# The Met's New Elisir



## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

Well, I had the good fortune to be able to go to an HD broadcast of yesterday afternoon's performance, so I thought I'd do a quickie review and troll for other impressions.

The set: who cares, really? All the elisirs run together in my mind. There was nothing wrong with it. They could have repainted the sets from the production they just retired, and maybe they did. The music and the drama really overwhelm this opera, such that it could almost be performed on an empty stage, bare of decoration, and I think it would have the same impact. Assuming you have the right singers, of course.

The action: it was, as the commenters said it would be, a bit less of a buffoonish Nemorino than we often see. That act of violence, right after he discovers that Adina is REALLY going to marry Belcore, that slap by Belcore - that changed everything just a little bit. I vote yes on it, but I wonder how others felt.

Adina: I was very impressed and grateful. Netrebko is beginning to add toffee and butter to that wonderful cranberry-colored metal she has, and it was surprising to me how much I enjoyed her part in it. She turned a few phrases very nicely indeed.

Nemorino: who woulda thunk it - Polenzani as a credible romantic hero? But it worked. He too is becoming a better singer. Who knows - he may be becoming first rate. And joy joy joy - he was (I thought) the weak point in Dessay's Tales of Hoffmann in SF next June! Now I can really look forward to all aspects of that production.

Belcore: Kwiecien is a great Belcore. In this he was no different than when he did the role last spring. In a way, I had such high expectations for him, he couldn't possibly live up to them! Ah, the old production was actually a little better for him - his supporting players, his "guerrieri", really had the dance moves down in the old production. Ah well.

Dulcamara: a performance for the ages. Ambrogio Maestri is great. Ah! He'll probably do Falstaff at the Met soon. Won't that be something! It never occurred to me before, that a singing performance can have little corners into which singers rarely get, but you know, sometimes the high notes or the low notes aren't really completely fleshed out and sonorous. That was not the case here. He shed light on all the little corners of the performance, really a very complete and thorough job. Wonderful.

I was planning on Otello that evening, but I was just too tired. I left at the interval. I did see enough of it to have great respect for Moshinsky's old production. The love scene - great. Getting the boat in to dock - very well done. I was also hoping to have enough energy to go to Italiana in Algeri in opera in cinema on Sunday, but I didn't get to that either. Oh well. Elisir was great!


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

guythegreg said:


> Nemorino: who woulda thunk it - Polenzani as a credible romantic hero? But it worked. He too is becoming a better singer. Who knows - he may be becoming first rate. And joy joy joy - he was (I thought) the w*eak point in Dessay's Tales of Hoffmann* in SF next June! Now I can really look forward to all aspects of that production.


Hurrah! Now the weak point can be Dessay again!


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## Dongiovanni (Jul 30, 2012)

guythegreg said:


> Adina: I was very impressed and grateful. Netrebko is beginning to add toffee and butter to that wonderful cranberry-colored metal she has, and it was surprising to me how much I enjoyed her part in it. She turned a few phrases very nicely indeed.


Her voice is getting bigger and richer in colours. I hope she will treat it well in the future, and choose the right roles.

If all goes well, I will join the performance where she will sing Mimi next friday, in La Scala, Milan. I'm keeping my fingers crossed !


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## Cavaradossi (Aug 2, 2012)

Agreed on all counts pretty much.



guythegreg said:


> The action: it was, as the commenters said it would be, a bit less of a buffoonish Nemorino than we often see. That act of violence, right after he discovers that Adina is REALLY going to marry Belcore, that slap by Belcore - that changed everything just a little bit. I vote yes on it, but I wonder how others felt.


I loved the additional edge. The production team didn't mention it in the interview, but they worked in an unmistakable Verdian _Risorgimento_ sentiment. They were very specific that the year of the action was contemporary with the opera's premiere: 1836. I don't know my history well enough to know whether it was the Napoleanic or Austro-Hungarian army overrunning Italy at the time, but it's a good bet the soldiers' uniforms were based on one or the other. And did you notice how they cleverly portrayed some behind-the-scenes gun-running out of Dulcamara's wagon while he was pointedly singing of the praises of doing business with his fellow countrymen rather than foreigners?

