Yes, that NEW Circe Du Soleil inspired set.
First, I was truly thrilled by the casting, those strong, beautiful voices -
well matched and accompanied by rather convincing acting.
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| Terfel - F. St Aubin costume design - Met Photo |
And big enough he did not seem straining to be heard OVER the orchestra as so many have to, especially when the conductor lets it rip.
That said, Levine had the strength to keep the roar of Wagner's music in control and NOT drown the singers (UNLESS they were all individually miked.
Well then, all bets are off).
The other singers were almost equally good.
The Germans (Koenig, Selig and Siegel) among them - what a pleasure to actually understand every word sung (at which, BTW, Terfel did rather as well, often).
An outstanding, both in acting and singing, performance by HGOpera Studio Alumnus Eric Owens as Alberich.
Stephanie Blythe and Wendy Bryn Harmer, Fricka and Freia, respectively, were vocally very good.
And as LOGE, Tenor Richard Croft (he's appeared at HGO in several roles) did well, very well.
Which was exciting to me having seen/heard him previously.
Here is Peter Schreier als Loge, Berliner Philharmics and Karajan
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The ERDA of Patricia Barden....THAT was a special effect that stunned!
Here Contralto Ewa Podles as Erda and HGOStudio alumnus Greer Grimslay as Wotan in Seattle 2005:
Dwayne Croft, yes, the brother of Richard and an old Met acquiantance, was effective as Donner.
And the young Tenor who sang Froh, so it seemed to me, may have a future as Heldentenor!
But maybe that, too, was attributable to the placement of microphones?
What did not, in my personal opinion, come across well at all, was the techno special effects staging-
maybe it worked IN the actual theater-
but on the BIG screen it came across as kind of techno "movie" haphazardly done.
And the camera men were not quick enough to veer away from close ups when Loge, especially, had to keep hiking up his beribboned (looking so fussy) contraption/harness which enabled him to seem like ' a fly on the wall' way too many times. Unless, that thing itched and he jiggled it to scratch- just kidding, of course.
Others looked suspicioulsy like the bows of Japanese obis, on the back of Donner, for instance.
Those contraptions when shown early on on the Rheinmaidens without any costumes on, looked amusingly like hockey goalie gear..including the 'shin straps' (no, not chin straps - actually behind the leg straps).
Once in costume they were hidden well, on the other hand!
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| Path to Nibelheim - LePage/Fillon staging - Met Photo |
There were some special effects I did like very much:
the path to and up from Nibelheim, the lightning of sunup, sundown, the lightning of the 'bridge to Walhalla'-yes, those were beautiful done.
The eerie appearance of Erda, that was visually awesome, and a few other instances.
Gelb mentioned proudly in the introduction the large amount of money (?? thousands) that had to be spent to re-enforce the stage so it be able to hold up the 'machinery' for those special effects. Was it all worth it?
So what's next? Opera in 3-D (deja vu - I've been around too long to find this innovative).
Go dig out your parents' 3-D glasses, young opera lovers!
1 comment:
I, too, noticed that about Loge. He especially had a difficult time trying to walk backwards up the planks--very awkward.
All those harnesses and straps reminded me of Michael Jackson's costuming--I was afraid they were going to break out into the "Thriller Dance."
I liked the staging somewhat, all that technical stuff interests me, but I do prefer a more traditional approach.
Gelb had better be careful how he throws money around. Nothing is permanent, as we've learned in the recent economic downturn.
I was never very much "into" Wagner but have decided I can separate his anti-Semitism from his music and now I want to see/hear everything.
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