Sunday, April 18, 2010

Etre ou ne pas etre -- "Hamlet" the opera

The Metropolitan Opera brought back Ambroise Thomas's "Hamlet" after an absence of more than 100 years. I saw the Met's HDTV production earlier this week at a local movie theater. "Hamlet" was composed in 1868, and offers ample opportunities for vocal virtuosity. Ophelia's mad scene is a tour de force.

This production featured Simon Keenleyside in the title role, and Natalie Dessay was to appear in the role of Ophelia. These two have worked often together, and have established a remarkable stage chemistry. I'd been looking forward to seeing and hearing that. As it happened, though, Dessay became ill and had to withdraw. Marlis Petersen, a German soprano especially noted for singing Alban Berg's "Lulu", was able to step in on very short notice. She was quite wonderful, especially since she had had so little time to prepare. Evidently she and the conductor, Louis Langree, communicated by Skyping to prepare her for the role while she was still in Europe. Ah, the wonders of technology.

To say that the staging was in the minimalist tradition would be an understatement. It consisted mainly of huge, moving curved castle walls splotched with dark red and other somber colors. While the intent was evidently to showcase the singers, they were often dwarfed by it. A NY Times reviewer described the scenery at Ophelia's apartment as a "deconstructed hotel lobby."

But what I found the most disquieting about the production was the version of the "Hamlet" story that this opera employs. The libretto was drawn from one of the many old stories about a melancholy Dane named Hamlet. It retains many of the basic elements of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" but omits and rearranges significant others. For example, Gertrude the queen is in on the fratricide plot from the beginning, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are absent, Ophelia stabs herself instead of perishing by drowning, there's no "Alas, poor Yorick" although a skull is dug up by some surly gravediggers, and the ending plays out differently. (Evidently the opera was written with two endings, one in which Hamlet does not die -- this one has most often been rejected.)

I hadn't known till recently that this opera even existed, so seeing it was an interesting experience. It's not to difficult to understand, though, why it is so seldom performed.

No comments:

Post a Comment