Bizet may be the sixth-most-performed opera composer, but that's almost exclusively on the basis of Carmen. Per that list, that's what eighty-six percent of the Bizet performances in 2017-18 were. But probably eighty-six percent of the others were this, with his other seven making up the balance. Anyway, the Met did a production, their first in a century, in 2016.
It's an Orientalist sort of thing taking place in Sri Lanka, Ceylon at the time. There are two men, Nadir and Zurga, the latter now the village chief, friends, who were previously in love with the same woman, Leïla, but swore her off for the sake of their friendship, and where is she now? Well, she's not there, but whoops! She's actually the priestess who's just shown up to protect the village, and Nadir pretty much instantly forsakes this vow to be with her (and she hers--she's not supposed to be having romances), to Zurga's anger and jealousy. What happens next...I won't say here. Although I'm pretty sure it'll come up later on in this review.
Apparently, nobody at the time felt satisfied with the libretto. One of its writers, Eugène Cormon, is quoted on the wikipedia page as saying that if they'd known how good Bizet was, they would've tried harder. I'm not sure that's the sort of thing you'd want to admit as a libretticist, but there you are. I do see their point: the friendship between Nadir and Zurga really needs to be A LOT more developed for the whole thing to work, and in general, the characters aren't really much of anything. Furthermore, the denouement--in which Zurga, having condemned Nadir and Leïla to death, saves them because he realizes that she had saved him when he was younger--would be a lot more dramatically effective if he saved them because of a natural change of heart, rather than this kind of quid pro quo. I mean, and the coincidence is pretty dubious in any case.
Just the same, I liked this. Is it as good as Carmen? Well...no, and there's nothing as instantly iconic as the Habanera and Toreador songs (though Nadir and Zurga's "Au fond du temple saint" duet is justifiably oft-performed), but Bizet was a very good composer and this was a very good score. Furthermore, even if the story doesn't work quite as well as it could have, it still cooks pretty well, particularly in the third act, and particularly particularly in the long confrontation duet between Zurga and Leïla.
Our pechêurs are Matthew Polenzani (HE'S EVERYWHERE!) as Nadir and Mariusz Kwiecien as Zurga, previously seen together in Don Pasquale (well, so we are told, although no actual pearl fishing occurs). They're good; if I like Kwiecien better, it's very likely because he has the only at all dynamic role in the opera. Diana Damrau is Leïla. Now...I've had issues with Damrau in the past. In both Rigolettoand Traviata, I just could not deal with what I perceived as her acting. In situations where she was supposed to be expressing the sublimity of her love, she always looked like she was just simpering to me. Now, I think that might have been a little unfair; the effect she creates on me is what it is, but I may be reacting more to something about her physiognomy than the performance itself per se. Anyway, I liked her better here. She can, at any rate, project defiance well.
This production is a modern-day kind of thing, and it's very well-done. It takes place on a waterfront shantytown, and the people are wearing a mixture of traditional and contemporary clothing that really seems authentic. I've never been to Sri Lanka, but it certainly comports with my experience in Indonesia. There's one scene that takes place in Zurga's office, and there's a campaign poster with his face and text in Tamil script, which I really wanted to know the meaning of. Regardless, it's a great touch, and presumably also a great souvenir for Kwiecien after the run's over. There are also really good water effects here; I know--because there was a little featurette--how they did the opening thing of pearl divers diving deep under, but it's totally seamless looking; you cannot see the wires. How they managed the water effects that appear throughout, though, is less clear to me, and damn, there's a REALLY impressive tidal wave effect that ends Act II. OBJECTIVE CORRELATIVE.
So, yeah. It has problems but I was basically satisfied and now this review is over.
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