This review was commissioned by Mumbai Theatre Guide and is also available at:
http://www.mumbaitheatreguide.com/dramas/reviews/17-english-play-review-27-11.asp
“27/11” adapted by Rahul Da Cunha from “The Mercy Seat” by Neil LaBute.
Directed by Rahul Da Cunha.
Cast: Shernaz Patel and Nadir Khan.
NCPA Experimental Theatre, 13 December 2012, 7pm.
Neil LaBute is an enfant terrible of the American theatre….or rather, theater. His plays take a misanthropic look at the dark side of human nature; are laced with gender politics and imbued with emotional sado-masochism. All of these are apparent in “The Mercy Seat”, his theatrical response to the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001.
Rahul Da Cunha’s adaptation is called “27/11” and sets the play, not surprisingly, on the day after the terrorist attacks in Bombay on 26 November 2008. However, the script is not about the attacks per se; but uses their occurrence as the backdrop for a tenuous adulterous relationship betweeen boss and employee.
In this, Nina Mehta is the mistress of her married underling Raj Mirpuri, who just happened to be at her home that evening, enjoying her “special Bangkok massage” instead of a boys’ night out at the Taj Mahal Hotel....which was the scene of a bloody terrorist attack. His constantly ringing cell-phone becomes the manifestation of the play’s crux: should he play dead and use this opportunity to disappear and start a new life with his mistress? In examining the options, a veritable Pandora’s Box is opened and the relationship laid bare in all its mutual use and abuse.
Rahul Da Cunha’s staging establishes this dynamic from the outset, with these people “faking the orgasm of life” accosting each other in confrontation, coming together in affection or stalking one another warily across the room. Considering this is a wordy script with only two characters, there is rarely any sense of it dragging, as the tension is maintained more-or-less consistently. However, it becomes clear the play depends almost entirely on the performances by the two actors; and here the results are uneven.
Shernaz Patel endows Nina with her customary sincerity and honesty, especially in the more emotional passages which can be quite searing. Even so, one can't help feeling that some facets of her characterisation remain under-developed, as she is sometimes merely elocutionary where more delineation is required.
Nadir Khan does not seem to have got under Raj Mirpuri’s skin. With insufficient projection of both voice and character, this incredibly insecure, selfish man comes across as a too-generalised and nondescript creation onstage. And there is hardly any electricity between him and Ms Patel.
The production’s design by Dhanendra Kawade could best be described as strange. With long, sharp shards of newspaper hanging from nets suspended over the realistic set, which also boasts a window with three staggered frames made of newspaper and a TV of the same material, it seems a “statement” is being made, trying to place the play in context of the horrific events of 26/11. But the truth is, the script has very little to do with what happened that day; and what might have been truly frightening, had that actually been the case, comes across here as quite unnecessary, pretentious and even obtrusive. The living-room set itself, though, is finely judged and beautifully lit by Kawade and Yael Crishna.
It seems this production of “27/11” is a work-in-progress. One hopes the teething problems of opening night will soon be resolved because, with more work and a little re-think, the play’s potential could be fully realised.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Americana as microcosm
“Our Town” written by Thornton Wilder
Directed by Akash Khurana
Experimental Theatre, NCPA
9 December 2012, 7pm.
“Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it --- every, every minute?” asks Emily in “Our Town”, a play about life as it is.
In this, Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning script presents vignettes of daily life in small-town, turn-of-the-century America as a microcosm of universal human condition. However, instead of offering intellectual Existential meanderings about the “why” of things, it concentrates on “how” people live --- their daily chores and concerns, the growing pains of childhood, the discovery of love, the institution of marriage, the finality of death. It urges us to savour each detail of our lives, especially those we take for granted, and make the most of living….before it has passed us by.
This canvas of universal existence is, appropriately, a near-empty stage with a minimum of sets and props; and actions are played-out on it with an extensive use of mime to denote realistic, everyday situations. The audience’s imagination kicks-in, colouring the ‘picture’, aided by sound and light and prompted by the Stage Manager, who acts as narrator, friend, philosopher and guide, taking one through the play from the simplistic scenario of the opening to its surrealistic end.
