that we might her another aria about how good they taste.The set was witty, using large pieces of artwork as a the curtain between acts. In the beginning as the prelude played there was a large empty plate which showed the children’s hunger, later as the children entered the haunted forest the plate was replaced with an awful mouth that was hungry for blood. The device worked well.
The first act took place in a sparse and small room. This was the children’s impoverished home. It is clean but shows sings of disrepair. Hansel and Gretel play games to pass the time rather than doing their charms. Their dancing game has an enchanting duet (which later becomes a hymn of praise and thanksgiving) and the pair performed the scene very well. They break the glass jug of milk, the family’s only source of nourishment and when Mother finds out she sends them away into the woods to pick berries so they will have something to eat. She prays to find a way to free her children.
Father comes home drunk and then shows his wife the huge amount of food he has gotten during the day and telling her the milk was “no loss on a day like this”. He asks where the children are and nearly beats her for sending the children into the woods. He explains that the woods have an awful old woman who likes to eat children living there. The parents are soon off to look for Hansel and Gretel.
The visual highlight of the opera came at the end of the second act after the
Sandman puts the children to sleep. Traditionally they are in a wood, but in the Met’s version the siblings found themselves in a large room with wallpaper that looked like the forest. It was very artistic (very Gelb) but worked well. There was a long table. Sandman blesses the children and keeps them safe in the night. The production also broke from tradition by eliminating the angels that often come to protect the children after they say evening prayers in a stunning duet.In this version there was a long dream sequence where the children are no longer hungry because they are fed by a large group of funny looking chefs and a butler with the head of a fish. It serves to enforce the feeling that the children are very hungry, and you can understand their happiness as the long table is set for a king, and they are able to eat.
In the third act there is no gingerbread house, instead the children are beckoned though the curtain which has become a mouth with it’s tongue sticking out and a cake on the tongue. The children can’t resist the treat and find themselves in the
Witch’s industrial kitchen. Gingerbread children can be seen all around and when the audiences catches a peek into the large stainless steel refrigerator they see arms and legs.The Witch is killed by Hansel and Gretel as they push her into the oven. Her spell is broken, and after an explosion and a moment of darkness and time in from of a
curtain (now a broken plate) the Hansel and Gretel find that the gingerbread statues have turned back into live children. Here the Metropolitan Opera Children’s Chorus sings the sublime chorus as they cry because their eyesight has been lost. Hansel and Gretel break this spell too by giving every child a “tender touch”. They sing and joyously as they once more see the light, and it was the most touching moment I’ve seen over the last year.Finally Mother and Father (Gertrude and Peter) find the children. Held performs the melody of the children’s dancing duet, but this time he thanks God for delivering the family from evil. The production avoids obvious Germanic clichés and feels like it could be just about anywhere. The message is clear, family and love is the most important thing and that God will deliver those who love their families.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
IN REVIEW: Metropolitan Opera – War & Peace
War & Peace
Sergei Prokofiev
PRINCIPAL CAST
Conductor: Gianandrea Noseda
Natasha: Irina Mataeva
Sonya: Ekaterina Semenchuk
Mme. Akhrosimova: Larisa Shevchenko
Count Bezukhov: Alexei Steblianko
Prince Andrei: Vasili Ladyuk
Napoleon: Vassily Gerello
Kutuzov: Mikhail Kit
PRODUCTION TEAM
Production: Andrei Konchalovsky
Set Designer: George Tsypin
Costume Designer: Tatiana Noginova
Lighting Designer: James F. Ingalls
Projection Designer: Elaine McCarthy
Associate Set Designer: Eugene Monakhov
Choreographer: Sergei Gritsai
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – (December 28, 2007) The Metropolitan Opera’s Colossal War & Peace was the talk of New York – and the opera world – for weeks now. With a cast that dwarfs even the largest Aida, battle scenes, love and plenty of nationalism it was quite a show they put on at Lincoln Center.
The cast was led over the trenches of Porkofiev’s score by Gianandrea Noseda. While the orchestra got off to a sluggish start, they soon picked up the energy of the singers and by the end of the first act they were on fire.
Baritone Vasili Ladyuk made a fine Prince Andrei, the opera’s obvious hero. His monologue began the evening, and set the tone of Tolstoy’s epic. He was believable as he sang the difficult part and expressed his disillusion with life…and he performed the latter part of the scene with a new vocal color as he spoke of the love ignited in him by the radiant Natasha.
