I tease, I shall write a review of Iphigenie en Tauride after R&J, although R&J was the second opera I saw. I only managed to secure tickets the night before, when collecting our I en T tickets at the Box Office. It had been consistently sold out since public booking opened, but I had been repeatedly reassured that I would get returns, or failing that, find someone by the Lincoln Center fountain selling tickets on the day. We managed to secure tickets in the Dress Circle which was okay. Yes, it would have been nice to have been directly behind the conductor but that wasn't going to happen.
This was the performance that was broadcast on the radio and to cinemas in various places, not least Clapham Common. I was ruing the irony of going all the way to New York and not being able to see a performance that was being shown seven bus stops from home. Not that I would travel to see Plácido conduct, but if I had been in London I would have travelled to Clapham Common to see the cinema screening. And, as I was in New York, it seemed silly not at least to try.
I woke up on the Saturday morning thinking 'I'm going to see the World's Greatest Singer conduct?' nothing against his conducting, honest, but It's a singer and a person I admire him, not especially as a conductor. Apart from anything else, except at the extremes (brilliant or atrocious) I really can't judge conducting performances by anyone. Then I thought, get a grip, woman, you will be seeing your hero. And if that isn't enough, there is the minor fact of the leading singers being Roberto Alagna and Anna Netrebko. There aren't many opera stars bigger than them.
Other than the big 'numbers' I don't really know this opera, and, don't tell my mother, I really don't know the story either. Oh sure, I know the basic plot-line - heck, I've seen West Side Story and that film - Shakespeare in Love, isn't it - but I've never actually seen the play on which it is based.
I had mixed feelings about the performance. I still can't comment on the conducting. It seemed fine to me. Some people on the net have mentioned minor issues, but I don't know. Jimmy, an expert on conducting /g, thinks that Plácido should conduct with more passion and less intellect. He did run that one by the women sitting next to him, but they basically told him that Plácido is beyond criticism! thank goodness I wasn't sitting near anyone like that. The women to my left (mid fifties, I'd say) screamed like schoolgirls when Plácido took his curtain calls. I thought 'hmm, I can do that too' so did!
I don't really know what to make of the production. I liked the scenery, although I didn't applaud it, not even at the start of Act 4 when the curtain opens on the Famous Floating Bed. The basic set for the first part (Acts I-III) was a rotating cut-out circle with an astrological clock on it. At all times the scenery was worth looking at. I was really not so sure about the production itself. It seemed to be a game of two halves. Utterly boring when neither of the leading roles were on stage, and springing to life when they were. Hon mensh must go to Isabel Leonard who almost stole the show as a very vivacious Stefano,and also to Robert Lloyd who was captivating in the small but crucial role as Frère Laurent.. But the rest were dull. i was especially disappointed by Nathan Gunn, who is supposed to be a Big Star but really didn't make it past the footlights dramatically and whose voice didn't carry to where I was sitting. I will admit that, under an overhang is not acoustically a good spot in any opera house, but I had no trouble hearing the aforementioned four stars. As for the chorus and general line-up of comprimarios, well, they were never better than adequate and at times risable. I was particularly underwhelmed by the personenregie of the chorus. They seemed to deliver every chorus number rooted to the spot, and on the one occasion they moved, it was in sync (almost!) one step forward, then another step forward. Just like a school production. And I'm afraid that the rest of the cast was forgettable.
It was of course the Roberto and Anna show. When they were on stage, especially together, but also individually, they forced me to take my eyes off the conductor. Both of them superb at the dramatic portrayal. Also, it was Officially Roberto Alagna's turn to wear the impossibly tight trousers. There are lots of photos in the Met database but I must draw your attention to this. There doesn't seem to be any photos of his rear view, which is a shame, because it is so rare to see such a perfect derriere, especially on a man who won't see 40 again. Still, it will be shown on TV in the spring, and, presumably a DVD will be out in a year or so. It was actually the first time I have heard him live, and his performance confirmed what I had already decided from DVD etc. He is a natural stage performer. Singing-wise he seems brilliant in all the 'in-between' bits but when it comes to the big number notably Ah! Lève-toi, soleil and Nuit d'hyménée, he is less impressive. Bizarre. I also noticed during that duet, when Anna hit the big O#, she couldn't keep her eyes off the conductor.
