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MET OPERA HD
This Saturday, January 17, 2015
 |
| Renée Fleming |
Lehár’s
The Merry Widow
 |
| Renée Fleming and Nathan Gunn |
New Production
January 17, 2015, 12:55 pm ET
Order your tickets in advance; they WILL be sold out by Saturday.
U.S. Encore:
Wednesday, January 21, 2015 at 6:30 pm local time
The great Renée Fleming stars as the beguiling femme fatale
who captivates all Paris in Lehár’s enchanting operetta, seen in a new staging
by Broadway virtuoso director and choreographer Susan Stroman (The Producers,
Oklahoma!, Contact). Stroman and her design team of Julian Crouch (Satyagraha,
The Enchanted Island) and costume designer William Ivey Long (Cinderella, Grey
Gardens, Hairspray) have created an art-nouveau setting that climaxes with
singing and dancing grisettes at the legendary Maxim’s. Nathan Gunn co-stars as
Danilo and Kelli O’Hara is Valencienne. Mezzo-soprano diva Susan Graham takes
on the title role later in the run. Sir Andrew Davis and Fabio Luisi conduct.
Approximate running time 2 hrs. 45 min.
Rosie’s Corner
I am a big Renée Fleming fan; The Merry Widow, not so much. It
is a operetta, a frothy meringue instead of the usual haute cuisine of
grand opera. The plot is better than most; the music is lovely. So why have
the critics come out with teeth bared even though they acknowledge the beauty
of Ms. Fleming’s voice? It’s too talky. Seriously? You want talky? Try Strauss’s
Capriccio, or the Met’s recent production of
Wagner’s Der Meistersinger; both in German yet!
The critics saw the production at the Met, the
grand barn that seats 3800 people. Usually,
hearing an opera at the Met is a glorious experience. The singers with their unmiked,
trained, huge voices, fill the house. There
is nothing like it. As sophisticated as microphones have become, they fail to
catch the warmth in the voices that comes across only when you hear them in the
Met or another live venue. However, while the singing at the Met is wonderful
to hear, the witty dialogues are lost in the corners of the house. In order to
counter that problem, all of the singers in The
Merry Widow are miked but only for the spoken parts. The main complaint
seems to be that operetta does not belong at the Met. The New York critics,
notoriously snarky under the best circumstances, have torn into this new
production like ravening wolves.
I would argue that seeing The Merry Widow at
the Met-HD simulcast may be the very best way to see it. I have seen a number
of live productions, and had trouble hearing the dialogue every time. It was
always helpful to know the plot in advance. This time, however, performed in English rather than German, with the
cameras and their closeups creating the intimacy of the Met-HD; a handsome
couple—Renée Fleming and Nathan Gunn—playing the main characters; a sumptuously
staged production by Broadway master, Susan Stroman, I will just sit back with a glass of wine and
lose myself in the silliness and wonderful music.
♫♫♫♫♫♫
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This week on Rhode Island Public television,
WSBE: (Comcast 294, Cox 808, Full Channel 109, and Verizon 478)
Saturday, January 17, 2015, 8:00pm
Sunday, January 18, 2015 3:00am
Monday, January 19, 2015 12:00am
GREAT PERFORMANCES
Rodelinda
Renée Fleming stars in the title role of Handel's "Rodelinda," a baroque opera about a queen and her assumed-dead husband (Andreas Scholl), and the usurper (Joseph Kaiser) who wants Rodelinda for his wife.
DURATION: 210 MIN
DETAILS: [CC] [STEREO]
GENRE: PARENTS PICKS
(My apologies if you tried to watch this last week; I mixed up the listings. If you tuned in, you saw Satyagraha. Rodelinda is better. Catch it this week.)
♫♫♫♫♫♫
WGBH
WGBH 2, Friday, January 16, 2015, 9:00pm;
Saturday, January 17, 2015, 1:00 am
WGBH 44, Saturday, January 17, 2015, 2:00am
Great Performances at the Met
Le Nozze di Figaro
The Season 9 premiere features "Le Nozze
di Figaro," Mozart's 1786 comic masterpiece, which has been updated to
take place in 1930s-era Spain. It brings to life the upstairs-downstairs
romantic complexities at an 18th-century manor house.
Met Music Director James Levine conducts a
spirited new production of Mozart’s masterpiece, directed by Richard Eyre, who
sets the action of this classic domestic comedy in an 18th-century manor house
in Seville during the 1930s. Dashing bass-baritone Ildar Abdrazakov leads the
cast in the title role of the clever servant, opposite Marlis Petersen as his
bride, Susanna, Peter Mattei as the philandering Count they work for, Amanda
Majeski as the long-suffering Countess, and Isabel Leonard as the libidinous
pageboy Cherubino.
Synopsis:
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OPERA ON THE INTERNET
WITH
DAVE D' AGUANNO
It seems that everyone is broadcasting The Merry Widow this week, so Dave is taking a vacation this week.
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The Met
Saturday afternoon radio broadcast
Lehár’s
The Merry Widow
1:00pm
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