Sleep-deprived
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- July
- 15
“La Sonnambula” — which PBS’ “Great Performances at The Met” airs at 9 p.m. tomorrow and noon Sunday on THIRTEEN — is the exact opposite of last week’s offering, “La Rondine.” That opera had a first-rate production but only second-rate music (by the usually reliable Puccini) and mannered performances by Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna, who for a real-life couple have little stage chemistry.
Whereas “La Sonnambula” has one of the dopiest productions in recent memory. But it’s saved by the magical Bellini score and the incandescent warbling of French soprano Natalie Dessay and Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Flórez, the Fred and Ginger of bel canto.By now you’ve heard all about this “Sonnambula,” which was simulcast into White Plains and New Rochelle movie theaters in March as part of The Met’s “Live in HD” series. It seems someone thought the story about a Swiss village girl who sleepwalks her way into charges of being a hussy, thereby jeopardizing her forthcoming wedding, was in need of an update. So production designer Mary Zimmerman set it in a rehearsal hall that looks just like the studios you find in downtown Manhattan. The 1831 opera is now about a rehearsal of the opera, in which the story parallels the lives of the opera’s stars, who are also named Amina and Elvino and are also engaged to be married.
Yeah right.
The problem with this art-imitates-life scenario is that modern-day New York isn’t a 19th-century Swiss village. The plot of the opera hinges on Amina’s — and to a certain extent, Elvino’s — purity. Whereas we assume a certain intimacy and sophistication between modern engaged couples. Here the real Amina’s disgrace in innocently sleepwalking into the bedroom of Count Rodolfo — the opera’s third star — and the real Elvino’s outrage make little sense.
And why are successful opera stars sleeping in a rehearsal hall anyway? The original opera is set in an inn. So why not make the update about a touring company and set it in a hotel on the road? Must the viewer think of everything?
I believe the word “disaster” was the one critics most commonly applied to the production, which was roundly booed on opening night at The Met. (Check it out on You Tube.) The snarky New York Times review wondered if the contemporary set, right down to the ubiquitous coffee-maker, was a reflection of our tough economic times. I told my editor that I thought Dessay and Flórez were wearing their own clothes. And sure enough, some of them are. (See the stars’ charming intermission interview with colleague Deborah Voight.)
The ironic miracle here is that 10 minutes into the production you forget it and begin to concentrate on the music. Bellini is that mellifluous, and Dessay and Flórez — singly and together — are that good.
Indeed, they are virtually peerless when it comes to both the spun sugar of the bel-canto line and the coloratura fireworks. His rendering of Elvino’s passionate, despairing Act 2 aria is a deserved show-stopper and her sleepwalking number wrings every drop of emotion from even the softest piannisimo.
Married to other people, they are nonetheless completely believably as lovers. (And as friends. Watch the way he swings her around backstage after the performance, clearly delighted by their work.)
And well they should be. All of the singing is good. So this “Sonnambula” is worth it, despite the revolving blackboard and the spinning bed. (Don’t ask.)
Just listen and savor.
Photo courtesy of PBS’ “Great Performances at The Met” and THIRTEEN
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, July 15th, 2009 at 3:13 pm by Georgette Gouveia.
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I had to put my fingers in my ears everytime Florez gave us a high screech—so unpleasant. As for Dessay, she has no middle register and her voice is shrill and has a forgettable tone. Listen to Gheorghiu sing the sleepwalking aria and/or Callas and you will hear how it is supposed to be sung. As for Florez, someone please issue ear plugs at each event.