Soprano Irina Mataeva’s Natasha was also excellent. The singing actress became the young woman who’s life would be so changed by war. The character was changed by the destruction and death she witnessed in the war and Miss Metaeva expressed this excellently with her sweet silver tone.
Count Pierre Bezukhov, performed by Alexei Steblianko is also worth mentioning. The baritone funny, and lovable, the less obvious…but true hero of the work. In Tolstoy’s version the reader learns that after all is passed Natasha and Pierre end up together, happy and they grow old and have a family. Steblianko’s singing was so ernest as to bring tears to the eyes.
The true highlight of the evening came late, with bass Mikhail Kit’s Kutuzov. His portrayal of the Russian General who finally defeated Napoleon and France, but only after sacrificing Moscow was incredible. He was a defeated man as he sang about leaving Moscow behind – for any American like leaving New York to a foreign military force – in order to fight on another day. The audience reacted to his singing as it brought them into the General’s world.
There were other fine performances that evening notably that of Vassily Gerello’s Napoleon. The tenor who performed Count Anatol Kuragin did not impress.
The sets were stunning, large and functional. They worked on a turntable and a large mound built on stage. In the beginning, the peace section, the floor is beautiful inlaid wood and is perfect for the large ball scene. In the ball the costume’s were fine and expensive looking. The Entrance of the Czar couldn’t have been better. As the act progressed, and war came closer cracks appeared in the floor exposing the rotten layer beneath.
When the first act finally ended, the chorus appeared bringing news of the invasion of Russia. The mob came forward and sang one of the most glorious scenes in all of opera. It was inspiring to anyone, as they sang of one Russia rising up to crush the invaders from the West.
The second act was the opposite of the first, the inlaid floor had been removed and only rotten earth remained. It was here that the battles were fought, complete with guns, explosions and bodies. This opera rivaled Coppola’s Apocalypse Now when Napoleon appeared on a wall of the dead. Cannon Fodder is the word that comes to mind. Tolstoy would have appreciated the symbolism.
Natasha and Andrei’s final scene together was touching, as the danced as the once had. In the end he was consumed with the pain of his wound and could think of nothing else. As our hero died Natasha, who was forgiven for her betrayal of him cried bitterly.
The largest departure from the novel was the opera’s nationalistic ending. The Russians sang and they stacked captured French Flags at the feet of General Kutuzov and waved Yellow banners of the Czar. Tolstoy focus of the characters and how they hated war and family and love was all they had left.
The Metropolitan had a triumph with this opera.
Sergei Prokofiev
PRINCIPAL CAST
Conductor: Gianandrea Noseda
Natasha: Irina Mataeva
Sonya: Ekaterina Semenchuk
Mme. Akhrosimova: Larisa Shevchenko
Count Bezukhov: Alexei Steblianko
Prince Andrei: Vasili Ladyuk
Napoleon: Vassily Gerello
Kutuzov: Mikhail Kit
PRODUCTION TEAM
Production: Andrei Konchalovsky
Set Designer: George Tsypin
Costume Designer: Tatiana Noginova
Lighting Designer: James F. Ingalls
Projection Designer: Elaine McCarthy
Associate Set Designer: Eugene Monakhov
Choreographer: Sergei Gritsai
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – (December 28, 2007) The Metropolitan Opera’s Colossal War & Peace was the talk of New York – and the opera world – for weeks now. With a cast that dwarfs even the largest Aida, battle scenes, love and plenty of nationalism it was quite a show they put on at Lincoln Center.
The cast was led over the trenches of Porkofiev’s score by Gianandrea Noseda. While the orchestra got off to a sluggish start, they soon picked up the energy of the singers and by the end of the first act they were on fire.
Baritone Vasili Ladyuk made a fine Prince Andrei, the opera’s obvious hero. His monologue began the evening, and set the tone of Tolstoy’s epic. He was believable as he sang the difficult part and expressed his disillusion with life…and he performed the latter part of the scene with a new vocal color as he spoke of the love ignited in him by the radiant Natasha.
Soprano Irina Mataeva’s Natasha was also excellent. The singing actress became the young woman who’s life would be so changed by war. The character was changed by the destruction and death she witnessed in the war and Miss Metaeva expressed this excellently with her sweet silver tone.
