"Shabby Little Shocker" in Kentucky
Popcorn, chardonnay, arias?
Opera at the movies was like flying First Class at Showcase Cinema De
Lux in Florence October 28.
Big cushy seats, ushers available at the press of a button, menus
offering appetizers to dessert and wine by the glass. That plus "Vissi d'arte" were
available on the luxe level of the multiplex in Florence as Puccini's
"Tosca" played out on the big screen.
This was not an opera movie, but opera "Live in HD" from the
stage of the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
It wasn't the original live transmission -- that took place October 10
during a Saturday matinee performance of "Tosca" -- but the Encore
presentation, a recorded version of the live Oct. 10 event. It was fully enjoyable nonetheless, lacking
only the keener edge that real time performance yields.
That edge was made up for by the notoriety this production of
"Tosca" has earned since its premiere performance at the Met October
6, when much of the audience booed.
Their booing -- which was either not repeated at the Oct. 10 matinee or
not preserved in the Encore presentation -- was not for the singers. Soprano Karita Mattila, tenor Marcelo Alvarez
and baritone George Gagnidze, as the diva Tosca, her lover Cavaradossi and the
villain Scarpia, were given an enthusiastic ovation, as was conductor James
Levine (Joseph Colaneri conducted the Oct. 10 "HD Live" matinee).
Their ire was for director Luc Bondy, who made his Met debut in
"Tosca." For the Swiss theater
director, it was a trial by fire, since his production follows the lavish,
romantic Franco Zeffirelli production that has held sway at the Met for 25
years.
The scorching Bondy suffered at the Oct. 6 premiere was reflected in the
interview he gave "HD Live" hostess/soprano Susan Graham Oct.
10. Bondy said he would not compare his
production to Zeffirelli's because he had never seen it. His objective, he said, was different and
that was "to flesh out the characters" and to "go with emotion
and truth."
The sets, by Richard Peduzzi, are stark and bare compared to
Zeffirelli's extravagant ones, and in acts I and III, they did look dark and
dimly lit. However, they put one in mind
of the famous quote by opera historian Joseph Kerman, who called
"Tosca" "a shabby little shocker."
However popular it may be, "Tosca" is shabby when it
comes to violence and depravity, with murder, suicide, torture and rape all
part of the mix. Bondy has given it a
big splash of cold, cruel reality, with not a little tawdry sex to boot. The Church of Sant' Andrea della Valle where
the opera begins was austere to say the least, with its high, dark brick walls
and lack of ornament. Bass Paul Plishka
as the Sacristan was more grim than amusing (as he is often portrayed). And speaking of shabby, he re-filled the
holy water font from a grimy-looking bucket.
Scarpia's residence at the Farnese Palace (act II) had
plush red sofas and maps of Italy on the wall, which picked up Tosca's flaming
red gown and Scarpia's stony colored uniform.
Act III on the roof of the Castel Sant' Angelo prison was appropriately
gloomy.
As Tosca, Mattila was impassioned, the emotion showing in her voice in
"Vissi d'arte." (She wore dark
brown contact lenses over her blue eyes to give them the proper color for the
role.) Critics made much of Mattila's
stabbing of Scarpia in act II as he mounted her on the sofa. Whatever, Gagnidze sprawled out obligingly
and Mattila even stabbed him again. She
put no candle nor crucifix at his head and feet as the pious Tosca usually
does. Perhaps she was too emotionally
wasted. Mattila implied this in her
intermission interview with Graham where she praised Bondy's directorial
guidance for helping her "get into" Tosca's shattered body. "It helps to feel your pubic bone,"
she said, correcting herself to say "gut" after joking with Graham,
"Is this a family program?"
Alvarez was a heroic Cavaradossi, ringing in his act I "Recondita
armonia" and absolutely stirring in "E lucevan le stelle" in the
last act. He was a pillar for Tosca,
who, if anything, came off as a weaker character by comparison.
Georgian baritone Gagnidze (who joined the cast on a week's notice after
Finnish baritone Juha Uusitalo fell ill) sang Scarpia with heft and
polish, carrying easily over the chorus in the act I "Te Deum." At the same time, he made the lecherous police chief
utterly slimy, not a kind of ice cold dignitary as he is sometimes
portrayed.
