Star-Crossed Beneath the Stars

Those teenage lovers – starcrossed, tragic, and eternal – are at the Metropolitan Opera, and they have a new production.The Met is staging four new productions this season, and the first of them gives us Gounod’s “Romeo et Juliette,” an opera that has been in this company’s repertory since 1891. Monday night’s premiere showed this production to be a success – an odd one, but a success nonetheless.Directed by Guy Joosten, this “Romeo” has an astronomical theme: We see the heavens through what appears to be a large telescopic lens. There’s the sun, there are the stars (crossed or otherwise), there is the moon (I’m pretty sure) – so close, you expect to spot Neil Armstrong. It seems that the state of the sky is supposed to reflect the state of the drama. This will strike some as slightly gimmicky, but it is not uninteresting, or illogical, or unenjoyable.The sets, designed by Johannes Leiacker, are grand, but not gaudy. They have touches of whimsy, but none of silliness. In the middle of the stage is that lazy Susan – or, alternatively, that Tilt-a-Whirl – so prominent in opera productions these days. In Act IV, the lovers’ bed is suspended in the air, sheets billowing. Weird, but nice.And the costumes! They are lavish, appropriate, and fantastic. When the chorus appeared at the very beginning of the opera – all decked out – I thought, “Geez, that must be half the budget right there.” Designer Jorge Jara has reason to be pleased, and proud. Much of the beauty of this production is thanks to him.Sean Curran drew the choreography, and he did so with smarts and panache. Fight scenes in opera are often painful (to watch), and any “Romeo and Juliet,” of course, involves a lot of fighting. The Met’s scenes are credible (sort of) and exciting. They almost looked like the Sharks and the Jets up there.Juliet was supposed to be Natalie Dessay, the star French soprano, but she fell ill, and had to be replaced by Maureen O’Flynn, an American with ample experience in this role. Early in the performance, she seemed uncertain and uncomfortable, but she got through her music – including the delicious, waltzy aria “Je veux vivre.” It wasn’t boffo, but it was clean. As the opera continued, Ms. O’Flynn often sounded thin and a little plain, but by the time she reached the middle of Act IV (after a mediocre love duet) she was fuller, bolder – downright compelling. And her acting was admirable: Juliet’s determination was clear.Romeo was Ramon Vargas, the Mexican tenor, who makes a specialty of these French roles – and does them well. Right from the beginning, he was in superb voice. I have never heard him better, in years of listening to him. He was ardent and tender, velvety and gleaming – whatever he needed to be. And he was almost always on pitch. This was not true in the aforementioned love duet, when both singers were flat, but it was largely true. And such music as the aria “Ah! leve-toi, soleil!” Mr. Vargas sang richly, but not overpoweringly. All night long, he showed a proper restraint.A French baritone named Stephane Degout was making his Met debut as Mercutio, and he was suavity itself – just what you’d want in a French baritone. The Greek-American tenor Dimitri Pittas was Tybalt, smooth and assured. A bass from Iceland – Iceland! – was Friar Laurence. That was Kristinn Sigmundsson, who owns a big, authoritative voice. On Monday night, that voice also had a quality appropriate to the role: kindliness.And the Stephano sounded familiar – who was that boy? That was no boy, but the American mezzo Joyce DiDonato, who is also singing Cherubino, in Mozart’s “Marriage of Figaro,” at the Met. Maybe someday she will be able to play a girl. But girl or boy, she is sensational, singing unerringly, eating up the stage, making it come alive. An opera hand in the aisles referred to Ms. DiDonato’s Stephano as “luxurious casting”: She will not appear in such minor roles for long. She will be a star, pure and simple. But from her, Stephano did not seem a minor role. It seemed absolutely crucial.In the pit was Bertrand de Billy, the Frenchman who is chief conductor of the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. Like several of the others, he had a wonderful night. I had never seen him so in command of an orchestra, and this was true from the first notes. He led the score with intelligence, care, and musicality. He was emotional, when appropriate, but never maudlin. Gounod’s music can sound contrived, ridiculous, de trop – not in these hands. Bless a conductor who knows that Romanticism need not mean stupidity.One highlight: The chorus following Juliet’s death – the first one – was almost shockingly moving.Many composers have treated “Romeo and Juliet,” and the latest is Lee Hoiby, the 80-year-old American who grew up in Wisconsin and now lives in upstate New York. Probably the most celebrated of his operas is “Summer and Smoke,” based on the Tennessee Williams play. Mr. Hoiby’s “R&J” is ready to go, but is not yet scheduled for a production. Excerpts have been performed, however – and they make one keen to have the whole.“Romeo et Juliette” will be performed again on November 17, 21, 25 & 28, December 1, February 21 & 25, and March 1, 4 & 9 at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center, 212-362-6000).

Star-Crossed Beneath the Stars

Star-Crossed Beneath the Stars

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