Count Pierre Bezukhov, performed by Alexei Steblianko is also worth mentioning. The baritone funny, and lovable, the less obvious…but true hero of the work. In Tolstoy’s version the reader learns that after all is passed Natasha and Pierre end up together, happy and they grow old and have a family. Steblianko’s singing was so ernest as to bring tears to the eyes.
The true highlight of the evening came late, with bass Mikhail Kit’s Kutuzov. His portrayal of the Russian General who finally defeated Napoleon and France, but only after sacrificing Moscow was incredible. He was a defeated man as he sang about leaving Moscow behind – for any American like leaving New York to a foreign military force – in order to fight on another day. The audience reacted to his singing as it brought them into the General’s world.
There were other fine performances that evening notably that of Vassily Gerello’s Napoleon. The tenor who performed Count Anatol Kuragin did not impress.
The sets were stunning, large and functional. They worked on a turntable and a large mound built on stage. In the beginning, the peace section, the floor is beautiful inlaid wood and is perfect for the large ball scene. In the ball the costume’s were fine and expensive looking. The Entrance of the Czar couldn’t have been better. As the act progressed, and war came closer cracks appeared in the floor exposing the rotten layer beneath.
When the first act finally ended, the chorus appeared bringing news of the invasion of Russia. The mob came forward and sang one of the most glorious scenes in all of opera. It was inspiring to anyone, as they sang of one Russia rising up to crush the invaders from the West.
The second act was the opposite of the first, the inlaid floor had been removed and only rotten earth remained. It was here that the battles were fought, complete with guns, explosions and bodies. This opera rivaled Coppola’s Apocalypse Now when Napoleon appeared on a wall of the dead. Cannon Fodder is the word that comes to mind. Tolstoy would have appreciated the symbolism.
Natasha and Andrei’s final scene together was touching, as the danced as the once had. In the end he was consumed with the pain of his wound and could think of nothing else. As our hero died Natasha, who was forgiven for her betrayal of him cried bitterly.
The largest departure from the novel was the opera’s nationalistic ending. The Russians sang and they stacked captured French Flags at the feet of General Kutuzov and waved Yellow banners of the Czar. Tolstoy focus of the characters and how they hated war and family and love was all they had left.
The Metropolitan had a triumph with this opera.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
I denounce Gerard Mortier as a collaborator with Satan
Why NYCO's incomming director is on OPERA in AMERICA's bad side.
Upon hearing more of the closing of the New York Sate Theatre so that construction to the acoustically – as well as aesthetically, visually, and in other ways – awful theatre can be renovated before the new New York City Opera’s General Director (to be) Gerard Mortier, comes to town. I got to thinking, “who is this Gerard Mortier, and what does this mean to opera in New York and more importantly Opera in America?”
The first thing I did was think of the productions I know of from his current home at Opéra National de Paris. I immediately thought of this Ariadne auf Naxos (the clip above) where Natalie Dessay is whoring around as she sings “Grossmächtige Prinzessin” in an orange bikini. So many things are wrong with that…most of which is the idea that pasty white little Natalie Dessay had orange on…with pink hair I must add. It was not becoming to a woman of her very French coloring.
He seems to be a lot like his colleague from across the plaza, the Great Satan himself, Peter Gelb. I simply hope this doesn’t mean more puppets at Lincoln Center. At the Met they have been everything from really cool and trippy (Taymor’s Flute) to stupid and distracting (the little boy in Butterfly). I also hope that this doesn’t mean that I will have to go to other houses to hear the best signing from singers who don’t look like they came out of Cosmo.
I love Ruth Ann Swenson, who rocked Marguerite here in Cincinnati (after her acclaimed Met Performances of the same role…I saw it, and it was great… and Cleopatra) just after having her jobs taken at the Met by the Great Satan in his quest to stage with for skinny bitches. Ruth Ann is wonderful, she just is. I don’t find her fat, in fact I find her just right, and there is no one more suited to Violetta or many similar rolls. She is a darling in New York, as is Aprile Millo, but the Great Satan doesn’t like them so the world will not hear them in his house.
Back to the point: Mortier’s most famous so called staging was a Salzburg Fledermaus complete with heroin and crack whores. Seems like the Party was a sort of rave. I love that actually…but I would rather hear great signing then see silly pretty women rolling around in nasty outfits and shooting up. He also plans to stage a lot of crap.