In Akash Khurana’s production, the script’s three acts have been telescoped into one, dropping some lines and a few minor characters; but the cuts dont bleed. In fact, the experience becomes all the more concentrated and all the better for it, making for an intense ninety minutes. The choice is a courageous one and demands utmost involvement from actors and audience.
It is to Mr. Khurana’s credit that one’s attention doesnt flag….most of the time. There is thankfully no attempt to mimic any kind of American accent (let alone the specific rural New Hampshire variety) but one cant shake the feeling that most of the characters, the older ones in particular, somehow dont ‘look’ right. There seems to be too large a difference between what is said about them (by the Stage Manager) and what is actually seen and heard onstage. It seems the doctrine of ‘universality’ has been taken too far, as some of these characters are robbed of distinctive colour, and therefore, credibility.
Khurana has paced the play judiciously, neither breathless nor somnolent. Though opening night could have been a shade tighter, the action dovetails neatly from scene to scene, some of which are quite complex with multiple simultaneous goings-on, orchestrated masterfully. The miming, however, tends to be somewhat approximate.
The director himself plays the Stage Manager. He was initially a little flat but warmed-up expressively thereafter in communicating with the audience; though one always felt there was a certain distance maintained, perhaps intentionally. The finest performance of the evening came from Lucky Vakharia as Mrs. Gibbs, utterly true and spot-on in emotion and characterisation. Abir Abrar, as Emily, was an unfortunate disappointment, lacking the vocal range and a certain incandescence required to bring this pivotal, trenchantly-written role to vivid theatrical life. The rest of the cast was more than competent.
The production’s sound-design by Dilshad Edibam Khurana is beautifully judged; the many sound-effects, offstage and on, accurately chosen and executed. The mise-en-scène, aided by Akarsh Khurana’s adept lighting, conjures-up a three-dimensional world, extending well into and around the audience.
One only hopes the audience would feel similarly involved, because, on the whole, this production of “Our Town” remains earthbound. The play’s deceptively simple script has nuggets of quiet, homespun philosophy which can transcend into a deeply uplifting, even spiritual experience….a transformatory magic seldom realised in this staging.
Directed by Akash Khurana
Experimental Theatre, NCPA
9 December 2012, 7pm.
“Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it --- every, every minute?” asks Emily in “Our Town”, a play about life as it is.
In this, Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning script presents vignettes of daily life in small-town, turn-of-the-century America as a microcosm of universal human condition. However, instead of offering intellectual Existential meanderings about the “why” of things, it concentrates on “how” people live --- their daily chores and concerns, the growing pains of childhood, the discovery of love, the institution of marriage, the finality of death. It urges us to savour each detail of our lives, especially those we take for granted, and make the most of living….before it has passed us by.
This canvas of universal existence is, appropriately, a near-empty stage with a minimum of sets and props; and actions are played-out on it with an extensive use of mime to denote realistic, everyday situations. The audience’s imagination kicks-in, colouring the ‘picture’, aided by sound and light and prompted by the Stage Manager, who acts as narrator, friend, philosopher and guide, taking one through the play from the simplistic scenario of the opening to its surrealistic end.
In Akash Khurana’s production, the script’s three acts have been telescoped into one, dropping some lines and a few minor characters; but the cuts dont bleed. In fact, the experience becomes all the more concentrated and all the better for it, making for an intense ninety minutes. The choice is a courageous one and demands utmost involvement from actors and audience.
It is to Mr. Khurana’s credit that one’s attention doesnt flag….most of the time. There is thankfully no attempt to mimic any kind of American accent (let alone the specific rural New Hampshire variety) but one cant shake the feeling that most of the characters, the older ones in particular, somehow dont ‘look’ right. There seems to be too large a difference between what is said about them (by the Stage Manager) and what is actually seen and heard onstage. It seems the doctrine of ‘universality’ has been taken too far, as some of these characters are robbed of distinctive colour, and therefore, credibility.
