This dual production of the verismo twins is a strange marriage of
directorial talent with megalomania … with much excellent singing shining through. The McVicar productions will be controversial
which probably suits The Met despite any insult to the art. And the second opera IS an insult - from
start to finish. Pagliacci is a
masterpiece, the composer himself a poet, carefully writing each line of the
libretto in the marvellous drama which moves relentlessly towards theatrical
tragedy by way of a play within a play.
The play itself has some ‘Punchinello’ slapstick yet the director expands this to the entire
opera starting unforgivably half way through the Prologue, ‘Si puo?’ a baritone showpiece for good reason.
In the busy and cluttered production of Pagliacci there are dozens of
examples of hilarious and well rehearsed side-shows by acrobats, actors and
vaudevillians. Much of this distracts
and thus detracts from what is happening centre-stage in the vocal drama we
paid to see and hear. The above example
yields laughter from the audience during the Prologue over some shenanigans
with a microphone cord stuck in Tonio’s groin, pulling three goofy assistants out of the
wings, all to great hilarity. The words
of the Prologue compare life in the theatre with the real world and that the
actors real and vulnerable people. The ‘three stoogers’ are brilliant vaudeville actors, yet they
are greatly overused to my mind.
Another example is ‘clever’
but distracting, being Taddeo (Tonio’s) sudden appearance providing an alibi to
Pagliaccio (Canio) for Colombina (Nedda) having set two places at table. Traditionally this is sung as a terrified
stammer ‘credetela’ (‘believe her!’) but McVicar has Tonio sing from the deep freeze
cabinet as if he were shivering - ice and vapour for added realism as the door
is opened to reveal the hidden witness.
The humour spoils the lines to my mind and does nothing but draw
attention to Mr McVicar and away from Leoncavallo’s drama.
Half way through Canio’s famous aria ‘Vesti la giubba’ the curtain mysteriously drops, breaking the continuity to some
extent. Mr Alvarez then continues the
aria while stage noise can be heard behind, yet again distracting from what
should be a magnificent set piece for the tenor. Another unforgivable concession to stage
pragmatism by Mr McVicar who is starting to get on my nerves.
The noise of a truck’s starter-motor, especially a faulty one, is an ugly and unnecessary
start to an opera, despite it being novel, funny and unexpected. It is witless.
Taddeo arrives in the play with a toy chicken (as required in the
libretto - all of McVicar’s devices, however stupid, seem to come from the book) but he then uses
the puppet as a TV character ventriloquist.
Nedda pokes the same springy toy into a saucepan and puts it on the
stove as the attendant ‘three stoogers’ clown with a bowl of whipped cream which ends up on several faces. Even the cooked chicken comes to life again
on the dinner table - but does this hilarious gag add?
Modern Met productions really require two reviews, one for the opera in
the theatre and another for Live-HD cinema broadcast as they are significantly
different experiences. I can only
comment on the theater experience after attending the twin operas (twice)
live.
To state the obvious, only the theatre audience will hear the actual
live voices of the singers and direct orchestral sound unaltered by
technology. Thus voice size is less
relevant to the cinema audience.
Likewise the appearance of revolving scenery and also mishaps … I was told that with a very short delay the
live transmission can be switched to the previously recorded ‘rehearsal’ as a back-up in case of stage or technical
problems. I was not told how often this
is done in practice but it would seem like a useful strategy to avoid
disappointing a huge paying audience around the world (only countries near Australia’s longitude do NOT receive the broadcasts
direct due to the inclement hour of night).
Like the Lepage Ring, these operas, with all their faults, fulfil the
Met's need for something completely different yet maintaining the
realism demanded by a conservative New York audience. On the same open, dark-walled set, the operas
make a stark contrast from each other.
Unlike the bright and busy Paglicci production, the first opera
Cavalleria Rusticana is mostly dark and tranquil with the intense emotion
depending on the musical/vocal components.
It commences with a huge ring of black chairs and a tasteful slow
circuit of the stage revolve finds us virtually meeting each villager … a very Southern Italian thing to do. Then very soon, like a child with a new toy,
the director over-uses the stage revolve to the extent that I was positively
vertiginous by the end of Pagliacci from the never-ending stage circles, both
ways, fast and slow, most to no particularly dramatic point. Most ridiculous was to see the entire chorus
of over fifty singers in the first opera all gradually jerk themselves one way
while the stage revolve goes the other, leaving them all in the same
positions. As a final insult just as the
dramatic ‘La
comedia e finita’
was announced the revolve went into full speed.
Presumably this was to present the empty side of the stage for the
curtain calls …
yet this could have been achieved without interrupting the opera’s dramatic ending. I was intrigued that amid all the realistic
attributes, candles, veils, wine jugs, fruit and vegetables, etc in Cavalleria
Rusticana there was an odd mechanical refectory table with visible hydraulic
expandable supports yet also with chunky wooden false legs. One allows artistic licence but the one day
of the year when village markets in Italy probably did not function was Easter
Day.
To give credit where it is due, the performance of Cavalleria Rusticana
was both menacing and meaningful. The
singing was excellent … from the off-stage Siciliana to the shriek at the end announcing the
death of Turridu. Mr Alvarez played both
tenor roles brilliantly while George Gagnidze played both Tonio and Alfio with
equal effect. Patricia Racette played
Nedda both excellent in voice and as a sexy singing actress. Santuzza was played solidly by Eva-Maria
Westbroek. Lola with the unlikely name
of Ginger Costa-Jackson was born in Sicily and may have been the only cast
member with genetic and cultural connections to the stories. The minor roles were also all well
acquitted. Silvio (Lucas Meachem) and
Nedda had a long section of their duet restored … and charmingly sung by both.
By the modern vogue, ‘things’
happen on stage during each of the orchestral interludes … except for the Pagliacci intermezzo which
then paradoxically is followed by a long pause, presumably for set
changes. The Intermezzo from Cavalleria
Rusticana is one of the greatest operatic orchestral pieces ever written. How bizarre then that a director would feel
the need to deflect attention from it.
Would he put some stage miscellany on stage during a Beethoven symphony
or Bach cantata? Maybe he would!