In that light, Belcore's unit would be a resented occupying force, however warm the villagers' outward welcome. And Belcore's arrogant brashness, Adina's scheming defiance, and Nemorino's meekness make even more sense.



> Adina: I was very impressed and grateful. Netrebko is beginning to add toffee and butter to that wonderful cranberry-colored metal she has, and it was surprising to me how much I enjoyed her part in it. She turned a few phrases very nicely indeed.
> 
> Nemorino: who woulda thunk it - Polenzani as a credible romantic hero? But it worked. He too is becoming a better singer. Who knows - he may be becoming first rate. And joy joy joy - he was (I thought) the weak point in Dessay's Tales of Hoffmann in SF next June! Now I can really look forward to all aspects of that production.


Yes, I was thinking Netrebko's voice was getting too heavy for Adina, but the voice went along with the more forceful characterization (riding crop and all!). And yes, Polenzani! TBH, I wasn't looking forward to his Nemorino either - but wow. And now I find myself looking forward to his Werther here (Chicago) next month.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

guythegreg said:


> Well, I had the good fortune to be able to go to an HD broadcast of yesterday afternoon's performance, so I thought I'd do a quickie review and troll for other impressions.
> 
> The set: who cares, really? All the elisirs run together in my mind. There was nothing wrong with it. They could have repainted the sets from the production they just retired, and maybe they did. The music and the drama really overwhelm this opera, such that it could almost be performed on an empty stage, bare of decoration, and I think it would have the same impact. Assuming you have the right singers, of course.
> 
> ...


I'm so pleased you enjoyed it & pleased you liked Maestri. His Falstaff at ROH will stay in my memory for a very long time.

You're going to see Hoffmann in SF then next year? How fab!


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## Amara (Jan 12, 2012)

I thought this production was fantastic! I actually really appreciated the beauty of the sets and the painted backgrounds. So nice to see something traditional and lovely.

I'm fairly new to opera (only been attending these Live in HD broadcasts for a year), so I had never seen Elisir performed, and can't comment on the less comic approach to Nemorino.

This production worked completely for me. All the acting and singing was brilliant. I was particularly impressed with Matthew Polenzani, both as an actor and singer. The physicality of the role, and especially the stage fighting, was very convincing. And he deserved that long applause he got toward the end.

Mariusz Kwiecien was brilliant, totally inhabiting his role from the moment he stepped on stage. He's so charismatic it's hard not to root for Belcore.

And Netrebko always delivers for me. She is my favorite soprano out of all the Met performances I've seen. Maestri was also perfectly cast.

Top notch production all around, thanks to a very strong cast, and great sets and costumes.


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## tyroneslothrop (Sep 5, 2012)

I think this was a superb production. I've been hearing a lot of criticism of Netrebko singing off-key, yet I think that she really showed in this particular production why she is one of the leading divas around.

I brought one of my friends and his wife to see this opera. His wife pointed out that in a packed auditorium, she might be the youngest one (at 43yo) there. Now *that* did not make me feel good :-(


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

tyroneslothrop said:


> I think this was a superb production. *I've been hearing a lot of criticism of Netrebko singing off-key, *yet I think that she really showed in this particular production why she is one of the leading divas around.


Well, she kind of does. Although her intonation has been improving a lot lately. (DISCLAIMER: I haven't seen the Met Elisire, although I might possibly do so next Sunday)



tyroneslothrop said:


> I brought one of my friends and his wife to see this opera. His wife pointed out that in a packed auditorium, she might be the youngest one (at 43yo) there. Now *that* did not make me feel good :-(


Please. That is quite absurd. There are young people that go to the Met. But you'll find most of them in the cheap seats.


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## tyroneslothrop (Sep 5, 2012)

Aksel said:


> Please. That is quite absurd. There are young people that go to the Met. But you'll find most of them in the cheap seats.