Khurana has paced the play judiciously, neither breathless nor somnolent. Though opening night could have been a shade tighter, the action dovetails neatly from scene to scene, some of which are quite complex with multiple simultaneous goings-on, orchestrated masterfully. The miming, however, tends to be somewhat approximate.
The director himself plays the Stage Manager. He was initially a little flat but warmed-up expressively thereafter in communicating with the audience; though one always felt there was a certain distance maintained, perhaps intentionally. The finest performance of the evening came from Lucky Vakharia as Mrs. Gibbs, utterly true and spot-on in emotion and characterisation. Abir Abrar, as Emily, was an unfortunate disappointment, lacking the vocal range and a certain incandescence required to bring this pivotal, trenchantly-written role to vivid theatrical life. The rest of the cast was more than competent.
The production’s sound-design by Dilshad Edibam Khurana is beautifully judged; the many sound-effects, offstage and on, accurately chosen and executed. The mise-en-scène, aided by Akarsh Khurana’s adept lighting, conjures-up a three-dimensional world, extending well into and around the audience.
One only hopes the audience would feel similarly involved, because, on the whole, this production of “Our Town” remains earthbound. The play’s deceptively simple script has nuggets of quiet, homespun philosophy which can transcend into a deeply uplifting, even spiritual experience….a transformatory magic seldom realised in this staging.
The Met: Live in HD....at the Godrej Theatre, NCPA.
One event, two reviews....the "event" being "The Met: Live in HD" series of opera-screenings from the Metropolitan Opera, New York, now being shown in Bombay.
I reviewed the second of these, Verdi's "Otello", and have written two different pieces on it. One is a feature on Mumbai Theatre Guide, focussing on the somewhat inadequate experience of watching these in the Godrej Dance Theatre at the NCPA. This is also available at: http://www.mumbaitheatreguide.com/dramas/features/12/nov/29-the-met-live-in-hd-feature.asp
The other is a review on Seen and Heard International (reprinted here, below this piece) and includes a detailed evaluation of the performance of the opera.
Opera is the ultimate combination of music and drama; and New York’s Metropolitan Opera is one of the finest presenters of this complex, thrilling art.
In India, our appetites have been whetted by recent operatic productions mounted or imported by the NCPA and Neemrana Foundation. But now we are able to watch truly world-class performances from the Metropolitan Opera, in their global initiative titled “Live in HD”.
In this, select Saturday-afternoon performances are broadcast via satellite to several countries. And, to accommodate those in time-zones where the broadcast-time would be inconvenient, the entire performance is recorded and played-back later via a file saved on hard disk. Thus the screenings in India take place some time after the original broadcast but offer an identical experience, complete with intermissions giving fascinating glimpses into backstage preparation and change of scene. There are also interviews with singers and creative crew which some opera-lovers would probably find interesting, though some might well say “Get on with it!”
The NCPA’s Godrej Dance Academy Theatre is the venue for these screenings; and one wishes it were better suited. This auditorium is shaped like a horizontal shoe-box, with some of the audience seated to the far left and right of the centrally-located screen. Thus, if one is not close to the centre, one should be prepared to watch the video from an extreme angle.
Morover, one should also be prepared for some serious anomalies in the sound, which would be dominated by the output from the speaker(s) to which one is closest. The audio configuration is 7.1, with side and rear speakers mounted on the appropriate walls; the centre-channel located (as it should be) behind the acoustically-transparent screen; and the musically all-important front left and right speakers placed on the extreme left and right of the WIDE stage, embedded in the proscenium behind perforated metal grilles.
Herein lies the rub. For the bulk of the orchestral sound comes from these speakers, whose positioning effectively splits the musicians in two. And the audio suffers from severely curtailed high frequencies, probably because the metal grilles block the tweeters and rob treble sounds of detail and impact. Sadly, this is made all the worse when one is seated in the centre, as then you are way “off-axis” from the left and right speakers, which dulls the treble still further.
