The Met opens with Bartlett Sher's new Otello.
by Paul J. Pelkonen
The ocular proofr: Iago (Željko Lučić, left) reminds Otello (Aleksandrs Antonenko)
why Verdi considered naming this opera Jago.
This staging is by Bartlett Sher, now on his fifth production at the Met and his first attempt at mounting high Verdian tragedy. Mr. Sher updates the action to the late 19th century, stripping down the stage picture and allowing the actors to become the center of the drama. He does indulge in a lot of violence toward women in this show, with a chorus member getting cut by a stray sword in the Act I brawl, Iago brutalizing Emilia in Act II and of course, Otello's dreadful murder of his wife in the finale. The set (by Es Devlin, designer of the current U2 tour and here making her Met debut) is a series of sliding, nestling glass boxes, which move according to Iago's design, becoming bed-chamber, town square. At the end of Act III, the walls become Otello's own prison, lit with scarlet to reflect his fevered mind.
A performance like this is a convincing argument for Otello as Verdi's greatest achievement in music drama. The score was magnificently played by the Met Orchestra under the loving baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Mr. Nézet-Séguin is an exemplary Verdian with a feel for the big choral scenes that anchor the first and third acts of this opera and an eye for detail elsewhere. The Storm Scene was played with all kinds of hellfire, helped by the simple image of projected waves and flashes of lightning and St. Elmo's Fire on an undulating scrim curtain. The real fire burst out of the orchestra pit, with the Met players putting their backs into this music and giving a detailed performance that came through even in Times Square. The chorus too was tremendous and tight throughout, and up to their usual high standards.
Tenor Aleksandrs Antonenko learned the role of Otello from conductor Riccardo Muti, and in fact sang it at Carnegie Hall in 2011. Little has changed since then. This is still a large voice that turns hard under pressure, but has the power to cut through in the big moments like "Esultate!" and the Act III mad scene. However, he sounded tentative and even querulous in the softer passages, with the weakest moment being an unsightly tremolo that veered on the edge of a wobble at the end of Act I. All those peccadilloes vanished in the last scene, as he went from tender rapture to brutal murder to suicide in quick succession.
Caught between these two men is Sonya Yoncheva. She took a bold and invigorating approach to Desdemona. This was no wilting flower but an independent woman whose world is systematically destroyed, first by Iago's plotting and then by Otello's madness and unfortunate gullibility. Ms. Yoncheva owned the second half of this opera, with her tearful public confrontation with Otello and Willow Song showing both sides of this complex character. Her "Ave Maria", subtly accompanied by Mr. Nézet-Séguin was the highlight of a star-making performance.
Željko Lučić is a terror as Iago. Clad in leather armor and moving with a fearsome swagger, the baritone captured the oily goodfella-ship that conceals the poisonous evil of his soul. The best moment of last night: the Act II Credo monologue, which stopped the action dead with its power and black-hearted tone. Mr.Lučić received the night's first applause at this point, but it was just the starter for what proved to be a twelve-course meal of manipulation and evil. In support, Dmitri Pittas was a strong, virile Cassio. Jennifer Johnson Cano was a fiery Emilia. Chad Shelton made a solid Met debut as Rodrigo and bass Günther Groissböck was memorable in the small but sonorous role of Ludovico.
In the lead up to last night, the biggest talking point was Mr. Sher's decision to have Mr. Antonenko play Otello without the traditional "blackface" makeup that has been used by Caucasian singers in this role since the opera's premiere. However the similarities between Otello and Iago made them mirror images of each other. It was helped by the act that the two Slavic singers are similar in build, facial structure and demeanor. If this approach was indeed by design, it was an absolute master-stroke.