Britten's Death in Venice
Philip Glass's Einstein on the Beach
Janáček's The Makropulos Case
Adams's Nixon in China
Debussy's Pelleas et Melisande
Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress
Weill's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
Messiaen's Saint Francois d'Assise.
Needless to say, Valois will not be going out of his way to visit the NYCO.
Upon hearing more of the closing of the New York Sate Theatre so that construction to the acoustically – as well as aesthetically, visually, and in other ways – awful theatre can be renovated before the new New York City Opera’s General Director (to be) Gerard Mortier, comes to town. I got to thinking, “who is this Gerard Mortier, and what does this mean to opera in New York and more importantly Opera in America?”
The first thing I did was think of the productions I know of from his current home at Opéra National de Paris. I immediately thought of this Ariadne auf Naxos (the clip above) where Natalie Dessay is whoring around as she sings “Grossmächtige Prinzessin” in an orange bikini. So many things are wrong with that…most of which is the idea that pasty white little Natalie Dessay had orange on…with pink hair I must add. It was not becoming to a woman of her very French coloring.
He seems to be a lot like his colleague from across the plaza, the Great Satan himself, Peter Gelb. I simply hope this doesn’t mean more puppets at Lincoln Center. At the Met they have been everything from really cool and trippy (Taymor’s Flute) to stupid and distracting (the little boy in Butterfly). I also hope that this doesn’t mean that I will have to go to other houses to hear the best signing from singers who don’t look like they came out of Cosmo.
I love Ruth Ann Swenson, who rocked Marguerite here in Cincinnati (after her acclaimed Met Performances of the same role…I saw it, and it was great… and Cleopatra) just after having her jobs taken at the Met by the Great Satan in his quest to stage with for skinny bitches. Ruth Ann is wonderful, she just is. I don’t find her fat, in fact I find her just right, and there is no one more suited to Violetta or many similar rolls. She is a darling in New York, as is Aprile Millo, but the Great Satan doesn’t like them so the world will not hear them in his house.
Back to the point: Mortier’s most famous so called staging was a Salzburg Fledermaus complete with heroin and crack whores. Seems like the Party was a sort of rave. I love that actually…but I would rather hear great signing then see silly pretty women rolling around in nasty outfits and shooting up. He also plans to stage a lot of crap.
Britten's Death in Venice
Philip Glass's Einstein on the Beach
Janáček's The Makropulos Case
Adams's Nixon in China
Debussy's Pelleas et Melisande
Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress
Weill's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
Messiaen's Saint Francois d'Assise.
Needless to say, Valois will not be going out of his way to visit the NYCO.
Friday, December 14, 2007
TOP 5: Reasons that Roberto Alagna isnt’ a winner
I have to admit, I drank to koolaid after his Romeo…then I saw this clip.
TOP 5: Reasons that Roberto Alagna isnt’ a winner
5. Being hated around the world:
Roberto is hated by opera fans and administers the world around. In Italy he is booed, in London he is unaffectionately called Clyde (as in Bonnie and Clyde) by British News Papers. He singlehandedly provides one nightmare after another for Press Agent (and opera legend) Herbert Breslin. If it were anyone else I would say “ROCK ON!” but he just doesn’t get away with much in my book. All of humanity agrees, this guy is a dick.
4. The clip above:
Just look at it. Does he look like a winner to you?
3. Getting owned by Volpe:
The best episode of this I can think of was when Alagna brought notes from his brother to then Met Kahuna Joe Volpe on the Traviata production and what might be changed. He shouldn’t have messed with Zeffirelli, and when this came out in Volpe’s autobiography I understood that he wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. A victory for Volpe.
2. Loosing the fight with the Loggionisti:
Since ancient times the Italians have felt to need to cheer and boo and carry on like the fools they are at any public gathering. On average they elect a new Prime Minister every Nineteen Months. They have an incredible history which includes Coliseums where thousands of Italians cheered as they watched men fight each other to the death. La Scala, another important Coliseum, is the place with the people of Milano go to see this tradition continued.
The list of singers who have been booed is an illustrious one indeed. Off the top of my head I can name Renee Fleming, Mirella Freni, Maria Callas, Renata Scoto, Salvatore Licitra, Placido Domingo…it’s so much longer. When Roberto Angela dealt with boos, he walked off the stage shaking his fist at the claque.