To make things even more difficult, the Met recordings usually do not place singers’ voices exclusively in the centre-channel; instead, a voice’s placement in the soundscape is dependent on the singer’s actual position onstage. Thus, voices often emamate from extreme left or right, where the sound-quality is markedly inferior compared to when they are in the centre and reproduced by the correctly-mounted centre-channel speaker. This becomes glaringly obvious when a singer crosses the stage.
But what of the performances? Not everything from the Met is beyond reproach and the current season, presenting screenings of “L’Elisir d’Amore” and “Otello” so far, is no exception. Moreover, at least six of the twelve performances slated for broadcast are of old productions, some of which are available on DVD/Bluray or online with different, stellar casts. The new productions promise fresh insights; but whether they will actually deliver the goods musically and dramatically remains to be seen.
In sum, watching the Met at the NCPA “Live in HD” is a mixed experience. It certainly affords a glimpse into the workings of a world-class opera-house and offers a reasonable facsimile of the real thing. One hopes, however, that the audio problems will be sorted-out. If not, people owning high-quality audio-video systems may well want to watch these performances at home.
I reviewed the second of these, Verdi's "Otello", and have written two different pieces on it. One is a feature on Mumbai Theatre Guide, focussing on the somewhat inadequate experience of watching these in the Godrej Dance Theatre at the NCPA. This is also available at: http://www.mumbaitheatreguide.com/dramas/features/12/nov/29-the-met-live-in-hd-feature.asp
The other is a review on Seen and Heard International (reprinted here, below this piece) and includes a detailed evaluation of the performance of the opera.
Opera is the ultimate combination of music and drama; and New York’s Metropolitan Opera is one of the finest presenters of this complex, thrilling art.
In India, our appetites have been whetted by recent operatic productions mounted or imported by the NCPA and Neemrana Foundation. But now we are able to watch truly world-class performances from the Metropolitan Opera, in their global initiative titled “Live in HD”.
In this, select Saturday-afternoon performances are broadcast via satellite to several countries. And, to accommodate those in time-zones where the broadcast-time would be inconvenient, the entire performance is recorded and played-back later via a file saved on hard disk. Thus the screenings in India take place some time after the original broadcast but offer an identical experience, complete with intermissions giving fascinating glimpses into backstage preparation and change of scene. There are also interviews with singers and creative crew which some opera-lovers would probably find interesting, though some might well say “Get on with it!”
The NCPA’s Godrej Dance Academy Theatre is the venue for these screenings; and one wishes it were better suited. This auditorium is shaped like a horizontal shoe-box, with some of the audience seated to the far left and right of the centrally-located screen. Thus, if one is not close to the centre, one should be prepared to watch the video from an extreme angle.
Morover, one should also be prepared for some serious anomalies in the sound, which would be dominated by the output from the speaker(s) to which one is closest. The audio configuration is 7.1, with side and rear speakers mounted on the appropriate walls; the centre-channel located (as it should be) behind the acoustically-transparent screen; and the musically all-important front left and right speakers placed on the extreme left and right of the WIDE stage, embedded in the proscenium behind perforated metal grilles.
Herein lies the rub. For the bulk of the orchestral sound comes from these speakers, whose positioning effectively splits the musicians in two. And the audio suffers from severely curtailed high frequencies, probably because the metal grilles block the tweeters and rob treble sounds of detail and impact. Sadly, this is made all the worse when one is seated in the centre, as then you are way “off-axis” from the left and right speakers, which dulls the treble still further.
To make things even more difficult, the Met recordings usually do not place singers’ voices exclusively in the centre-channel; instead, a voice’s placement in the soundscape is dependent on the singer’s actual position onstage. Thus, voices often emamate from extreme left or right, where the sound-quality is markedly inferior compared to when they are in the centre and reproduced by the correctly-mounted centre-channel speaker. This becomes glaringly obvious when a singer crosses the stage.
