More Massenet? Really? Yeah, but I was actually legit interested in seeing what this would be like, once I learned it was about Cherubino from Le nozze di Figaro (or possibly from Beaumarchais' original play, but especially seeing as it's an opera, it seems fair to associate it with the more famous version). And, you know, it was four dollars to rent on amazon, so whatevz.
I don't know what I expected, really, but there's not actually much plot here. Our hero is joining the army! Isn't that the thing he didn't want to do in Mozart? Well NOW HE'S A-OKAY WITH IT, SO SHUT UP. He's still girl-crazy and lusting after all the noblewomen that he meets. He almost gets in a duel, but avoids it. In the end, he learns his lesson and now he's going to be faithful to his true love, Nina. Wait, who the hell is Nina? We are never told. She's just...there. And into him. Wasn't Cherubino going to marry Barbarina in Mozart? What's the point of using the character if you're not even going to bother following the original story even ever-so-loosely? I guess his general horniness is the connection--which is hit upon constantly, to the point that it becomes a bit monotonous--but if you're looking for Mozart fan-fiction, as I was, this may underwhelm you.
Yes, well, as you can tell, I wasn't overly impressed with the story. BUT HOW IS THE MUSIC? Well...it's Massenet. Dammit. SERIOUSLY, I keep thinking one of these days I'll really really love something of his and it'll be annoying because I'll have to rethink my opinions about those operas of his I've already seen, but it just doesn't seem to be happening. I'll say--I'm sure I've said this before, but I'll say it again--I like some of his purely orchestral music more than I do the vocal work. There's a short ballet in the first act of this that I thought kinda ruled. But I have never heard a Massenet aria that I thought memorable. And then the other issue is just that the libretti all seem dramatically weak in ways that feel similar to each other. You'd think he wrote his own; of course he didn't, and nor were all his operas written by the same people, but, well, it is what it is. Something did not go right. In my opinion.
He wrote a shit-ton of operas, but only a few ballets, none of which seem to be regularly performed. Still, maybe he should have specialized in those instead. It seems to me they would likely play a lot better to his strengths.
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