[Met Performance] CID:354783
La Rondine {29} Metropolitan Opera House: 01/11/2013., Metropolitan Opera Radio Sirius XM channel 74 Broadcast live
Streamed at metopera.org
(Debuts: Kristine Opolais, Evan Hughes, Stephanie Chigas, Sara Stewart, Christine Thomson Anderson
Broadcast/Streamed
Review)
Metropolitan Opera House
January 11, 2013 Broadcast/Streamed
LA RONDINE {29}
Giacomo Puccini-Giuseppe Adami
Magda...................Kristine Opolais [Debut]
Ruggero.................Giuseppe Filianoti
Lisette.................Anna Christy
Prunier.................Marius Brenciu
Rambaldo................Dwayne Croft
Yvette..................Monica Yunus
Bianca..................Janinah Burnett [Debut]
Suzy....................Margaret Thompson
Périchaud...............Edward Parks
Crébillon...............Evan Hughes [Debut]
Gobin...................Keith Jameson
Georgette...............Stephanie Chigas [Debut]
Gabriele................Sara Stewart [Debut]
Lolette.................Christina Thomson Anderson [Debut]
Adolf...................Daniel Clark Smith
Singer..................Lei Xu
Rabonnier...............Jason Hendrix
Butler..................Roger Andrews
Piano Solo..............Steven Eldredge
Conductor...............Ion Marin
Production..............Nicolas Joël
Director................Stephen Barlow
Set Designer............Ezio Frigerio
Costume Designer........Franca Squarciapino
Lighting Designer.......Duane Schuler
Broadcast live on Metropolitan Opera Radio Sirius XM channel 74
Streamed at metopera.org
La Rondine received five performances this season.
Co-production of Théâtre du Capitole Toulouse and Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
Review of Judith Malafronte in the April 2013 issue of Opera News
"La Rondine" returned to the Metropolitan Opera on January 11, with Latvian soprano Kristine Opolais making her much-anticipated company debut as Magda after a string of high-profile successes in Europe and at Covent Garden. Nicolas Joel's "Rondine" production, which bowed at the Met in 2008, updates the opera's Second Empire setting to the 1920s, with a sharp and snappy art deco look, but Ezio Frigerio's boxy, rectangular sets, in spite of attractive golden Klimtlike murals, are ill-suited to the gigantic Met stage. Act I's double colonnades and Act III's flat floral panels lend a cold, corporate look to what should be an elegant salon and a sun-baked Riviera villa, while the bustling Bullier dance hall of Act II seems to be nothing but Act I's rectangular box viewed on a diagonal.
Stage director Stephen Barlow injected little warmth into this airport-lounge atmosphere; the singers seemed to be fending for themselves, and the score's numerous ensembles never meshed dramatically. Act I suffered the most, with the party girls Yvette, Bianca and Suzy (Monica Yunus, Janinah Burnett and Margaret Thompson) posing awkwardly while the orchestra, sounding lush and
luminous under Ion Marin's baton, often obscured their chatty vocal lines.
Even without a strong directorial hand, Dwayne Croft, as an amiable, sturdy-sounding Rambaldo, navigated the crowded sets with sureness, but Anna Christy's Lisette seemed a standard-issue pouty maid, and her bright, lithe soprano was often covered by the orchestra. Marius Brenciu reprised his Met debut role of Prunier with natural, conversational appeal and a taut, spicy voice.
As Ruggero, Giuseppe Filianoti sported a Puccini look-alike mustache, and his warm, open-throated singing was a delight, in spite of several wayward top notes. Both he and Opolais needed a firmer hand, and perhaps more furniture to sprawl upon, in Act III. ("Non lasciarmi solo" found them mostly on the floor.)
Opolais's cool, elegant sound took a while to warm up - no doubt there were nerves involved in making a Met debut in a new role - but she is a truthful and commanding singing actress. Gentle, delicate moments, such as the end of Act II, or the reading of the letter from Ruggero's mother, were gorgeously sung. Let's hope the Met rewards her with plum assignments in future seasons.