But what of the performances? Not everything from the Met is beyond reproach and the current season, presenting screenings of “L’Elisir d’Amore” and “Otello” so far, is no exception. Moreover, at least six of the twelve performances slated for broadcast are of old productions, some of which are available on DVD/Bluray or online with different, stellar casts. The new productions promise fresh insights; but whether they will actually deliver the goods musically and dramatically remains to be seen.
In sum, watching the Met at the NCPA “Live in HD” is a mixed experience. It certainly affords a glimpse into the workings of a world-class opera-house and offers a reasonable facsimile of the real thing. One hopes, however, that the audio problems will be sorted-out. If not, people owning high-quality audio-video systems may well want to watch these performances at home.
The Met's Moor in Mumbai
Commissioned by Seen and Heard International and also available at:
http://www.seenandheard-international.com/2012/11/26/the-moor-in-mumbai/
Verdi: “Otello”
“The Met: Live in HD” screening.
Godrej Dance Academy Theatre, National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), Mumbai, 24.11.2012 (JSM)
Otello: Johan Botha
Desdemona: Renée Fleming
Iago: Falk Struckmann
Cassio: Michael Fabiano
Conductor: Semyon Bychkov
Production: Elijah Moshinsky
Set Designer: Michael Yeargan
Costume Designer: Peter J. Hall
Lighting Designer: Duane Schuler
Choreographer: Eleanor Fazan
“Othello” is surely the most conjugal of Shakespeare’s plays. The relationship between the Moor and his wife is its dramatic spine, made all the more evident in Verdi’s opera “Otello”. Herein, Arrigo Boito’s masterful libretto graphs this relationship through each of its four acts, starting with unmitigated love and ending in brutal murder.
Each act has at least one major scene between Otello and Desdemona; and it is up to the principal singers to bring their tragic destiny to operatic life. Watching the Met’s Live in HD presentation of the opera in Mumbai, it became all too apparent this relationship was dead on arrival, for there was little or no chemistry between Johan Botha’s Otello and Renée Fleming’s Desdemona.
Ms Fleming is, of course, well-known for her portrayal, starting with her career-making step-in as understudy in the same Met production, soon after its première in 1994. Her Otello then was Plácido Domingo; and their extraordinary partnership was documented for posterity in the DVD release of a telecast performance. Here we have Johan Botha partnering the diva in another broadcast, this time via HD to theaters all around the world, but charged with little or no electricity.
Much of the problem lies in Botha’s stolid, stock characterisation, with little of the psychological layers suggested by Domingo. Some may find Botha’s simplicity disarming, though many others would probably be irritated by his face-making and posturing, sometimes unintentionally hilarious in the manner of a B-movie monster-villain. Vocally, though, he is lyrical and utterly musical, notwithstanding the slight beat in the voice, with secure top notes almost making one forget the lack of squillo (most noticeable in his opening Esultate!) and sheer power associated with the role. This was unleashed only occasionally but to great effect; for example in the shout “quella vil cortigiana!” in the Act 3 duet.
However, in the same duet, it was Ms Fleming who had to shoulder virtually the entire burden of making the scene dramatically involving. Even so, Botha followed with a very moving account of the monologue Dio mi potevi, with scrupulous attention to the score, delivering much of it in a hushed monotone rather than resorting (like so many others, including Domingo) to showy melodrama. Not surprisingly, the highlight of his performance was the final Niun mi tema which was sung with aristocratic restraint; and almost left this reviewer with a lump in the throat.
Ms Fleming, on the other hand, gave a no-holds-barred performance; and occasionally it seemed she may have been trying too hard. Undoubtedly with age, her voice has lost some of its warmth and volume, though she can still float some ethereally lovely pianissimi. Her singing, as always, remains rooted in rock-solid technique and innate musicality; and her dramatic sensibilities have certainly strengthened over the years. As mentioned earlier, she was quite riveting in the crucial Act 3 duet; but her Willow Song was a little too “loud” and, for the most part, curiously unmoving.
