VIEWPOINTS – Orientalism at the Met: Then and Now

This winter, the Met mounted a fascinating operatic pairing: Puccini’s crowd-pleasing Turandot and Bizet’s rarely-performed The Pearl Fishers.  Despite featuring some soaring melodies (Turandot boasts that indestructible aria “Nessun dorma”; The Pearl Fishers has the impossibly melodic duet “Au fond du temple saint”), these operas pose challenges in that they both deal with eastern culture in largely dated and simplistic ways. It was therefore interesting to see how these two productions – one a Zefirrelli warhorse, the other a production new to the Met – dealt with the problematic Orientalism inherent in both of these operas.

turandotBack in January, I attended a performance of Puccini’s Chinese fairytale opera Turandot (RECOMMENDED) in a mammoth classic production by Franco Zefirrelli. Admittedly, my breath was taken away by the spectacle of it all. However, I left the opera house with a somewhat odd taste in my mouth. I was bothered by the cutesy, two dimensional characterizations I saw up on the stage (particularly of the comic trio of Ping, Pong, and Pang), which to me bordered on offensive. And although I realize that much of the fault lies in the opera’s writing, Zefirrelli’s production explodes these deficiencies. As a result, the production, however glorious to look at, lacks the psychological depth that the opera needs in order to come across other than cartoonish. It was to the cast’s great credit (particularly the women – the great Nina Stemme in the title role and the lovely Anita Hartig as Liù) that their characters at least stood out from all the opulent scenery. Paolo Carignani, aided spectacularly by the excellent Met chorus, led a sparkling account of Puccini’s famous score.

pearlLast night, I caught the last performance of the new production of Bizet’s rarely performed The Pearl Fishers (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED), which hasn’t been seen at the Met in a century. This new staging, directed by Penny Woolcock, is a co-production with English National Opera where it debuted in 2010. Despite being tepidly received at ENO, I found the production, which updates the action to the present day, to be ideal – it embraces the complexity and “otherness” of southeast Asian culture without being reductive or dumbing it down. Indeed, the new staging basks in the setting’s mysterious exoticism without resorting to kitschy representation. I was also mesmerized by the soulful depiction of the sea, which plays a central role in the production’s visual landscape, as it does in the village’s spirituality and economy in the opera. As a result, the opera’s characters felt like people of real flesh and blood as opposed to caricatures, particularly with the performers I had the pleasure of seeing. Like the performance of Turandot I attended, the casting was a dream: Amanda Woodbury as Leila (although I wish I could have seen the fabulous Diana Damrau, who left earlier in the run, in the role), Mariusz Kwiecien as Zurga, and Matthew Polenzani as Nadir. The latter pair absolutely thrilled in the opera’s famous duet. As played by the great Met orchestra under Antony Walker’s baton, Bizet’s melodic score never sounded more luxurious.

 

THE PEARL FISHERS
Opera
The Metropolitan Opera
2 hours, 35 minutes (with one intermission)
Closed

 

TURANDOT
Opera
The Metropolitan Opera
3 hours, 15 minutes (with two intermission)
Closed

Categories: Music, Opera

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