Roberto told a French Paper, "Have you any idea what it's like to hear people shouting 'Boo!' when I was singing with all my heart and had sung well?"
What a looser.
1. Crazy wife Angela Guergihu:
Any man who lets his wife get herself fired from the Chicago Lyric Opera –after missing 6 out of 10 rehearsals and several costume fittings– because he needed her right then isn’t cool.
"I asked Lyric Opera to let me go to New York for two days to be with him, and they said, 'No.' But I needed to be by Roberto's side at this very important moment," Gheorghiu told the Associated Press. "I have sung 'Boheme' hundreds of times, and thought missing a few rehearsals wouldn't be a tragedy. It was impossible to do the costume fitting at the same time I was in New York.”
Valois wonders if there is more to this story? Alagna fans will tell you he is the Brad Pitt of Opera. Well…I would say that if Opera has a Brad Pitt, it isn’t Roberto. He is maybe more of a Mel Gibson; he was once at the top of the world and is prone to out bursts of Anti-Semitism. For argument’s sake, if Alagna is Brad Pitt, is it likely that Guergihu didn’t want to end up Jennifer Aniston when rival soprano Anna Netrebko (who is Angelina Jolie in this little drama) came along looking all sexy.
The question is who won here? Not the Lyric Opera. Not “Wifey…”bitch lost her job. Roberto, he just looked like a pussy who needed his wife to hold his hand.
The true winner was diva turned director Renata Scotto who was famous for a few episodes of her own over the years, but at the end of the day she always came out on top. Roberto and wife should learn something important here: Scotto still has a bigger dick than you two.
Letting your wife looses her job because she is standing by her man? Not impressive!
TOP 5: Reasons that Roberto Alagna isnt’ a winner
5. Being hated around the world:
Roberto is hated by opera fans and administers the world around. In Italy he is booed, in London he is unaffectionately called Clyde (as in Bonnie and Clyde) by British News Papers. He singlehandedly provides one nightmare after another for Press Agent (and opera legend) Herbert Breslin. If it were anyone else I would say “ROCK ON!” but he just doesn’t get away with much in my book. All of humanity agrees, this guy is a dick.
4. The clip above:
Just look at it. Does he look like a winner to you?
3. Getting owned by Volpe:
The best episode of this I can think of was when Alagna brought notes from his brother to then Met Kahuna Joe Volpe on the Traviata production and what might be changed. He shouldn’t have messed with Zeffirelli, and when this came out in Volpe’s autobiography I understood that he wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. A victory for Volpe.
2. Loosing the fight with the Loggionisti:
Since ancient times the Italians have felt to need to cheer and boo and carry on like the fools they are at any public gathering. On average they elect a new Prime Minister every Nineteen Months. They have an incredible history which includes Coliseums where thousands of Italians cheered as they watched men fight each other to the death. La Scala, another important Coliseum, is the place with the people of Milano go to see this tradition continued.
The list of singers who have been booed is an illustrious one indeed. Off the top of my head I can name Renee Fleming, Mirella Freni, Maria Callas, Renata Scoto, Salvatore Licitra, Placido Domingo…it’s so much longer. When Roberto Angela dealt with boos, he walked off the stage shaking his fist at the claque.
Roberto told a French Paper, "Have you any idea what it's like to hear people shouting 'Boo!' when I was singing with all my heart and had sung well?"
What a looser.
1. Crazy wife Angela Guergihu:
Any man who lets his wife get herself fired from the Chicago Lyric Opera –after missing 6 out of 10 rehearsals and several costume fittings– because he needed her right then isn’t cool.
"I asked Lyric Opera to let me go to New York for two days to be with him, and they said, 'No.' But I needed to be by Roberto's side at this very important moment," Gheorghiu told the Associated Press. "I have sung 'Boheme' hundreds of times, and thought missing a few rehearsals wouldn't be a tragedy. It was impossible to do the costume fitting at the same time I was in New York.”
Valois wonders if there is more to this story? Alagna fans will tell you he is the Brad Pitt of Opera. Well…I would say that if Opera has a Brad Pitt, it isn’t Roberto. He is maybe more of a Mel Gibson; he was once at the top of the world and is prone to out bursts of Anti-Semitism. For argument’s sake, if Alagna is Brad Pitt, is it likely that Guergihu didn’t want to end up Jennifer Aniston when rival soprano Anna Netrebko (who is Angelina Jolie in this little drama) came along looking all sexy.