Falk Struckmann seemed severely strained by Iago’s high tessitura, hectoring rather than singing his way through the part. Barking and snarling do not a characterisation make; and Mr. Struckmann resorted far too much and too often to such ungainly, extra-musical effects to make his points. Even so, his Credo ended with a thrilling top F, sustained well into the orchestral conclusion; and Era la notte had some interesting touches. His Drinking Song, however, was a near-disaster.
Semyon Bychkov was in the pit and offered a reading of hyper-clarity, with every semiquaver given its due. This robbed the performance of bite, vitality and visceral impact, which so much of “Otello” demands. The ensembles with chorus were the worst affected, in particular Fuoco di gioia! which was funereal instead of joyful. And the antics onstage during this scene could only be described as embarrassing.
Bychkov’s measured approach paid-off in some of the more introspective passages like the introduction to Act 4; but he did a complete volte-face at the end of Act 2 for the Vengeance Duet, which was taken hell-for-leather and threatened to turn into a “runaway train”. The Met orchestra did the best they could, with some ravishing playing from the principal string and woodwind players.
Elijah Moshinsky’s venerable production has worn well, although on renewed acquaintance the many huge pillars seem to dwarf the action and cramp the stage, especially during the great finale of Act 3 where the chorus and supernumeraries are literally squeezed into the space between them. Even so, it is certainly beautiful to look at, aided by Duane Schuler’s shaded, saturnine lighting.
The HD screening at the Godrej Dance Theatre in Mumbai’s NCPA needed better adjustment of black-levels to allow more detail and definition in some of the darker scenes, which seemed a little washed-out. And the sound, despite an impressive array of equipment from B&W and Classé, was a huge disappointment.
The problem lies in the deployment of speakers in this horizontal shoe-box of an auditorium. Those carrying the musically all-important Front Left and Right signals are at opposite ends of the WIDE stage, embedded in the proscenium behind a perforated metal grille. As a result, the orchestra is virtually split into two; and high frequencies are severely muffled. The center-channel speaker is, however, correctly positioned behind the acoustically-transparent screen; and the anomalies in sound-quality become glaringly obvious when a singer’s voice crosses the soundstage from one side to the other, through the center.
Even so, being able to watch the latest offerings from the Met, in countries like India where opera isnt regularly performed, is a welcome treat for music-lovers. In this, the Met’s “Live in HD” is a worthy initiative indeed.
http://www.seenandheard-international.com/2012/11/26/the-moor-in-mumbai/
Verdi: “Otello”
“The Met: Live in HD” screening.
Godrej Dance Academy Theatre, National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), Mumbai, 24.11.2012 (JSM)
Otello: Johan Botha
Desdemona: Renée Fleming
Iago: Falk Struckmann
Cassio: Michael Fabiano
Conductor: Semyon Bychkov
Production: Elijah Moshinsky
Set Designer: Michael Yeargan
Costume Designer: Peter J. Hall
Lighting Designer: Duane Schuler
Choreographer: Eleanor Fazan
“Othello” is surely the most conjugal of Shakespeare’s plays. The relationship between the Moor and his wife is its dramatic spine, made all the more evident in Verdi’s opera “Otello”. Herein, Arrigo Boito’s masterful libretto graphs this relationship through each of its four acts, starting with unmitigated love and ending in brutal murder.
Each act has at least one major scene between Otello and Desdemona; and it is up to the principal singers to bring their tragic destiny to operatic life. Watching the Met’s Live in HD presentation of the opera in Mumbai, it became all too apparent this relationship was dead on arrival, for there was little or no chemistry between Johan Botha’s Otello and Renée Fleming’s Desdemona.
Ms Fleming is, of course, well-known for her portrayal, starting with her career-making step-in as understudy in the same Met production, soon after its première in 1994. Her Otello then was Plácido Domingo; and their extraordinary partnership was documented for posterity in the DVD release of a telecast performance. Here we have Johan Botha partnering the diva in another broadcast, this time via HD to theaters all around the world, but charged with little or no electricity.