Perhaps I wasn't clear enough--In the *CINEMA HOUSE* we were in to watch L'Elisir d'Amore (Met in HD), she might have been the youngest one in the *CINEMA HOUSE* auditorium. This is either a true or untrue statement, but certainly not absurd. I suspect it is untrue because I didn't canvas everyone and survey their ages, so probably there was someone younger than 43 there. However, it might have been largely true. Certainly all those around us were older--perhaps all immediately sitting around our set of seats were even older than my age of 48.

Now you bring up an interesting point. Young people gravitate to the cheaper seats. But then one might expect more young people going to the Met in HD performances since at about $25/ticket, those are cheap compared to seats at the opera house. However, in the 20+ Met in HD performances I have been to in the DC area in about 7 difference cinemas over the last 5 years, I have just not seen that. The average age seems to be at least 50+, if not 55+. _(BTW, oddly enough, I've observed that the OperaInCinema.com performances which can be said to compete with Met in HD seem to have a much lower average audience age, maybe as low as 30+. I have no idea why this would be the case compared with Met in HD performances! I'm curious if this is just in the theaters I have been attending for these, or if others are observing this too.)_

I am not going to say this indicts the art of opera--far from it. Perhaps though, it is more a reflection of opera's place in the broader private life in the US. After all, according to operabase.com, the US has only a rather anemic 6 operatic performances per 1,000,000 people and is 31st among the countries of the world in this respect (by way of comparison, Austria has 171 performances per 1,000,000 people).


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

Aksel said:


> Hurrah! Now the weak point can be Dessay again!


lol I take it your not a Dessay fan ...


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

Cavaradossi said:


> Agreed on all counts pretty much.
> 
> I loved the additional edge. The production team didn't mention it in the interview, but they worked in an unmistakable Verdian _Risorgimento_ sentiment.


Gosh - you saw a LOT of things I didn't! Well, congratulations ... now I'll have to look for that stuff when I go to a rebroadcast, which they're sure to offer in the not too distant future ...



> Yes, I was thinking Netrebko's voice was getting too heavy for Adina, but the voice went along with the more forceful characterization (riding crop and all!). And yes, Polenzani! TBH, I wasn't looking forward to his Nemorino either - but wow. And now I find myself looking forward to his Werther here (Chicago) next month.


Yep, could be a good one. Haven't seen Werther yet, but I'm sure you'll have a good time.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

sospiro said:


> I'm so pleased you enjoyed it & pleased you liked Maestri. His Falstaff at ROH will stay in my memory for a very long time.
> 
> You're going to see Hoffmann in SF then next year? How fab!


Yes, Hoffmann and Cosi on alternate nights. It should be an AMAZING vaca.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

tyroneslothrop said:


> I think this was a superb production. I've been hearing a lot of criticism of Netrebko singing off-key, yet I think that she really showed in this particular production why she is one of the leading divas around.
> 
> I brought one of my friends and his wife to see this opera. His wife pointed out that in a packed auditorium, she might be the youngest one (at 43yo) there. Now *that* did not make me feel good :-(


Suddenly it occurs to me that SOMEONE was singing off-key, but I can't remember if it was Netrebko or not. It didn't make a lot of difference, honestly.

And that age thing ... has always been true of opera. It's something people seem to come to as they get older. But both wisdom and opera are still optional, unfortunately, and not necessarily co-existent.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

tyroneslothrop said:


> I've observed that the OperaInCinema.com performances which can be said to compete with Met in HD seem to have a much lower average audience age, maybe as low as 30+. I have no idea why this would be the case compared with Met in HD performances! I'm curious if this is just in the theaters I have been attending for these, or if others are observing this too.)


I've been to quite a few OperaInCinema performances, and haven't noticed any age difference. Maybe it's a geographical thing - in the OperaInCinema area where you're located, there's just a younger opera demographic. Or maybe there are places where the Met name actually turns off young people, although I can't imagine why it would.


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

guythegreg said:


> lol I take it your not a Dessay fan ...


I am, it's just that her voice has been rather deteriorating lately. Like last season's Violetta. Although having heard a clip from yesterday's (I think) performance of La Fille du Regiment in Paris has restored at least a bit of my confidence in her.


