Il Trovatore, Live from the Met 2011

The Metropolitan Opera, for those of you who don't know, has a new Simulcast program: Every couple of weeks, they broadcast a performance of one of their operas live to movie theaters all over the country (and all over the world!). Hit performances from this program include the 2009 "Lucia di Lammermoor" (Which I reviewed briefly-- see entry "Bloody Lucia"-- I'll probably go deeper into it later) and  "Les Contes D'Hoffman." I am a huge fan of this program-- the productions are awesome, the best singers in the world come to perform them, performers and directors are interviewed during intermissions, and it's just plain fun to get to go to operas in a town where there aren't many opera houses. Tickets are $24 a pop, but it is totally worth it! Check out the program and find a participating theater near you at: 

http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/broadcast/hd_events_next.aspx

I looked ahead at their schedule back in 2010 and saw that this year they would be doing "Il Trovatore," and that my favorite "Silver-haired fox" Russian opera star (If you hadn't guessed already, DMITRI HVOROSTOVSKY) would be starring as the ever determined and vengefully cruel Count di Luna. "I'm not missing that," I said, "Not for all the bagels in New York!" So I wrote it down, stuck it to my desk, and waited. FOR A YEAR. I even set aside ticket money sometime before Christmas. I knew I wouldn't have much extra money around, so I held out, and although I was interested in "Le Comte Ory," I did not attend any other simulcasts.

Well, my friends, yesterday I grabbed a pal and my labeled envelope with its precious cargo of pre-purchased tickets and headed to the movies. Here is how it went:

Manrico was sung by Marcelo Álvarez, Leonora by Sondra Radvanovsky, Di Luna by Dmitri Hvorostovsky, and Azucena by Dolora Zajick. I have summarized the plot of "Trovatore" in my previous post, "...But Save the Troubadour!" if you would like to refresh your memory.


The voices were stunning, and that is an understatement. It was thrilling to listen to these people sing. Where Leontyne Price had sounded scratchy and stressed on recording, Radvanovsky soared. Her voice was smooth, velvety, full of grace and power. And her facial expressions and body language were beyond dead on! She is the perfect Leonora. Dolora Zajick also had a soulful and powerful quality to her voice, and she was terrifying as Azucena-- crazy to the core yet still weirdly in control. Hvorostovsky, of course, was brilliant-- Has he ever really been anything less? He really makes himself into his characters, which is one of the many things I respect about him, and he did a great job as di Luna: Fierce, bitter, unrelenting, everything you could ask for in a baritone-villain. But there was something about that tenor...


Now understand, I don't have a prejudice against tenors or against Signore Álvarez for that matter. His voice is lovely. Well-controlled. Elegant. But he was doing something very odd, and I'm surprised that the director let him get away with it. He was making the strangest gestures with his hands, as if he couldn't quite figure out what to do with them, in the middle of sustained notes and ornamentations. A professor of mine once told me, "Onstage, you want to keep things simple. Unnecessary movement confuses the audience and distracts them from what you're really trying to do." Álvarez didn't need to move his hands or arms at all-- the strange gestures he chose indeed confused and distracted me, because instead of looking like a serious, courageous, and love-lorn man, he looked like he had some mix between epilepsy and ADD. No offense to people who really do have these disorders; I understand that it's hard and it's something that can't be helped. All I'm saying is that this singer was doing it, to some extent or another, on purpose, and it was just plain odd.


The setting of this production was really interesting: Regency! That's right, empire-waist dresses, 1830's military uniforms, the whole deal. And the set rotated! It made the transition between scenes so much easier and clearer for the audience. There were a couple of moments were the stage fighting and applications of fake blood and make-up really impressed me. All-in-all, it was a beautifully done show. Now, of this production, I could find only one other fault. It came at the opening of Act III, Scene I. 

Ferrando and his men are waiting outside di Luna's castle, singing of the victory they are going to win, etc. etc., and all of a sudden, Ferrando brings in a bunch of hookers! "All right," I think to myself, "Whatever. This is an opera. An opera at the Met. Surely it can't get too raunchy." BUT IT DID. It was really rather disturbing and vulgar, and hey, I'm a goody-goody who doesn't watch sex on TV, but you know what? Sex never belonged onstage in the first place! Opera is a high-class form of theatre. The Met is a high-class opera house. Nowhere in the opera or libretto are hookers ever mentioned. Verdi obviously never intended for that to be part of the show. There are four adjectives that describe the hookers in the Met's "Il Trovatore": They were cheap, inappropriate, disturbing, and completely unnecessary. It really disappointed me.


But other than the purposeless hookers and Álvarez's hand issues, the opera was fantabulous, to say the very least. Apparently, it will be encoring on May 18, so if you're ready for some intense Verdian fun, order yourselves some tickets or go label an envelope with some ticket-money inside.

Until next time,

Your friend and fellow opera-fan,

R.M.