opera review
The Metropolitan opens its latest Verdi opera of the season Friday with Aida.
La Clemenza may never be considered among Mozart's greatest work, but for one night, it certainly seemed like it could be thanks to the Met's revelatory cast, pristine staging, and fruitful conducting.
Whether or not Ades’ opera ever ascends to the status obtained by other composers in the medium is a debate that will linger for many more years. What is not open to debate in my mind is how the committed performers and LePage’s insightful production elevated this work in a fulfilling night at the opera.
Nozze started at 7:30 and ended at 11 PM with just one 30 minute intermission. However, the combination of a committed cast, focused direction, and well-paced conducting made the evening fly by without ever threatening to slowdown. This revival of the Mozart masterpiece was not only refreshing, but utterly engaging and entertaining.
Il Trovatore proved a sensational marriage of intelligent and passionate individual performances with a strong production that relished in Verdi’s forceful melodrama. Il Trovatore still has a number of performances left this season at the Met, but this particular group has set a high standard that could be hard to top.
Overall, it was hard to truly love this Otello. Everyone involved had brilliant individual moments, but as a whole the performance lacked cohesion and made the tragedy unmoving and empty. To end on a positive note however, it is great to have Verdi's superb score (my personal favorite) back in New York at the world's most renowned opera house.
If we strip the production of any pretensions that Sher stated in his videos and take it as it is, it is a solid one that could be a Met staple for years to come. I can see this production seeing better days with a more focused stage director who is more concerned with the characters on stage than any half-baked ideas that this current run hints at but never fully embraces.
The Met has already gotten off to a strong start in this new season with a solid production of "L'Eslisir D'Amore" and a strong cast for "Turandot." However, Carmen, with its ideal marriage of cast and production, is already a high point in what looks to be a successful season.
