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| fathomevents.com |
Bertrand de Billy ... Himself - Conductor
Plácido Domingo ... Miller
Sonya Yoncheva ... Luisa Miller
Rihab Chaieb ... Laura
Piotr Beczala ... Rodolfo Walter
Dmitri Belosselsky ... Wurm (as Dmitry Belosselskiy)
Alexander Vinogradov ... Count Walter
Olesya Petrova ... Federica (intended for Rodolfo)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt6898924/
First performance: 1849
Time: Early 17th Century
Place: The Tyrol
This was my first Live at the Met in a theatre (AMC 14 The District, Tustin). Because I love cinema more than theatre, this is a very nice blend for me: lots of closeups and change cameras/angles. We even got to watch the set changes behind the curtain.
It was great to see the orchestra during the overture, with old and young musicians, and plenty of women. (However, when we saw one of a pair of musicians reach to turn the page of the score, it was the woman who stopped playing to perform that duty. Only happened twice, but still.)
The host interviewed the top 5 in the cast: Luisa, Rodolfo, Miller separately, and Wurm + the Count together (both basses who had just done a duet). IMDb has the host as a woman, I'll submit a correction.
The sets were awful: dark and dreary. We're in the home of a Count with a 7x12' fireplace, but he has no art whatsoever? All dark wood paneling? The clothing was all dreary too, although I liked the men's top hats (I think of them as Dickensian. No wonder: the sheet we got says this takes place in 1850's England, with surprisingly Italian-sounding first names).
We got 2 intermissions, and I was home by the time the 4-hour projected runtime was over.
I was surprised that Rodolfo didn't get a more thunderous reception at the curtain call; I thought he was the superstar. But they were all excellent. Placido Domingo was the draw for me, and he (age 77) held his own and it was no small part. However, I formed the idea that he was looking for his lyrics on the floor (or perhaps monitors they didn't reveal.)
I'd say the house at the Met was about 80% occupied. My movie theatre was about 5% full.
I'm seriously thinking of going to the last performance of the season: Massenet's Cendrillon in 2 weeks. I'm super-thrifty these days, but that was worth $22 to me, and their preview of Cinderella looked fun (except the lead looks about 50.)
Metropolitan Opera, The (presents), cond. de Billy; 8
