This was the Met’s first production of Anna Bolena? Incredible. Is the world so full of surefire melodramas with spectacular turns for all the principals? And melodramas featuring Henry VIII in full wife-recycling mode, with nonstop passion, betrayal and executions of the kind audiences love most?
Whatever the reason, the Met assembled an excellent cast and Donizetti’s unstoppable machine did the rest. Which is not to say it provided an evening of fine-grained realism. It was full-on traditional, gown-swishing operatic artifice. Ildar Abdrazakov was a perfect stagey Henry VIII, imposing his bulky frame over Anna, eyes popping out, shouting his head off. Stephen Costello as Anna’s old flame Lord Percy, almost stole the show by standing like a statue and singing with all his might.
The video crew obviously has acquired a new toy which permits them to make super-close-ups. They should return it to the vendor. What point is served by constantly reminding the audience that Anna Netrebko has no physical resemblance whatsoever to Donizetti’s Ann Boleyn, and that Ekaterina Gubanov could not be little Jane Seymour’s second cousin? Even worse, there were constant close-ups of mouths mid-song. Who, other than dental hygenists, wants to see that?
Another camera problem was caused by the production’s sets. I’m sure the dingy greys and blacks that predominated were stunningly effective live on stage. On the screen, however, the scenes were just too dark. Grand entrances were lost in shadows. I suppose these problems are part of the bigger problem of the misfit between the camera—which tends to demand a naturalistic performing style—and opera, which is the extravagant opposite of naturalistic realism.
Comments