David McVicar’s new production of opera’s venerable double bill was telecast today from the Metropolitan Opera House. First, before I start to pick a few nits, this production worked. It successfully conveyed the raw passion the two tales of jealousy and murder hurl at the audience with visceral impact even after a century and a quarter of world wide non-stop repetition.
McVicar’s conceit was to place both operas in the same Sicilian town about 50 years apart, though McVicar has been coy as to whether they really are in the same town. Cavalleria could have been any place at any time over the past 100 years. It appeared to be set in a large stone or brick warehouse. The place was filled with chairs and a circular stage that McVicar turned so often that a dose of Antivert or scopolamine should be taken prior to viewing. I could discern no reason for any of stage’s gyrations. The chairs were so placed that I wondered if circular bingo or musical chairs were planned.
Pagliacci had a 60 year old motor vehicle in it so you could sort of tell the time period. None of this chronological legerdemain mattered. Cav & Pag work when the performers get their parts right. And for the most part they did.
Marcelo Álvarez sang both tenor leads. His voice is, or was, a solid lyric tenor which is well suited for Turridu. Canio requires a spinto. The Argentine singer acquitted himself well in both parts, though his voice was clearly tired and strained by the end of Pagliacci. He seems by dint of great effort to have turned himself into a spinto tenor. Physically (he’s gained a lot of weight), he is more suited for Canio than the much younger Turridu. This feat (assuming both roles) is one he should not repeat. His voice was solid in its middle register, but was open at its top. There was no squillo. He was singing full voice throughout both operas. There was little nuance in his performance, but nuance is not a requisite for Cav and Pag.
George Gagnidze as Tonio
The Georgian George Gagnidze also sang both baritone leads. He has a dark and rich timbre that gets all the high notes, but with some strain. His middle range is brilliant and resonant. He was the most poorly treated by McVicar’s production. As Alfio the teamster in Cavalleria, he had to sing his song while three dancers pranced in front of him. They seemed to have taken a wrong turn on Bourbon Street and somehow landed on the Met’s stage. And if this weren’t bad enough, Mr Gagnidze had to perform the Prologue to Pagliacci dressed like a vaudeville singer with a fake mike in his hand and three comedians trying to get him off the stage. The Prologue is one of opera’s best arias for a baritone. Tonio dressed like a clown and left to sing the piece is all that’s needed to make the Prologue work. McVicar’s shenanigans were a distraction.
Eva-Maria Westbroek was the jilted Santuzza. McVicar kept her onstage throughout all of Cavalleria to emphasize her centrality to the story. The Dutch soprano is a versatile singer. Last fall she sang the title role in Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Next season she’ll be Elisabeth in Tannhauser. Vocally she was fine. She has a focused and secure soprano. A little more southern passion would have helped. Twenty eight year old Ginger Costa-Jackson was Lola. She’s very pretty and made clear why Turridu preferred her to Santuzza.
Racette and Alvarez
The remaining principal artist was Patricia Racette. She was not done a favor by costume designer Moritz Junge. He put her in a bustier during the play within a play that ends Pagliacci. I also found the burlesque hijinks during the show to be another distraction. McVicar thought they added humor during the events leading up to Canio’s double murder of his wife and her lover, Silvio. The whole point of the comedia del arte play is the suppressed tension that the viewer knows will will soon find a violent release. Racette sang with passion and acted her part well, especially the choreographed bit before the play. Her instrument is still a fine one, though her top notes are a little shrill.
Silvio was played by Lucas Meachem who has a very light baritone. This role is likely as heavy as he can handle.
So how do all these pieces fit together? The Met’s splendid chorus and orchestra, lead with fire and finesse by Fabio Luisi, did a lot to carry the action forward and to give it the power and shock that are inherent in the denouements of both. Luisi has these operas inside both his head and heart. It was his leadership that made the shows work. My opinion is that McVicar’s directorial additions were a mild distraction, the Prologue excepted, that didn’t much interfere with the emotional maelstroms that are at the core of both works. A negative complement, I realize.
The singers, especially Álvarez and Gagnidze, offered threatening portrayals when they were allowed to set schtick aside. I was happy to have Pagliacci’s famous last line spoken by the baritone instead of the tenor as Leoncavallo intended. Gary Halvorson’s video direction, except for a few extreme close ups was unobtrusive. All in all a very good reading of two shotgun blasts to the gut.
A side note – Why did Canio’s troupe schedule their performance at 11 PM? I’ve always thought that an odd hour for a group of travelling players to have a show, especially when they’re in the sticks. The Met must have thought so too. They translated “A ventitré ore” as “At sundown”.
Metropolitan Opera House
April 25, 2015 Matinee
HD Transmission/Simulcast
CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA
Pietro Mascagni-Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti/Guido Menasci/Giovanni Vergai
Santuzza…………….Eva-Maria Westbroek
Turiddu……………..Marcelo Álvarez
Lola………………..Ginger Costa-Jackson
Alfio……………….George Gagnidze
Mamma Lucia………….Jane Bunnell
Peasant……………..Andrea Coleman
Conductor……………Fabio Luisi
Production…………..David McVicar
Set Designer…………Rae Smith
Costume Designer……..Moritz Junge
Lighting Designer…….Paule Constable
Choreographer………..Andrew George
TV Director………….Gary Halvorson
PAGLIACCI
Ruggiero Leoncavallo-Ruggiero Leoncavallo
Nedda……………….Patricia Racette
Canio……………….Marcelo Álvarez
Tonio……………….George Gagnidze
Silvio………………Lucas Meachem
Beppe……………….Andrew Stenson
Villager…………….Daniel Paretto
Villager…………….Jeremy Little
Canio’s Troupe
Marty Keiser
Andy Sapora
Joshua Wynter
Conductor……………Fabio Luisi
Production…………..David McVicar
Set Designer…………Rae Smith
Costume Designer……..Moritz Junge
Lighting Designer…….Paule Constable
Choreographer………..Andrew George
Vaudeville Consultant…Emil Wolk
TV Director………….Gary Halvorson
Dr. Kurtzman,
I enjoy very much reading your articles and reviews.
Just want to comment on the weird time, “ventitré ore”, for the start of the show in “Pagliacci”. It seems to me quite natural if you take into consideration that the time and place are August and Sicilia. I remember been in Córdoba in August and going out to have dinner at “ventitré ore” with a temperature of 40 degrees Celsius. It is absolutely impossible to be outside before the sunset, much less to give a performance of any type.
Greetings from the Dominican Republic!
Margarita
Margarita – Thanks for your kind words. I’ve been to Calabria (where Pagliacci is really set) and Sicily many times and gone to outdoor performances in Siracusa and Taormina in July and August. Most started around 2030. The latest start I can recall was at 2130. So I’m still puzzled by the 2300 curtain for Canio’s players. Leoncavallo, who wrote the libretto as well as the music, grew up in Calabria so he must have known when shows started.
Interesting, Dr. Kurtzman. Thank you for your reply! Also, days start to be shorter in August, the sun going down at an earlier time. It definitely seems quite late. Well, unlike their Northern neighbors, Italians (also Spaniards) like to go to bed well past midnight!