The question is who won here? Not the Lyric Opera. Not “Wifey…”bitch lost her job. Roberto, he just looked like a pussy who needed his wife to hold his hand.
The true winner was diva turned director Renata Scotto who was famous for a few episodes of her own over the years, but at the end of the day she always came out on top. Roberto and wife should learn something important here: Scotto still has a bigger dick than you two.
Letting your wife looses her job because she is standing by her man? Not impressive!
Monday, December 10, 2007
IN REVIEW: Metropolitan Opera – Roméo et Juliette
Roméo et Juliette
Charles Gounod
CAST:
Conductor: Plácido Domingo
Juliette: Anna Netrebko
Stéphano: Isabel Leonard
Roméo: Roberto Alagna
Mercutio: Stéphane Degout
Frère Laurent: Kristinn Sigmundsson
PRODUCTION TEAM:
Production: Guy Joosten
Set Designer: Johannes Leiacker
Costume Designer: Jorge Jara
Lighting Designer: David Cunningham
Choreographer: Sean Curran
Fight Director: Dale Anthony Girard
NEW YORK, NEW YORK (September 29, 2007)– I was so disappointed about the cancelation of Rolando Villazon, in my opinion the finest lyric tenor on the scene. Adding salt to this wound was the news that he would be replaced by Roberto Alagna who I had given up on after disrespecting opera’s temple, Teatro alla Scala, a few months ago.
The opera began well enough, with the opera chorus sounding in fine form with their prologue. The set was the Met’s astrological production, the one in which a few years ago Natalie Dessay fell out of the flying bed.
For as many difficulties as the original run of this staging had the Met has made it work well. The work opened with the Capulet ball where the guest are dancing and having a wonderful time. The Met’s chorus (for once) looked as good as they sounded in the joyful scene.
Mercutio, the visceral baritone Stéphane Degout, performed his first ballad well. The show really began with Anna Netrebko. I hadn’t heard Anna live until that night, she didn’t interest me (except maybe as Violetta). Expecting a simply stunning moment, I was shocked when the loudest (I mean loud in only the best manner) singing came from the skinny Russian. One of the most beautiful women I have ever seen, she danced around the stage singing “Je veux vivre”. In that moment I understood Juliette as a young woman who wanted to live life to the fullest…she was sure great things were to come, and I too wanted them for her.
I must say that Alagna was impressive. I expected the most awful singing of the week, buy he did a very fine job.
I found it hard to imagine what other tenors would have looked like in the difficult to look good in costume.
The evenings shenanigans came and went. The floating bed turned out very beautifully I must say…though once more I expected tacky. No one fell out this time either. Later in the evening Mezzo-Soprano Isabel Leonard proved herself a fine singer as Stéphano, but she didn’t project the male quality to the “pants roll” that some mezzos do. Stéphane Degout’s performance suffered as Mercutio died later in the evening…I’m not sure why, but it didn’t work.
The last scene was very touching, they seemed so in love… I found myself very saddened. When the lovers were finally (after some wonderful singing)dead I just wanted to look at Netrebko some more. He was hot, and she was the most stunning thing I had ever seen.
If Netrebko, Alanga, and the production were not enough to prove my biases wrong, Placido Domingo’s conducting was another wonderful surprise. The orchestra sounded so alive and added to the drama. A first class performance all around, this was the finest opera I have seen this year.
Charles Gounod
CAST:
Conductor: Plácido Domingo
Juliette: Anna Netrebko
Stéphano: Isabel Leonard
Roméo: Roberto Alagna
Mercutio: Stéphane Degout
Frère Laurent: Kristinn Sigmundsson
PRODUCTION TEAM:
Production: Guy Joosten
Set Designer: Johannes Leiacker
Costume Designer: Jorge Jara
Lighting Designer: David Cunningham
Choreographer: Sean Curran
Fight Director: Dale Anthony Girard
NEW YORK, NEW YORK (September 29, 2007)– I was so disappointed about the cancelation of Rolando Villazon, in my opinion the finest lyric tenor on the scene. Adding salt to this wound was the news that he would be replaced by Roberto Alagna who I had given up on after disrespecting opera’s temple, Teatro alla Scala, a few months ago.