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

Anyway, I've just come back from the encore screening, and I have things to say about it.

Singing-wise, it was rather good, although it is a very good thing indeed that Trebs is moving away from this repertoire. Girl does not have the voice to sing Adina any longer. Maestri was I think the highpoint of the show, although I do wish he could have hammed it up a bit with the patter. Kwiecien was good, although a tad shouty at times. Also way too much slapping about.
But the real enigma of this performance, at least when it came to the singing, was Matthew Polenzani. He sings very well indeed, all (well, at least most) of the notes are there, but they are delivered with no sense of conviction, something that was also apparent in his acting, which seemed lifeless (just look at his EYES!). I could not help but feel that Rolando Villazon would have been a much better fit.

The Met orchestra delivered an OK performance, teetering on the side of dull. I blame Benini.

Now, concerning Bart Sher's production: I have a problem with it. Well, not just one; I have several, the biggest one being the complete and utter lack of any vision in the production. He has stated several times in interviews and the like that he wanted to set this Elisir during the Risorgimento, the process that eventually led to a united Italy. He does this by dressing the soldiers and Belcore in what I guess are supposed to be Risorgimento-like uniforms. What a shame it is that light blue really isn't a very good colour for uniforms. But the thing is that Sher can't shoehorn his Risorgimento concept into the opera, and so it just falls flat (rather like he did with the supposedly Kafka-esque Tales of Hoffman and whatever it was he was trying to do with the Comte Ory). Still, I won't deny that it is a handsome production, but Sher seems to have devised the production first, and the concept later. Like that, it just ends up a clunky, confusing and first and foremost bad piece of Regietheater.

Also, someone needs to learn Mr. Sher how to direct a chorus. It was either complete standstill or super hyper. Not good.


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

*Flórez and Eliser*

I have a neat Eliser Met story.

My wife and I attended a matinee performace of Eliser at the Met last spring, 2012. It was the first time we attended a production at the Lincoln Center and it was great! Juan Diego Flórez sang the role of Nemorino. After singing "Una furtiva lagrima" the audience went wild and he did it again as an encore. The audience then tried to get him to do it a third time. He kept teasing the audience with his stage actions. Finally he stops and states to the audience, "The soprano is waiting to come onstage."

Cracks the whole audience up. I almost fell out of my chair laughing. :clap:


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## Amara (Jan 12, 2012)

arpeggio said:


> I have a neat Eliser Met story.
> 
> My wife and I attended a matinee performace of Eliser at the Met last spring, 2012. It was the first time we attended a production at the Lincoln Center and it was great! Juan Diego Flórez sang the role of Nemorino. After singing "Una furtiva lagrima" the audience went wild and he did it again as an encore. The audience then tried to get him to do it a third time. He kept teasing the audience with his stage actions. Finally he stops and states to the audience, "The soprano is waiting to come onstage."
> 
> Cracks the whole audience up. I almost fell out of my chair laughing. :clap:


That's amazing! I have never heard of someone doing an encore mid-production before!


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Amara said:


> That's amazing! I have never heard of someone doing an encore mid-production before!


Villazon does it in this:










and J-Flo has done encores before in La Fille du Regiment at La Scala and Vienna.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

mamascarlatti said:


> Villazon does it in this:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


And Ruggero Raimondi & Oliver Widmer encore the patter duet _Cheti, cheti, immantinente_ in this


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

Amara said:


> That's amazing! I have never heard of someone doing an encore mid-production before!


At a summer festival performance of _Tosca_, the tenor Aleksandrs Antonenko encored "_E lucevan le stelle_." In the reviewer's estimation, the first time through had been bad enough. :lol:


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

Aksel said:


> I am, it's just that her voice has been rather deteriorating lately. Like last season's Violetta. Although having heard a clip from yesterday's (I think) performance of La Fille du Regiment in Paris has restored at least a bit of my confidence in her.