Much of the problem lies in Botha’s stolid, stock characterisation, with little of the psychological layers suggested by Domingo. Some may find Botha’s simplicity disarming, though many others would probably be irritated by his face-making and posturing, sometimes unintentionally hilarious in the manner of a B-movie monster-villain. Vocally, though, he is lyrical and utterly musical, notwithstanding the slight beat in the voice, with secure top notes almost making one forget the lack of squillo (most noticeable in his opening Esultate!) and sheer power associated with the role. This was unleashed only occasionally but to great effect; for example in the shout “quella vil cortigiana!” in the Act 3 duet.
However, in the same duet, it was Ms Fleming who had to shoulder virtually the entire burden of making the scene dramatically involving. Even so, Botha followed with a very moving account of the monologue Dio mi potevi, with scrupulous attention to the score, delivering much of it in a hushed monotone rather than resorting (like so many others, including Domingo) to showy melodrama. Not surprisingly, the highlight of his performance was the final Niun mi tema which was sung with aristocratic restraint; and almost left this reviewer with a lump in the throat.
Ms Fleming, on the other hand, gave a no-holds-barred performance; and occasionally it seemed she may have been trying too hard. Undoubtedly with age, her voice has lost some of its warmth and volume, though she can still float some ethereally lovely pianissimi. Her singing, as always, remains rooted in rock-solid technique and innate musicality; and her dramatic sensibilities have certainly strengthened over the years. As mentioned earlier, she was quite riveting in the crucial Act 3 duet; but her Willow Song was a little too “loud” and, for the most part, curiously unmoving.
Falk Struckmann seemed severely strained by Iago’s high tessitura, hectoring rather than singing his way through the part. Barking and snarling do not a characterisation make; and Mr. Struckmann resorted far too much and too often to such ungainly, extra-musical effects to make his points. Even so, his Credo ended with a thrilling top F, sustained well into the orchestral conclusion; and Era la notte had some interesting touches. His Drinking Song, however, was a near-disaster.
Semyon Bychkov was in the pit and offered a reading of hyper-clarity, with every semiquaver given its due. This robbed the performance of bite, vitality and visceral impact, which so much of “Otello” demands. The ensembles with chorus were the worst affected, in particular Fuoco di gioia! which was funereal instead of joyful. And the antics onstage during this scene could only be described as embarrassing.
Bychkov’s measured approach paid-off in some of the more introspective passages like the introduction to Act 4; but he did a complete volte-face at the end of Act 2 for the Vengeance Duet, which was taken hell-for-leather and threatened to turn into a “runaway train”. The Met orchestra did the best they could, with some ravishing playing from the principal string and woodwind players.
Elijah Moshinsky’s venerable production has worn well, although on renewed acquaintance the many huge pillars seem to dwarf the action and cramp the stage, especially during the great finale of Act 3 where the chorus and supernumeraries are literally squeezed into the space between them. Even so, it is certainly beautiful to look at, aided by Duane Schuler’s shaded, saturnine lighting.
The HD screening at the Godrej Dance Theatre in Mumbai’s NCPA needed better adjustment of black-levels to allow more detail and definition in some of the darker scenes, which seemed a little washed-out. And the sound, despite an impressive array of equipment from B&W and Classé, was a huge disappointment.
The problem lies in the deployment of speakers in this horizontal shoe-box of an auditorium. Those carrying the musically all-important Front Left and Right signals are at opposite ends of the WIDE stage, embedded in the proscenium behind a perforated metal grille. As a result, the orchestra is virtually split into two; and high frequencies are severely muffled. The center-channel speaker is, however, correctly positioned behind the acoustically-transparent screen; and the anomalies in sound-quality become glaringly obvious when a singer’s voice crosses the soundstage from one side to the other, through the center.
Even so, being able to watch the latest offerings from the Met, in countries like India where opera isnt regularly performed, is a welcome treat for music-lovers. In this, the Met’s “Live in HD” is a worthy initiative indeed.
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