Opera Reviews | 18 April 2024 |
Even in close-up the Met's new Rheingold is underwhelmingby Steve Cohen |
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Wagner: Das Rheingold Metropolitan Opera October 2010 |
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Here, at last, is a report on the Met's new Rheingold as it was seen in High Definition on movie screens around the world. All of the many reviews, until now, have described how it looked and sounded inside the opera house. Even when Anne Midgette's column was headlined in the Washington Post "Cast for the Simulcast," she writes that she observed the performance from "prime orchestra seats." The Met management must be concerned about how the opera appears on the big screen because so many more people see the production that way. Attendance was 240,000 on 1345 screens in every continent in the world. And the verdict? I was underwhelmed. That word describes a situation where one expects to have strong feelings and is disappointed. My expectations were high. After all, I am a fan of the opera, as I wrote in my series of articles about the Ring. I cherish the work of director Robert Lepage - his innovative theater pieces, his spectacular KA for Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas, and his high-tech The Damnation of Faust in the Metropolitan Opera house. Compared to these, the Rheingold was only partially successful. There was nothing breathtaking. Lepage missed some golden opportunities, if you will forgive the pun. Take the gold. Or as comedian Henny Youngman might have said: Take the gold, please. Alberich's assembly line produced a drab collection of necklaces and breastplates which looked like discards from pawn brokers. And when the gold is supposed to be stacked high so that it hides the goddess Freia, the effect was bland. Lepage had Freia lie prone in a net hammock. The giants deal with Wotan was that gold should be stacked high enough to cover her entire body, specifically covering her eyes. Clearly, she should be standing. When the gold tchochkies were piled in front of her we still saw her body, which violates the ransom agreement. That's the most egregious missed opportunity, but there were other disappointing moments. Lepage's production of The Damnation of Faust had more wizardry, including projections of galloping horses, and I hope we'll see something similar when the Valkyries enter in Die Walküre next Spring. Going down to the goldmine was a good effect, as Lepage gave audiences an overhead perspective on a long staircase. On the other hand, the technicolor ladder which represented the entrance to Valhalla was lackluster. The technical stuff never dwarfed the action of individual players, and that's a plus. The characters remained downstage during most of the opera, and the HD cameras got excellent close-ups of them. Bryn Terfel was okay as Wotan, but not riveting. His singing lacked the dark weight that's ideal for Wotan. Because his voice sounds young, he could have projected a young Wotan who was imperious and arrogant, but he did not do so. A standout on the movie screen was the sweet-voiced tenor, Richard Croft, as Loge, god of fire. His singing and acting were subtly insinuating. Yet the audience in the opera house booed him. A friend of mine who was in the house explained that this was because Croft's voice was almost inaudible over the orchestra, and Anne Midgette confirms this. Peter Gelb has been criticized in some quarters for casting for looks as well as for musical ability, but this is something else. It is the first time I've seen an artist look and sound superb on the big screen while not coming through in the house. The problem cannot be attributed to the orchestra being overly loud. Levine normally balances his orchestra to reveal the signers' voices. Levine's conducting is impelled by his affection for singers. It is not as heavy as many of his predecessors, nor as gossamer as Herbert von Karajan; rather, a middle road that is convincing. Eric Owens was an excellent Alberich in his acting and his singing. Stephanie Blythe used her notable mezzo voice to make Fricka memorable. The rest of the cast was fine. |
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Steve Cohen Photo © Ken Howard / Metropolitan Opera |