The Metropolitan Opera Opening Night "Lucia di Lammermoor"
Maria's Review
Was a spectacular night. The stars gazed and the 'stars' gazed. The red carpet was thrushed by celebrity feet, and the hall was decked with la creme de la creme.
The cast list consisted of Natalie Dessay as Lucia, Marcello Giordani as Edgardo, Mariusz Kwiecien as Enrico, John Reyla as Raimondo, and 28 year old debutant Stephen Costello as Arturo.
The basic synopsis consists of a feud between the Scottish families of Lammermoor and Ravenswood wherein Enrico's sister Lucia has fallen in love with Edgardo of Ravenswood. Enrico wants Lucia to marry Arturo (Lord Arthur Bucklaw), even if it means cruelly tricking her into it. She marries Arturo by trickery, loses her mind, and stabs him to death on their wedding night. She then comes down to the wedding celebration in a bloody wedding gown with a bloody steak knife in her hand and sings the legendary mad scene of historic and histrionic proportions, ending the scene with a high Eb in full alt while collapsing on the grand staircase.
It was my first experience witnessing the now legendary Natalie Dessay as Lucia, one of my favorite roles. The energy that Natalie puts out on stage is amazing. She is running and jumping all over the stage during the 'Quando rapido in estasi" and while I'm sure Maria Callas would never have done that...Dessay is a different kind of singer. She is french and she is a graduate of the french school of singing. So we are basically talking about a light voice with a darkened tone. Now...if I were to categorize her Lucia, I would say she would be in the camp closer to Roberta Peters rather than say the Callas/Moffo camp. Callas and Moffo had meaty voices rich in color and tone. Dessay's voice is basically a light voice that she covers in the passagio to produce a darker tone. Almost like a fabricated tone. Dessay has also had several vocal nodes removed in the last 10 years, and there were 'spots' in her voice where the tones in the passagio were 'missed.'. During the Mad Scene she was given a 'shot in the arm" by the cast doctor and she went even madder and spinned into the wonderful "Spargi d'amaro pianto." When she hit thet high Eb at the end of the scene I went crazy just like everybody else. Her top is where the glory of her voice is and that's what sells tickets. Zerbinetta and Olympia are probably her best repertoire. However, she was exciting.
Marcello Giordano has gained weight since last September when he played Pinkerton in Butterfly. But when he got to the final scene in the opera you knew why he needed the extra weight. The final scene belongs to Edguardo and has the stretta Poco Piu section "'bell' alma innamorata." All of us opera singers know that a stretta will unwind your show if you don't have a handle on it. It needed so much energy, and Giordano was forced to sweat it out. It was a workout on stage. The whole success of the show ultimately rested on his shoulders at the last scene. Giordano sang gloriously while laid out on the floor in Lucia's arms who had come back to the scene as an apparition. Talk about splended....Marcello always brings it on.
Was a spectacular night. The stars gazed and the 'stars' gazed. The red carpet was thrushed by celebrity feet, and the hall was decked with la creme de la creme.
The cast list consisted of Natalie Dessay as Lucia, Marcello Giordani as Edgardo, Mariusz Kwiecien as Enrico, John Reyla as Raimondo, and 28 year old debutant Stephen Costello as Arturo.
The basic synopsis consists of a feud between the Scottish families of Lammermoor and Ravenswood wherein Enrico's sister Lucia has fallen in love with Edgardo of Ravenswood. Enrico wants Lucia to marry Arturo (Lord Arthur Bucklaw), even if it means cruelly tricking her into it. She marries Arturo by trickery, loses her mind, and stabs him to death on their wedding night. She then comes down to the wedding celebration in a bloody wedding gown with a bloody steak knife in her hand and sings the legendary mad scene of historic and histrionic proportions, ending the scene with a high Eb in full alt while collapsing on the grand staircase.
It was my first experience witnessing the now legendary Natalie Dessay as Lucia, one of my favorite roles. The energy that Natalie puts out on stage is amazing. She is running and jumping all over the stage during the 'Quando rapido in estasi" and while I'm sure Maria Callas would never have done that...Dessay is a different kind of singer. She is french and she is a graduate of the french school of singing. So we are basically talking about a light voice with a darkened tone. Now...if I were to categorize her Lucia, I would say she would be in the camp closer to Roberta Peters rather than say the Callas/Moffo camp. Callas and Moffo had meaty voices rich in color and tone. Dessay's voice is basically a light voice that she covers in the passagio to produce a darker tone. Almost like a fabricated tone. Dessay has also had several vocal nodes removed in the last 10 years, and there were 'spots' in her voice where the tones in the passagio were 'missed.'. During the Mad Scene she was given a 'shot in the arm" by the cast doctor and she went even madder and spinned into the wonderful "Spargi d'amaro pianto." When she hit thet high Eb at the end of the scene I went crazy just like everybody else. Her top is where the glory of her voice is and that's what sells tickets. Zerbinetta and Olympia are probably her best repertoire. However, she was exciting.
Marcello Giordano has gained weight since last September when he played Pinkerton in Butterfly. But when he got to the final scene in the opera you knew why he needed the extra weight. The final scene belongs to Edguardo and has the stretta Poco Piu section "'bell' alma innamorata." All of us opera singers know that a stretta will unwind your show if you don't have a handle on it. It needed so much energy, and Giordano was forced to sweat it out. It was a workout on stage. The whole success of the show ultimately rested on his shoulders at the last scene. Giordano sang gloriously while laid out on the floor in Lucia's arms who had come back to the scene as an apparition. Talk about splended....Marcello always brings it on.
Mariusz Kwiecien tried to steal the show in act 1 hawking his vocal cords out, but ran out of steam by act 3, and almost foiled.
John Reyla sang with an annoying sideways jaw that was a very ugly habit.
28 year old debutant Stephen Costello sang a stiff Arturo.
The mezzo who sang Alisa got no credit but had a rich beautiful voice and as soon I find out who she is I will post her name. It may have been Alisa: Michaela Martens
posted by Pimp My Voice at 3:34 PM
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