I was there this evening...until the interval.
I still hate Debussy
I paid all of, ooh, £7 for a ticket, so I'm really not complaining. I'm not even going to attempt to be even-handed and fair. I only went because of the star-studded cast, notably Simon Keenlyside and Angelika Kirchshclager in the title roles, and Gerald Finley in the starring role of Golaud. And all I could think was - why I can't I hear this cast in something decent. As far as I could tell, they sang wonderfully. But it's horrible music. As far as I could tell, the orchestra played well. But it's horrible music.
It was definitely the night for the coughers, and the wheezy breathers, too. Perhaps because the air was redolent with impending - but yet to happen - thunderstorm. Suffice to say, in the pause between Acts II and III, Simon Rattle turned to the audience and requested that people cough into their handkerchiefs, 'because the score demands it'. I'm afraid to say that at that precise moment I felt a fart coming on, but, because, obviously, I never fart in public (and in private it's only rose petals), I didn't.
Perhaps it wouldn't have been so bad if the production wasn't a pile of w*n*. The three leads are very natural stage animals, but it might as well have been a concert performance, except when Simon Keenlyside went off-message and started springing around stage.
And the costumes were a complete joke. Everybody except Melisande were dressed in the most ridiculous and unflattering Fat-Elvis/Clown costumes, with padded trousers made of foam, I think. Two of the nicest male arses in opera, ruined by those horrible creations. Melisande wore a red dress. All the reviews focused on her sitting in her tower with 38 other identical red dresses. Well, I scrutinised them closely, they seemed to be identical to each other, but quite different in a number of details - neckline, front waist panels, pleats - from the one she was wearing.
And the sets were just garbage. Just a series of giant boxes, like people put butterflies into, but the height of the Covent Garden Stage, a different one for each scene, containing eg copies of a letter, bloodstained pillows, snow.
The final scene before the interval, where Golaud is quizzing his son Ynoild was the only memorable (good) scene. It's the only one that stuck in my mind from prior play-throughs, and the only one with anything that resembled a tune. All the reviews, professional and amateur, have highlighted it as being the best in the entire opera. So at the interval, I decided that life is too short. And if I never hear P&M again, that will be just fine. Just a shame that I don't think Gerald is appearing in anything before Eugene Onegin next season. Which is way too long to wait.
On the way home, my mp3 player included songs or arias from Gerald, Simon and Angelika, all of which sounded gorgeous, and made me feel sad and annoyed. And the final tune on my bus ride was the overture to Tannhauser. Now that's what I call music.
Although, for a balance of views it might be instructive to read what Silverfin and Cunning Little Vixen have to say...
