Monday December 29, 2008 - Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna (above in a photo from Playbill) have the leading roles and Lisette Oropesa and Marius Brenciu are Lisette and Prunier in the Met's production of Puccini's LA RONDINE which opens on New Year's Eve. Marco Armiliato conducts. Today I attended the dress rehearsal. It's been a long time since I have been so thoroughly bored at the opera.
The production, updated to the Art Deco era, is a visual delight. The four leading singers were all very well-suited to their roles vocally and they looked well onstage too. The orchestra played beautifully under Maestro Armiliato's ardent baton.
But the opera itself falls flat, in my estimation. The score is a rich Puccini concoction laced with generous helpings of the Master's usual melodic and harmonic ingredients. But the characters are not interesting and the heroine's 'crisis' is one of her own making: the former courtesan Magda, in a fit of guilt over her checkered past, leaves the despondent Ruggero even though he says that he loves her and doesn't really care about what she did before he met her. The whole opera has a much ado about nothing feeling; the current production seems to try to provide some kind of impetus for Madga's decision by having her old 'keeper', Rambaldo, re-appear at the end; but I do not think this is a feature of the original libretto. Another oddity was Magda's final sustained high note; I believe it's supposed to be sung offstage as she leaves Ruggero alone. Here, Ms. Gheorghiu walked to the center of the stage and sang the note as the curtain fell.
Apparently there is an alternate ending in which Madga is so overcome with shame that she walks into the sea and drowns herself. By the time RONDINE dragged to its conclusion, I was feeling mildly suicidal myself.
Above: Lisette Oropesa, Marius Brenciu, Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu in a Sara Krulwich photo from the NY TIMES.
Oh, Philip. I think "La Rondine" is a wonderful opera. The music is gorgeous and the story is just fine. Magda as a character makes perfect sense to me. So what if they are of her own making? Manon Lescaut's problems are of her own making, too. So are Rodolfo and Mimi's. I think "La Rondine" is charming and bittersweet.
There is indeed an alternate ending where Magda commits suicide, but I find it quite heavy-handed and unnecessary. The telecast of the opera from Washington some years ago (with Ainhoa Arteta) used that ending. I don't think it works.
Posted by: DYB | December 31, 2008 at 07:52 AM
Magda should commit suicide in Act I, immediately after singing the aria. Then Ruggero could run off with Lisette. Curtain.
Manon Lescaut is probably my least favorite character in all opera. But at least in the Massenet version there's the duet at St. Sulpice.
Mimi and Rodolfo are victims of their poverty and of Mimi's illness. They are doomed from the start because their love cannot overcome their circumstances.
RONDINE is too contrived.
"I love you!"
"I used to be a whore!"
"I love you anyway."
"I'm so ashamed."
"Get over it."
"I'm unworthy of your love."
"Well...OK...could you ask Samuel Ramey to put out that cigarette before you leave?"
Posted by: Philip | December 31, 2008 at 08:20 AM
If the your real issue with the opera is the story - let's talk about "Il Trovatore." There is no more preposterous warhorse.
What makes both operas is the music the stories inspired.
Posted by: DYB | December 31, 2008 at 04:22 PM
Nope, it's a dumb story set to a minestrone of Puccini melodies that say nothing specific about the characters.
TROVATORE is a dumb story, too, but the melodies are character-specific and situation-specific. And they are GREAT melodies!
Posted by: Philip | December 31, 2008 at 04:28 PM