Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, N.Y.; January 20, 2009
Mark Morris’s two year old, splendid, dance-filled, production of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Eurydice has returned triumphantly to the Met with a mostly new cast. Performed without intermission, the 90 minute show is a treat to see: The chorus, placed in three semicircular tiers, back the stage; they are dressed (by designer Isaac Mizrahi) as historical or iconic figures – kings, queens, presidents, figures from pop culture, Ghandi, a Viking, Jacqueline Kennedy, Jimi Hendrix, etc. Trying to identify each character is vastly entertaining for the audience, but realizing that these people are bearing witness to and commenting on the universal story of love lost and found and the power of music is the point, and it is well made. Allen Moyer designed the sets and they are functional and good to walk, dance and sing on and around. The dance troupe and three main characters are in contemporary dress. For the final, celebratory scene, the dancers’ change from plain black, gray or plain white into a veritable rainbow of colors – it’s a beautiful finale.
The Met is using Gluck’s 1762 version of the opera (he revised it later) for which the role of Orfeo was taken by a castrato. Mezzos have made careers out of singing it however, and this production was designed with Lorraine Hunt Lieberson in mind; when she died, the part was given to countertenor David Daniels. The revival returns to the mezzo range, and what a mezzo! Stephanie Blythe, probably the most remarkable voice since Marilyn Horne, has the tenderness, the power, the sheer vocal technique and the intelligence and imagination to make the role a star turn while being utterly faithful to the character and music. Her dark lower register can be either warm or strong, her upper range, while losing no authority or quality, is just as expressive. It is a voice of myriad colors; there is as much joy as despair in her sound. “Che faro senza Euridice” is not sung as a showpiece – it is a private outpouring of grief. Ms Blythe is a big woman, but she glides effortlessly through the evening. Her performance is one for the books.
The lovely soprano Danielle de Niese sang Eurydice’s music with feeling and full tone; she is a valuable asset to the Met, as she proved in Giulio Cesare two seasons ago and nher voice blended beautifully with Ms Blythe’s. Heidi Grant Murphy, the production’s one holdover, makes a wonderful entrance from above, suspended on wires, and sings her music pertly if not as prettily as previously. The Met chorus is simply spectacular in all guises, singing from a whisper to a roar. James Levine leads a crisp but loving reading of the opera, with tempi well-judged and at the service of the story.
Orfeo ed Eurydice can be heard again on January 24th, 28th and 31st.
Robert Levine
