Falstaff
Music by Giuseppe Verdi, Libretto by Arrigo Boito
Performance of Saturday evening, October 22, 2005; the 175th Metropolitan Opera performance of the work; the final performance of the season.
Conductor: James Levine
Falstaff: Louis Otey (substituting for Bryn Terfel)
Ford: Roberto Frontali
Alice Ford: Patricia Racette
Meg Page: Maria Zifchak
Nannetta: Heidi Grant Murphy
Mistress Quickly: Stephanie Blythe
Bardolfo: Jean-Paul Fouchecourt (replaced after Act I, Scene I by John McVeigh)
Pistola: Mikhail Petrenko
Dr. Caius: Peter Bronder
Most of the professional reviews of the Met's latest revival of Falstaff were utter raves, saying it was not only the best performance of this opera in years, but one of the Met's greatest achievements in years, period, raving about the quality of the ensemble. Since I had already seen the production in 2002, and was not totally enamored of the casting of Frontali and Murphy, these reviews were what put this on my "must-see" list. The fact that a near orgy of buying musical events in late September considerably drained my purse, plus the Jewish High Holy Days, meant I had to delay Falstaff to either the October 15th or October 22nd performance. Unfortunately, I just "didn't feel like going" on October 15, so if I wanted to go at all, I had to go to last night's performance.
My eagle-eyed friend Brad Wilber, who runs the wonderful Met Future Season's page, let me know on Thursday that he had looked at the Met website and found that Terfel had cancelled - whether due to illness or wanting to go home to his family in Wales early, I have no idea - and was being replaced by Louis Otey. Despite an almost-ideal female cast, I was considering forgoing the Falstaff because of this. New York City Opera was performing Dukas' Ariane et Barbe-Bleu, an opera I had never seen live(1), and Saturday night was my last chance to see it. In the end, it was my Shabbat nap that made the decision for me - I woke up too late to arrive on time for NYCO's 7:30 performance!
Baritone Louis Otey, headshot (I could not find any pictures of him as Falstaff)
I first saw Otey about 12 years ago in The Student Prince at NYCO, as Dr. Engel (the title character's wise old tutor) and I think I've seen him there a few more times, although I can't be sure because I don't keep the kinds of records of my NYCO visits that I do of the Met, and they don't have an easily accessible performance database. I've definitely seen him at the Met as Fieramosca in Benvenuto Cellini and Carbon in Cyrano de Bergerac. It's hard enough under any circumstances to come into a performance at the end of the run, especially when it's a relatively unknown singer replacing a superstar, but Falstaff is probably the worst opera for this to happen because it's such a well-coordinated ensemble effort. Matters were not helped when at the end of the first scene, the pause to change the set went on, and on, and on, until finally the stage manager came out and announced that Jean-Paul Fouchecourt was injured during the scene change and to save time, they would be having the intermission now. As you can imagine, some of the performances energy was dissipated because of this, and the performance still ended almost half an hour late (2).
No doubt because of all that, it took some time for Otey to fully integrate himself with the rest of the cast, and initially his voice wasn't quite big enough to ride over the orchestra. After the enforced break, however, either he was more warmed up, or Levine was better able to judge how far to take down the orchestra to better accomodate him. The problem ultimately was though Otey has a good, solid bass-baritone voice and he's a decent actor who eventually interacted very well with his stagemates, he simply doesn't have an instantly recognizable instrument or the overwhelming presence and charisma that someone like Terfel can bring to this role, and what this role needs. It was also too obvious that this Falstaff was a relatively slender man in a fat suit.
Roberto Frontali was a real surprise. I first saw him as a bright, likeable Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia in 1995, but on both broadcasts and recordings - most recently a duet disc with the wonderful Ramon Vargas, he has been something of a dull dog, especially in Verdi. Seeing him live for the first time in 10 years, I was shocked by how fine a Verdian he seems. It may simply be that microphones, whether studio or stage, don't do justice to his voice. Frontali's voice here had real core, presence and bite, and "E sogno? O realta?" was a dramatic tour-de-force. He also did a good job of capturing Ford's officiousness, and later chagrin and repentance.
The Merry Wives of Windsor (l. to r.): Maria Zifchak as Meg Page, Heidi Grant Murphy as Nannetta, Stephanie Blythe as Mistress Quickly, and Patricia Racette as Alice Ford.
