Glimmerglass Festival's "Macbeth," as anticipated, was a huge success July 11, opening night, with larger-than-life guest artist Eric Owens in the title role, luxurious-voiced Melody Moore as Lady Macbeth, and a lineup of standout vocalists. Superstar status for this production of Verdi's 1847 opera, however, goes to the festival orchestra conductor Joseph Colaneri, who electrified the audience from the ominous opening chords to the mournful finale.
Rather than transporting the audience to 11th Century Scotland, Glimmerglass brings the tragedy to the early 1900s, undergirding the relevance in its universal and timeless themes of power-lust, greed, and corrupt ambition. The opening chorus of witches gathers on stage from points throughout the theater, carrying suitcases and wearing sturdy winter coats and accessories that suggest a journey ahead.
As in Shakespeare's tragedy, generals Macbeth and Banquo receive the witches' prophecies with initial hesitation, but they learn from messengers that part of the predictions have already come true. It is Lady Macbeth's impatience, however, that initiates the action, making her convince her husband to murder King Duncan, an act that catapults Macbeth both to the throne and into madness.
Owens' powerful bass-baritone and formidable presence convey regal qualities in his every note and gesture, and--based on the enthusiastic applause he received at curtain time--the audience revers him as royalty. Even when he is tormented by ghostly visions of Banquo, whom Macbeth has had murdered upon his arrival at the castle, Owens' Macbeth is elevated rather than cowering. Director Anne Bogart has him pace atop the banquet table as elegantly costumed guests flee in horror, and his wife, always grasping for status, urges guests to remain and revel.
Awaiting Shakespeare's iconic witches hovering over a cauldron in Act 3, the audience sees, instead, the travelers with their luggage as they reveal their final three apparitions. Macbeth's brief sense of security fades, and, with his lady's urging, the doomed pair resolves to murder Banquo's son as well as MacDuff and his family.
Moore cements her monumental place in this production with the enactment of the famous hand-washing scene in which she appears to float among her ladies-in-waiting as if she has already been metamorphosed into a ghost. Her stalwart soprano, thrilling throughout on her arias, mesmerized the audience, which neither moved nor even breathed, as Moore effected a luminous cadenza on "Una macchia e qui tuttora" in Act 4.
Soloman Howard's thundering bass enlivens Banquo, and astonishingly fine voices from the young artists in the supporting roles are a Glimmerglass added delight. Productions in the Alice Busch Opera Theater are performed without amplification, a strategy that results in pure acoustics.
James Schuette's scenery and Robert Wierzel's lighting convey a range of mood from mysterious to opulent. Interestingly, the stage seems always in the grasp of blood-red overblown gigantic roses that are painted on the dark background, threatening at any moment to be transformed from fully-blossomed to decayed.
Setting an ancient story in modern times demonstrates that evil exists all around us, not just in wicked witches and an ambition-driven queen operating in a corrupt kingdom. Verdi's "Macbeth," performed at Glimmerglass for the first time in this, the 40th anniversary season, is a thrilling, thought-provoking experience.
Dates, times and ticket information for Glimmerglass Festival performances and events, including the four mainstage operas performed in repertory, are found at: www.glimmerglass.org.