The Met starts off their season with a bang, as always.
Here’s the breakdown of this new production:
Lucia di Lammermoor by Gaetano Donizetti
PEOPLE MAKING THE MUSIC:
Conductor – James Levine
This is ALL you need to know. If Levine is conducting, it is gonna be AWESOME!!!!
Lucia – Natalie Dessay
This is Ms. Dessay as Lucia at the Opera de Lyon. Although I personally have not heard her sing, she was chosen as soloist for the Met Orchestra’s Carnegie Hall performance in May. Bottom line: I am expecting to be double-wowed.
Edgardo – Marcello Giordani
Enrico – Mariusz Kwiecien
Raimondo – John Relyea
THE PRODUCTION GUYS:
Production – Mary Zimmerman
Comes from the theatre side of things. She is a highly acclaimed playwright and director. Here’s a snippet from a NY Times review of “The Secret in the Wings”:
“Ms. Zimmerman provides many enchanting morsels of minimalist stagecraft. A forest takes on threatening dimensions as embodied by actors sprouting leafy limbs in place of heads and hands. The failed suitors chase after bouncing red rubber balls representing their detached heads. To suggest a death by shipwreck, an actress steps into a gold frame placed on the floor, which is lifted to symbolize the rising water line.”
It sounds like she might do some pretty interesting things with Lucia. I just hope she doesn’t go too minimalist on us. Opera and minimalist staging just doesn’t work in my opinion. (I was one of those people who suffered through those “glowing shapes” of Lohengrin.)
Set Designer – Daniel Ostling
Costume Designer – Mara Blumenfeld
Lighting Designer – T. J. Gerckens
Choreographer – Daniel Pelzig
THE JACOB RATING:
5 stars out of 5. In otherwords, don’t miss it!
