Hey, Met in HD is finally back! Whoo! That was how I first got into opera, so it has a certain sentimental appeal to me. Rather than just pushing back the previous season that never happened, they're moving forward. That means we're left without HD performances of Il pirata, Die frau ohne Schatten, and Dead Man Walking, which is a shame (especially the latter--I really think they should reschedule it), but we also get some cool new stuff. I'm most looking forward to the Met debuts of two contemporary operas, Fire Shut Up in My Bones (the first opera by a black composer they've ever done; it's been getting rave reviews and the preview they showed looked good) and Eurydice. They're also doing Brett Dean's Hamlet, which is a great opera, but given that it's the same production as the ROH recording with most of the same cast, it seems like there won't be many surprises.
Well...regardless! I went to see Boris. It's a wonder that our small-town theater gets these at all, so I wanted to show my support for the arts. There were two other people in the theater.
There's a twist, which I noted in the title, so it shouldn't be a surprise at this point, but: this is the shorter, original version of the opera, which the tsarist censors didn't like apparently because it lacked a substantial female role. I find it extremely weird that the censors would be in the business of enforcing gender inclusivity, but there you go. I mean, you could say it was because they didn't think Russia was adequately represented without more femininity--a national pride thing--but considering that the character he added was Polish, I don't know about that. But anyway, that's where Princess Marina comes from, along with the entire act set in Poland. The original also lacks the coda in the more-performed version; it ends immediately after Boris' death. That's another thing that makes it seem more Boris-centric. And also--this is a small thing, but I noticed it--the later version includes a bit where his son Feodor sings a nonsense song to try to cheer up his sister Xenia. I miss that; it was a really humanizing moment (also, here Feodor is a trouser role, whereas in the previous Met in HD performance, he was played by a boy soprano; I think that's just a contemporary casting decision, though).
Well, so how does it work? Well, there are pluses and minuses to this version. It feels much more small-scale, for one. Also, the focus is more--although not entirely--on Boris himself, which is perhaps more what you'd expect from an opera of this title. The Poland material can't help feeling a little tacked on. On the other hand, it does add valuable context, and without it, all of the stuff with Grigoriy the Pretender feels kind of superfluous, and when we're told "oh no, he's attacking us with his army," you think, with his what not? Where'd this army come from? Weird!
This is basically quibbling, though; either way, it's still pretty great, and René Pape was born to be Boris. Born to Be Boris--he should get a bumper sticker that says that. His wrestling with his tortured conscience is powerful. And again, I think the Holy Fool is a great and necessary role, though I can't say who played him here, since the credits don't appear to be online.
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