Oh I see. Well, for me her acting skills really kind of overwhelm her voice, such that I can't honestly evaluate her voice when I'm in the same theater as her. On CD, sure, I can play it back and hear problems. In the moment, no, she kind of takes over. Or she can... I'm not really a fan of her Manon! I'm a bit worried about the multiple character thing, none of the four seem really her type, whatever that is. Violetta and Lucia, yes; Manon no; maybe the clue is there.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

Aksel said:


> But the real enigma of this performance, at least when it came to the singing, was Matthew Polenzani. He sings very well indeed, all (well, at least most) of the notes are there, but they are delivered with no sense of conviction, something that was also apparent in his acting, which seemed lifeless (just look at his EYES!). I could not help but feel that Rolando Villazon would have been a much better fit.


Well, I wasn't going to mention Polenzani's eyes, but I did notice them too, and he did have on way too much mascara. But let that pass: I've seen and heard Villazon's Nemorino (who hasn't) and while it's wonderfully SUNG his acting is not wonderful. I liked the juggling, sure. That was cute. But to me he comes across (at least in his stage persona) as someone who hasn't the first idea what he's supposed to want from women, or what they want from him. What he really wants, it seems to me, is someone who will just protect him from the big bad world. This is not a romantic hero. On that score, I thought Polenzani did much better than Villazon would have (or has).



> Now, concerning Bart Sher's production: I have a problem with it. Well, not just one; I have several, the biggest one being the complete and utter lack of any vision in the production.


Yeah, I wasn't going to mention that. I loved his Tales of Hoffmann - it didn't seem Kafkaesque to me, but I thought it was wonderful anyway. To me the disappointing thing about this production is that the pictures beforehand led me to believe there would be a new unified concept both in design and direction that would bring us a NEW elisir, and that just didn't happen. Ah well.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

guythegreg said:


> Oh I see. Well, for me her acting skills really kind of overwhelm her voice, such that I can't honestly evaluate her voice when I'm in the same theater as her. On CD, sure, I can play it back and hear problems. In the moment, no, she kind of takes over. Or she can... I'm not really a fan of her Manon! I'm a bit worried about the multiple character thing, none of the four seem really her type, whatever that is. Violetta and Lucia, yes; Manon no; maybe the clue is there.


To go OT a bit but I'm really pleased I'm not the only one who doesn't really notice flaws in the singing when I'm in the house. Well I do if the vocal flaws are too bad to ignore but if the acting is wonderful I can't tell a B flat from a ground floor flat.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

guythegreg said:


> Or she can... I'm not really a fan of her Manon! I'm a bit worried about the multiple character thing, none of the four seem really her type, whatever that is. Violetta and Lucia, yes; Manon no; maybe the clue is there.


That's funny! Because she IS Manon to me - she has that French light-hearted coquette down to a tee.


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

guythegreg said:


> Yeah, I wasn't going to mention that. I loved his Tales of Hoffmann - *it didn't seem Kafkaesque to me*, but I thought it was wonderful anyway. To me the disappointing thing about this production is that the pictures beforehand led me to believe there would be a new unified concept both in design and direction that would bring us a NEW elisir, and that just didn't happen. Ah well.


That is kind of why I think the Hoffmann is at least somewhat successful. If you don't know about it, you don't notice it. But in the descriptions of the production it says it's inspired by Kafka SO. MANY. TIMES. And once you know that, the production takes on the appearance of a large pile of fail. But it looks good, can't deny that.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Aksel said:


> That is kind of why I think the Hoffmann is at least somewhat successful. If you don't know about it, you don't notice it. But in the descriptions of the production it says it's inspired by Kafka SO. MANY. TIMES. And once you know that, the production takes on the appearance of a large pile of fail. But it looks good, can't deny that.


I liked the production but Kafka didn't come to mind and luckily I had no preconceptions.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

mamascarlatti said:


> That's funny! Because she IS Manon to me - she has that French light-hearted coquette down to a tee.


That IS funny! Ah, how opinions can differ among the true believers, eh? Do you love her video Manon, the one with Villazon?


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

guythegreg said:


> That IS funny! Ah, how opinions can differ among the true believers, eh? Do you love her video Manon, the one with Villazon?


Yes, I do, and think she is perfect in that, and so is Villazon. A wonderful production.


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