Ah, yes Anna! Is their any singer that so divides the aficionados as Ms Netrebko? Indeed, is there any singer about whom I am so conflicted? I am a massive fan of hers, and yet there are plenty of sopranos, let alone other voices, I would rather hear. I suppose because she is so praised, and so criticised, one has unreasonable expectations of her. I'm tempted to say, she's nothing special, when I actually mean, she's nothing perfect, and there are no perfect singers, not even Señor ChestHair. But she is mighty impressive. I couldn't find a flaw in her perfomance, although I have read that she fluffed the Je veux vivre. Maybe she did, and I can't plead ignorance of this arietta, but I was distracted by someone's funky disco thud thud ringtone going off, not once but twice, a few rows in front of me (and again after the interval...if I could have identified the culprit, foreign country or not, I would marched up to them and flung their blasted cellphone over the parapet. And a funky thud thud disco ringtone, puhlease, I was the youngest person in the audience and I eschewed funky thud thud long before I got a cellphone - and I was a relatively early adopter...). But it's as they always say - you have to hear her in the house. Her physicality and stage presence adds to an already impressive vocal performance; opera's a visual as well as an aural artform. If you think Dead Divas on scratchy 78s are vastly superior, stay Shut In with your Mapleson Cylinders and STFU. I enjoyed Anna's performance. Jimmy was annoyed I left the binoculars in the hotel room. As if I would have let him have them to gawp at Anna when I could have been using them to gawp at Plácido.
Overall, a satisfying performance, and I was pleased to get to hear Roberto Alagna who is persona non grata at ROH and relegated to Proms in the Park. But it wasn't the best performance of the year nor even of the weekend. But I shall certainly watch it when it comes on the TV.
Incidentally, Plácido was wearing a lounge suit to conduct, which I suppose is appropriate for a matinée, but it seemed strange. I suppose I tend to prefer my conductors in either full evening dress or Mao-style shirt a la mode of Elder and Pappano. but if he had turned up in jeans and t-shirt I would still have been gawping him at every opportunity. I couldn't help notice how the spotlight picked out his bald spot, which, for his age, isn't especially noticeable (someone once told me that when men lose their head hair it gravitates to their chest...), but did seem so under the spotlight. Sigh. Ah well, such is the lot of conductors - they get to display their irresistible conductors' shoulders but also their bald patches.
Update: I've thought a bit more about what I wanted to say about Plácido's conducting. I think, if it hadn't been him, I wouldn't have especially noticed him, which is a good thing, I think. I noticed him because he is him, if you get me. I noticed that sometimes he had both arms moving in sync, which is probably not a good thing, but at other times they moved independently, which is a good thing. I also noticed that he pointed a lot to cue people in, instrumentalists or singers. And that he can't really stand still on the podium. He was dancing along to the music a lot of the time. Not in an irritating Seiji Ozawa sort of way but just on the spot, as if he was enjoying the music.
ROMÉO ET JULIETTE {319}
Gounod-Barbier/Carré
Roméo...................Roberto Alagna
Juliette................Anna Netrebko
Frère Laurent...........Robert Lloyd
Stéphano................Isabel Leonard
Mercutio................Nathan Gunn
Benvolio................Tony Stevenson
Gertrude................Jane Bunnell
Capulet.................Charles Taylor
Tybalt..................Marc Heller
Pâris...................Louis Otey
Grégorio................David Won
Duke of Verona..........Dean Peterson
Conductor...............Plácido Domingo
Production..............Guy Joosten
Set Designer............Johannes Leiacker
Costume Designer........Jorge Jara
Lighting designer.......David Cunningham
Choreographer...........Seán Curran