The opera began well enough, with the opera chorus sounding in fine form with their prologue. The set was the Met’s astrological production, the one in which a few years ago Natalie Dessay fell out of the flying bed.
For as many difficulties as the original run of this staging had the Met has made it work well. The work opened with the Capulet ball where the guest are dancing and having a wonderful time. The Met’s chorus (for once) looked as good as they sounded in the joyful scene.
Mercutio, the visceral baritone Stéphane Degout, performed his first ballad well. The show really began with Anna Netrebko. I hadn’t heard Anna live until that night, she didn’t interest me (except maybe as Violetta). Expecting a simply stunning moment, I was shocked when the loudest (I mean loud in only the best manner) singing came from the skinny Russian. One of the most beautiful women I have ever seen, she danced around the stage singing “Je veux vivre”. In that moment I understood Juliette as a young woman who wanted to live life to the fullest…she was sure great things were to come, and I too wanted them for her.
I must say that Alagna was impressive. I expected the most awful singing of the week, buy he did a very fine job.
I found it hard to imagine what other tenors would have looked like in the difficult to look good in costume.The evenings shenanigans came and went. The floating bed turned out very beautifully I must say…though once more I expected tacky. No one fell out this time either. Later in the evening Mezzo-Soprano Isabel Leonard proved herself a fine singer as Stéphano, but she didn’t project the male quality to the “pants roll” that some mezzos do. Stéphane Degout’s performance suffered as Mercutio died later in the evening…I’m not sure why, but it didn’t work.
The last scene was very touching, they seemed so in love… I found myself very saddened. When the lovers were finally (after some wonderful singing)dead I just wanted to look at Netrebko some more. He was hot, and she was the most stunning thing I had ever seen.
If Netrebko, Alanga, and the production were not enough to prove my biases wrong, Placido Domingo’s conducting was another wonderful surprise. The orchestra sounded so alive and added to the drama. A first class performance all around, this was the finest opera I have seen this year.
Sunday, December 9, 2007
IN REVIEW: Metropolitan Opera – Aida
Aida
Giuseppe Verdi
CAST:
Conductor: Kazushi Ono
Aida: Angela M. Brown
Amneris: Dolora Zajick
Radamès: Marco Berti
Amonasro: Andrzej Dobber
Ramfis: Carlo Colombara
The King: Dimitri Kavrakos
PRODUCION TEAM:
Production: Sonja Frisell
Set Designer: Gianni Quaranta
Costume Designer: Dada Saligeri
Lighting Designer: Gil Wechsler
Choreographer: Rodney Griffin
Stage Director: Stephen Pickover
NEW YORK, NEW YORK (September 29, 2007) – When one goes to see an Aida one expects spectacle. When one goes to the Metropolitan Opera House, one expects the best opera has to offer. This Aida was a pile of shit. The singing was good…some of it…but the production, I have seen better productions in high schools.
From the beginning, everything looked like Halloween. In the opening scene tenor Marco Berti’s Radames sounded strained to my ear. His “Celeste Aida” drew a few bravos, but was not to my liking.
Angela Brown’s Aida was as wonderful as I remembered, and as she sang her first Aria (“Ritorna vincitor!”) the opera took a turn for the better. I nearly forgot about the fact that she was standing in a place where I could hardly see her from my box as she floated out the last notes wonderfully. As the performance progressed I had my first experience hearing Dolora Zajick who was Amneris. She was stunning…just amazing!
The triumphant scene was a joke. I had just been a part of the chorus for a production in Cincinnati and I noticed quickly as they removed several choral parts from the scene. What a waste of time, we laughed out loud as the Ethiopian prisoners entered. Andrzej Dobber, the baritone who sang the part of Amonasro, wasn’t a good singer, and he couldn’t act either. His costume had him looking something like a Klingon, the alien race from Star Treck, and it was just awful.
Conductor Kazushi Ono’s tempo was too fast throughout the evening and he ruined one of the opera’s most personal moments Aida’s aria “O patria mio”. Angela Browns radiant soprano sounded like something out of I Puritani as the aria went so fast that Verdi’s gentle phrases came at coloratura speeds. Maybe it wasn’t that bad….maybe…but none the less it was just awful.
Peter Gelb should be ashamed of himself as he puts this third rate production on stage. If this were my first time at the Met, I would be very disappointed and may never have returned.
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