If anyone should be able to
parade lurid sex at the opera, it is Scarpia and sure enough, he had three scantily clad
"female admirers" hanging onto him before Tosca arrived at his
apartment in act II. He also ogled the
statue of the Madonna during the "Te Deum," even kissing her on
the lips.
Tosca's leap to her death after Cavaradossi is shot in the last act was
cut off, the curtain descending quickly as what looked like her body flew from
a window of the prison tower. This
displeased the New York audience Oct. 6, and it does seem like a better
ending could have been found.
This was my first "Live in HD" experience and there is much to
be said for it. Operas are sometimes
made into movies, of course, but this is the real thing, live from the opera
house itself. The award-winning series
(Peabody and Emmy Awards) has drawn flocks to theaters all over the world and,
despite some initial skepticism, is credited with helping to revive the art
form itself.
Created by Met general manager Peter Gelb in 2006, "Live in
HD" is being transmitted this season into over 1,000 theaters in 42
countries on six continents in four languages (with subtitles). The series comprises nine operas during
2009-10. Live transmissions are on
Saturday afternoons, with Encore presentations the second or third week after
each live event.
Yet to come are:
"Aida." Giuseppe Verdi. Encore, November 11. Violetta
Urmana (Aida), Dolora Zajick (Amneris), Johan Botha (Radames), Carlo Guelfi
(Amonasro), Roberto Scandiuzzi (Ramfis), Stefan Kocan (The Pharaoh). Production, Sonja Frisell. Conductor, Daniele
Gatti.
"Turandot." Giacomo Puccini. November 7. Encore,
November 18. Maria Guleghina (Turandot), Marina Poplavskaya (Liu), Marcello Giordani
(Calaf), Samuel Ramey (Timur).
Production, Franco Zeffirelli. Conductor, Andris Nelsons.
"The Tales of Hoffmann." Jacques Offenbach. December
19. Encore, January 6. Kathleen Kim (Olympia), Anna Netrebko (Antonia),
Ekaterina Gubanova (Giuletta), Kate Lindsey (Nicklausse), Joseph Calleja
(Hoffmann), Alan Held (Four Villains). Production, Bartlett Sher. Conductor,
James Levine.
"Der Rosenkavalier." Richard Strauss. January 9.
Encore, January 27. Renee Fleming (Marschallin), Susan Graham (Octavian),
Christine Schafer (Sophie), Eric Cutler (Italian Singer), Thomas Allen
(Faninal), Kristinn Sigmundsson (Baron Ochs). Production, Nathaniel Merrill.
Conductor, Levine.
"Carmen." Georges
Bizet. January 16. Encore, February 3. Barbara Frittoli (Micaela), Elina
Garanca (Carmen), Roberto Alagna (Don Jose), Mariusz Kwiecien (Escamillo).
Production, Richard Eyre. Conductor, Yannick Nezet-Seguin.
"Simon Boccanegra." Giuseppe Verdi. February 6. Encore,
February 24. Adrianne Pieczonka (Amelia Grimaldi), Marcello Giordani (Gabriele
Adorno), Placido Domingo (Simon Boccanegra), James Morris (Jacopo Fiesco).
Production, Giancarlo del Monaco. Conductor, James Levine.
"Hamlet." Ambroise
Thomas. March 27. Encore, April 14. Natalie Dessay (Ophelie), Jennifer Larmore
(Gertrude), Toby Spence (Laerte), Simon Keenlyside (Hamlet), James Morris
(Claudius). Production, Patrice Caurier, Moshe Leiser. Conductor, Louis
Langree.
"Armida." Gioachino Rossini. May 1. Encore, May 19.
Renee Fleming (Armida), Lawrence Brownlee (Rinaldo), Bruce Ford (Goffredo),
Jose Manuel Zapata (Gernando), Barry Banks (Carlo), Kobie van Rensburg
(Ubaldo). Production, Mary Zimmerman. Conductor, Riccardo Frizza.
"Live in HD" productions are transmitted to these movie
theaters in Greater Cincinnati:
Regal Deerfield Town Center, 5500 Deerfield Blvd., Mason, OH 45040
Showcase Cinema De Lux, 7860 Mall Road, Florence, KY 41042
Springdale Cinema De Lux 18, 12064 Springfield Pike, Cincinnati, OH
45246
For further information and to order tickets, visit http://www.ncm.com/Fathom/Opera/MetLive09_10Series.aspx