Double, Trouble, Toil and SUCCESS! That's the opening of the Live-at-the-Met-in-HD-Season with Tchaikovsky's (heretofore ill-fated) Eugene Onegin.
Obviously it is exceedingly difficult to put on an operatic production at a repertory venue like the MET, with all myriad parts needing to fall into place miraculously. This production presented extra special challenges.
Original Producer/director Deborah Warner had to bow out for medical reasons. Fiona Shaw, (the classical actress, totally familiar to American audiences as Petunia Dursley in the Harry Potter movies,) who took over as director, did an airborne balancing act with a concurrent commitment at Glyndebourne in England. And then there was that well-publicized petition, signed by over 9000, demanding opening night be dedicated to opposing Russian President Vladimir V. Putin's position on gay rights. General Manager, Peter Gelb, turned that down, as you may remember.
But as Mel Brooks would say:"It's good to be the king -- err -- The Met." Ready with a truly stellar cast, and the famous conductor Valery Gergiev extracting incredible sounds from the world's greatest opera orchestra, the HD magic act came up smelling like roses. Contrary to some response to the house opening night, there was no lukewarm reaction from the sold-out White Plains HD audience!
Much, of course was due to the spectacular "vocalistics " of the cast, starting with Anna Netrebko, the afternoon's Tatiana. Evidently the Russian super-star is the only soprano in Met history to have starred in three consecutive opening nights. Her frequent approach to an aria in pianissimo, then building into her gloriously rich full tone, tends to send shivers down one's spine. Her acting is always outstanding, but her growth here to glamorous maturity was riveting.
The title role was quite dashingly bestowed by the Polish baritone Mariusz Kwiecien who was in top vocal form. And Piotr Beczala, the Polish tenor gave us the ill-fated Lenski with superb acting and tone.
Olga, Tatiana's lighthearted sister, was charmingly supplied by Oksana Volkova, the mezzo-soprano who hails from Belarus. Especially persuasive in her acting, was Tatiana's aging Nanny, Larissa Diadkova, the Russian mezzo-soprano.
The rest of the cast, and the chorus, with the orchestra in top form, made this an Onegin to be well remembered.
The opera is based on Alexander Pushkin's (1799-1837) "mock-epic verse novel" of the same name. The libretto by Konstantin Shilovsky is mainly by Tchkaikovsky himself, who kept the episodic form because the story was so well-known to Russian audiences.
Just how well-known became clear during the intermission interviews, hosted by the vibrant Deborah Voigt. Anna Netrebko mentioned that she had known the famous "letter" text by heart ever since she was a little girl. Evidently in some parts of Russia, it was standard procedure for students to be able to recite the entire poem/novel by heart.
Tchaikovsky finished the opera in 1878. It premiered on 1879 as a student performance of the Moscow Conservatory, but soon made its professional debut at the Bolshoi in 1881. Its initial acceptance in various European opera venues, where it was translated into their native languages, evidently was "tepid." But when the composer Gustav Mahler enthusiastically conducted it in Hamburg in 1892, with Tchaikovsky present, there was applause after every scene. And with Mahler spreading its fame elsewhere, it took its place in repertories, (at least fairly frequently,) around the globe.
The Met premiered it in 1920, (sung in Italian,) only to let it disappear until 1957, when it was sung in English, with the title role performed by George London. Destined to reappear every 20 years, it finally made it into Russian in both its revivals in 1977 and 1997. The current production, of course, is in its source language with most of the cast Russian or Polish natives.
The story-line of the 3-act opera is fairly simple, relying on Tchaikovsky's fabulous talent for lyrical coloring to supply the romantic depth and beauty of the drama.
The story concerns a self-centered, pompous hero, who rejects the love of a romantic young girl in a condescending fashion, and foolishly causes a duel that ends with the death of his best friend. Years later, when he finds the girl grown into a magnificently worldly woman, with standing in society even higher than his, he is rejected by her and is left a man facing a bleak, lonely future.
Frankly I disliked the set and staging of the entire first act. The over-the-top vulgar dance sequence, the busy, trite moving around of chorus and/or supers, really was not worthy of the content of the plot. Had it not been for the marvelous vocal prowess of the major singers, it would have been a true bore.
But things certainly picked up after that. The staging of the duel and its terrible outcome achieved a highly dramatic and moving level. I did wonder that the weapons were rifles instead of the customary pistols. I'm sure research revealed that this may have been accurate for the period -- incidentally set not in Pushkin's but Tchaikovky's creation time -- changing it from the 1820's to the 1870's. Why? Could it be for the costuming's sake? If so it succeeded. Chloe Obelensky's garbing everyone opulently in the fabulous ballroom scene, and especially Tatiana's outfit in the snowy finale, were magnificent to behold.
Here both the sets and Kim Brandstrup's impressive, and often clever, choreography were a delight for the eye. And of course, the ear was beautifully served to the last second. Had the music critics reviewed this performance, they might have called it a triumph.
FYI: Some reactions from a few of your neighbors:
Fred and Marian Lichstein of Greenburgh were attending their first Eugene Onegin. Mrs. Lichstein called the experience "breathtaking." She said she found herself totally caught up in the emotion of the singing and the music itself."
Mr. Lichstein spoke about the remarkable improvement of the acting of the singers. "Today's opera performers have to be superb actors," he said, musing that this might have come about especially because of the HD close-ups.
Helen Winston of Rye Brook was "disappointed." The music was not what she expected from Tchaikovsky. The singing was "wonderful,"but she considered the story quite trite. "This is one opera I will not be seeing another time," she said.
Ruth Stein of New Rochelle, who saw the production at the NewRoc, also remarked that the music was not as stunning as other works by Tchaikovsky. "After all he is such a powerhouse." A very knowledgeable theater-goer, she suggested the first 20 minutes were "quite boring. But once the two sisters started singing, the rest of the production became absolutely fantastic." She said the friend with whom she was attending, was so taken, she is going to the encore.
(Incidentally that is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 9th, 2013, at 6:30 PM, at WP's City Center Cinema 15 and NewRoc's City 18.)
