Puccini’s farewell to opera returned for the third time as part of the Met’s HD series. Franco Zeffirelli’s brick for brick reconstruction of Imperial Peking will likely survive the heat death of the universe. The assembly of the Act 2 set takes longer than many of the operas in the Mets repertory. This go around was splattered with international events. Russian soprano Anna Netrebko was booted from the cast for being insufficiently disdainful of Vladimir Putin and his war. She was replaced by Ukrainian soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska who draped herself in the Ukrainian flag during her curtain call after the opera’s conclusion. General Manager Peter Gelb went on at length, during an interview, as to how the Met was helping the Ukrainian war effort. The company has become so enmeshed in social, cultural, and political issues far removed from their ken that Gelb and associates should take a pill or start a course of meditation such that they can focus on the music. So the bellicosity and virtue signaling aside, how was the show? Very good.
When writing about Turandot I can’t resist commenting on the pronunciation or lack thereof of the final t. Hostess Nadine Sierra was hitting it like she were Mike Tyson with cleavage. Tenor Yonghoon Lee dropped them all as if he were playing first base without a glove. The rest of the singers mostly omitted it.
This was Ms Monastyrska’s third HD appearance. She previously was in Aida and Nabucco. She was so good, that after witnessing her Abagaile in the early Verdi opera that I wrote that she was ready for Turandot. Well, a pandemic and a war notwithstanding she was Puccini’s man hater in the Met’s current run of the opera.
She has all the notes needed for the demanding title role. The intensity she conveyed five years ago is slightly dampened. She was closely miked so it’s hard for me to judge how much volume she loosed on the live audience. ‘In questa reggia’ was delivered with authority and security, but if the late great Swedish diva is still in your head, she’ll not be displaced. Ms Monastyrska’s acting was minimal, but there’s not much one can do to humanize Turandot. She’s Puccini’s take on the Evil Queen of Snow White, et al.
Albanian soprano Ermonela Jaho was affecting as the sympathetic female character Puccini could not do without – Liu the slave girl who dies for a smile. Her sound is slender and her voice just a bit dry, but she uses it with complete authority. Her big scenes in the first and third acts were delivered with the artistry and pathos Puccini wrote into them.
Tenor Yonghoon Lee has a beautiful spinto tenor that is a perfect fit for Calaf. He uses his voice with careful attention to the emotional requirements of his music. All he lacks is fiery high notes delivered with abandon. His high range is well produced emitted with accuracy. They just don’t blow the listener away which is what the part needs for full realization. Still, very well done.
Veteran bass Ferruccio Furlanetto was appropriately old as Calaf’s long lost father. After Liu kills herself rather than reveal Calaf’s name he just disappears, presumably to an retirement villa. His passion possessed son completely forgets about him, as did Puccini and Alfano.
Alexey Lavrov, Tony Stevenson, and Eric Ferring made more than usual out of Ping, Pang, and Pong. Their names sound more like an early computer game rather than characters in an Italian opera. But they did convey some human emotions in a fairy tale mostly devoid of kindly thoughts.
Carlo Bossi was an unusually strong voiced Emperor. The part typically goes to a superannuated tenor who sounds as old as the character he is supposed to be. Bass Jeongcheol Cha also displayed more voice than usually emitted by the Mandarin.
The Met’s fine chorus was in great shape for this opera which demands much from the chorus. Despite all the superfluous activity surrounding them and the figures rolling and contorting across the Met’s vast stage, they remained faithful to the music.
Conductor Marco Armiliato took a rather tepid and tentative approach to Puccini’s most inventive and intricate score. His leadership neither added nor subtracted from the afternoon’s telecast. Video director Gary Halvorson was back in endoscopic mode. His superfluity of close-ups could have grown from a desire to shield the viewer from all the extraneous business that cluttered the already groaning stage.
In summary, a fine performance of Puccini’s final, and alas, unfinished masterpiece. Though the opera was threepeated as a showcase for Netrebko and her absence was palpable, it still was worth seeing yet again.
Metropolitan Opera House
May 7, 2022
TURANDOT
Giacomo Puccini/Franco Alfano-Giuseppe Adami/Renato Simoni
Turandot…………….Liudmyla Monastyrska
Calàf……………….Yonghoon Lee
Liù…………………Ermonela Jaho
Timur……………….Ferruccio Furlanetto
Ping………………..Alexey Lavrov
Pang………………..Tony Stevenson
Pong………………..Eric Ferring
Emperor Altoum……….Carlo Bosi
Mandarin…………….Jeongcheol Cha
Maid………………..Anne Nonnemacher
Maid………………..Meredith Woodend
Prince of Persia……..Jonathan Burwell
Executioner………….Arthur Lazalde
Three Masks: Elliott Reiland, Ilia Pankratov, Amir Levy,
Temptresses: Natalia Alonso, Jennifer Cadden La France, Réka Echerer, Katherine Hozier
Conductor……………Marco Armiliato
Production…………..Franco Zeffirelli
Set Designer…………Franco Zeffirelli
Costume Designer……..Anna Anni
Costume Designer……..Dada Saligeri
Lighting Designer…….Gil Wechsler
Choreography ………..Chiang Ching
Stage Director……….J. Knighten Smit
Video Director………Gary Halvorson
