Audience Enjoys Sher’s Contes d’Hoffmann at HD Telecast
If the audience’s reaction to the January 6, Met Encore Telecast is to be taken as an example of how enjoyable a new opera production can be, then Bart Sher’s Contes d’Hoffmann rates as one of this year’s Telecast successes. The theater director won a Tony for his revival of South Pacific and then turned to opera with a successful Barber of Seville at the Met three years ago. New opera productions at the Met, such as Tosca and Carmen, are getting plenty of scrutiny from print and on-line media this season, and this Hoffmann was no exception. Added to the mix were a number of negative comments over Artistic Director James Levine’s choice to use an older edition of the score.
Luckily for opera lovers, who never get tired of all the feedback a new production can garner, there were lots of opinions to wrangle over. The question of what edition of the opera to present has plagued the opera world since Contes premiered at the Opéra-Comique in February,1881.
In the New York Times on December 26, 2009, Anthony Tommasini spoke about the Met’s choice of edition. “Within the opera world, however, one aspect…has come in for particular criticism. …an edition of the work considered outmoded and questionable by many informed buffs and Offenbach scholars.” At the end of the article, Tommasini comes to Levine’s defense. “As I said, I take no sides about the authenticity or appeal of any of the sources for Hoffmann. But Mr. Levine is within his rights to perform a more traditional version of the work if it suits the needs of his company.”
But David Shengold in the Gay City News in December, 2009, wasn’t having any of that; he just about dislikes everything in the production. As for Bart Sher’s work, Shengold called it, “cluttered, unilluminating.” As for Levine’s conducting it was “without much variety of phrase or a sense of belief in the piece,” and finally, on the edition, Shengold stated, “despite the accumulated research of recent years-the same old corrupt Hoffmann edition the Met has been giving since 1992…”
None of this, however, seemed to put a damper on the audience’s good time as they watched the opera unfold on the screen.
Sher’s early 20th-century look with a cabaret motif pictured an environment in which even Kafka’s angst could survive by using the somber colors many opera directors find so attractive today.
If not everyone liked Sher’s show, it didn’t obscure his ability to get his singers to perform in a continuously natural style that showed up very well for the camera. Gary Halvorson’s camera work was clear in catching everyone at the right moment until half-way through Act Two when he started to speed up many of his shots, diluting the dramatic effect of the performers’ portrayals. Fortunately in Act Three, he opted for fewer camera swings.
The cast announced last season for Contes was culled from the Met’s list of popular All-Stars. Mexican tenor Rolando Villazon was to be Hoffmann, a part suited to him at this point in his career. Russian soprano Anna Netrebko, a Met favorite daughter, was signed to sing the three soprano roles: the wind-up doll, Olympia: the emotionally fragile, Antonia; and the Venetian seductress, Giuletta. Who better to play the fatal loves in Hoffmann’s life than the supreme operatic femme of the day. And bass Rene Papa, whose strong vocal resources and sturdy stage presence was deemed perfect for Hoffmann’s nemises: Coppelius, Dr. Miracle and Dapertutto, and Lindorf in the prologue.
As can happen in the opera world, what was down on paper was not to go up on the stage. Villazon’s vocal state was starting to show signs of overuse, and he ended up with having throat surgery. Netebko’s vocal quality was starting to take on a darker hue that showed her best for Antonia only. And Papa, whose career took him in a different direction that did not lead to the four villains.
The Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja undertook the long role and portrayed an interesting Hoffmann. Physically, he looked the part and acted the tormented lover quite convincingly. He also handled the vocals with ease and, according to Shengold, exhibited “a nicely Gallic dynamic palate,” even though the critic thought his French pronunciation unacceptable along with the rest of the cast. He wondered, “how could Levine permit the almost universally poor or barely adequate French pronunciation?” To be fair, it’s not just at the Met, but in many opera companies in the opera world, French has been given scant attention as a performing language.
As the first of Hoffmann’s loves, Kathleen Kim made an amusing Olympia in her bright pink costume with a bright voice to match. The audience certainly enjoyed her antics as the wind-up doll whom Hoffmann wants to love, and he becomes frustrated as Olympia unwinds before he has a chance to declare his love.
As Giuletta, the third woman in Hoffmann’s fantasy, Ekaterina Gubanova’s mezzo had too many heavy undertones to always please as the sly courtesan who tricks Hoffmann into another false love, but the Russian was powerful in the ensemble. The audience gave teasing glances at all the ladies in Giuletta’s boudoir outfitted in fancy bras and panties who acted out in spread-eagle formation Sher’s ideas of lasciviousness.
The love in the middle was Netrebko’s Antonia, who was the most heartbreaking of Hoffmann’s loves. The Russian singer made a strong vocal and dramatic impression as Hoffmann’s young love, who, too physically weak to survive the rigors of a singing career, dies before the poet can save her. Netrebko has become an audience favorite at the Met ever since her debut as Natasha in Sergei Prokofiev’s War and Peace in 2002. The soprano is nearly as idolized as the great Divas who came before her such as Lucrezia Bori, Bidu Sayão and Licia Albanese.
Alan Held sang the four villainous roles, each one blocking Hoffmann’s amorous pursuits. The bass-baritone filled the role’s persona, and, in the telecast, the audience could see the dashes of evil and the subtle arrogance in his performance that may have not been as explicit in the house. Mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey showed both sides of her character’s personality as Hoffmann’s side-kick and his Muse of Poetry. Slim with an attractive-enough mezzo to fill the role’s vocal demands, she shadowed the poet as he moved from one infatuation to another. In fact, the entire cast looked comfortable hitting their marks and sang their parts with ease.
One of Sher’s best qualities as a director is getting his people in opera to move in a natural acting style. He also was able to get his cast in The Barber of Seville to do the same. We look forward to more opera productions at the Met where his talents may shine.
go to www.operanews.org and click on The Met Live HD for a synopsis of the opera.