The Merry Wives were indeed a fabulous group. While I don't think Patricia Racette has the je ne sais quoi that makes a great soprano, I have always seen her as a thoughtful, intelligent artist whose performances are always worth attending, although not necessarily running to. Her radiant top was effective here in conveying both high spirits and pathos. While listening to this I kept thinking that she would make an excellent Elisabetta in Don Carlo. And since she's done Butterfly in both Houston and on the West Coast, is it too much to ask that she does it at the Met? We're not exactly drowning in great Butterflies, especially as the most worthy candidate (you know who!) will never do it!
Unfortunately for Maria Zifchak, Meg Page is a role where it is very easy for the singer to get lost in the ensemble, the same happened with the wonderful and grossly underrrated Suzanne Mentzer in my previous outing. Nevertheless what I was able to make out from her was of very high quality.
Other than Frontali's Ford, the other big surprise for me was just how good a Nannetta Heidi Grant Murphy was. I tend not to like "soubrette" voices, as much as I may admire the artistry of those who have them, preferring a fuller sound - Barbara Bonney is as light as I normally would like in this sort of repertory, although I am quickly warming to the marvelous Isabel Bayrakdarian. Murphy previously struck me as particularly "white-voiced" as Servilia in La Clemenza di Tito, even though that did serve to bring out the character's innocence and sweetness. These qualities, as well as romantic ardor and mischief, were more than evident here, but this time Murphy's voice seemed fuller than on previous outings, and unlike Camilla Tilling in 2002, totally even throughout her range. Her "Fairy Song" in the last act was truly magical.
As her lover, Matthew Polenzani didn't have quite the level of honeyed sweetness I would like (his pianissimi need a little work), but sang beautifully and was both ardent and totally believable. So far he's the most promising American lyric tenor in some time - I only hope that he doesn't ruin his immense potential the way Paul Groves and (sniff!) Gregory Turay seem to have.
As far as I'm concerned, however, the star of the show was contralto (yes! a true contralto, not "just" a mezzo-soprano) Stephanie Blythe. While her performance of Mistress Quickly in 2002 was excellent, here it was spectacular. Here she showed a rich, plummy, booming sound, with magnificent comic chops - particularly in the scenes with Otey and the moments where she is spoofing Falstaff to the other Merry Wives, as well as her "witchy" behavior in the final act - and the ability to truly command the stage. Blythe is probably greatest American singer under 50 before the public today - and the only one who actually deserves all the attention she gets, if not more. A protegee of Marilyn Horne, Blythe is rightly called by many people her heir and even sounds uncannily like her. I first noticed her ten years ago when she was still in the Met's Young Artists Program, thrilled with joy over her star-making Cornelias in 1999 and 2000 and have watched her continue to grow. Note that you might want to read my review on Amazon of her stunning Handel and Bach disc; unfortunately, I haven't had the chance to buy her Brahms/Mahler/Wagner lieder album.
While John McVeigh couldn't make Bardolfo memorable the way Fouchècourt did in 2002 - the difference between Act I and what followed was palpable, he sang and acted the part well. His voice is perhaps a bit too sweet for this ne'er-do-well. Mikhail Petrenko sonorous, dark grained bass did make Pistola memorable. British tenor Peter Bronder, who made his debut on the first night of the run, created an incisive portrait of Dr. Caius and I hope to see him back at the Met in other character roles.
The "refurbishment" of this production done for the 2001-2002 "Verdi Season" was my first encounter with this production. Basically. Considering that Nicolas Hytner created an absolutely wonderful production of The Magic Flute for the English National Opera, and some excellent Handel stagings, what could have he come up for Falstaff which would have aroused such ire not only from James Levine but also from Met Technical director Joseph Clark?
If not the "performance for the ages" that this might have been with Terfel's presence and without Fouchècourt's injury, it was still a rewarding evening. I would also like to see more of Otey at the Met, and not necessarily just in comprimario roles. The King of Egypt in Aida would be an excellent fit for him - and maybe more Verdi work at New York City Opera?
(1) I did see a concert version of the opera, mainly because Marion Capriotti, a friend I have since lost touch with who is a wonderful contralto, sang the Nurse. She also sang the Mistress of the Novices in NYCO's Suor Angelica, covered the Alto Voice in Moses und Aron at the Met, and substituted for Florence Quivar in a concert performance of Massenet's Cleopatre. I can't remember who sang Ariane, or even which company presented the concert at Alice Tully Hall.
(2) Something similar happened back in February 2000 when I went to London to see Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu sing in Roméo et Juliette at Covent Garden, among other operatic delights (La Boheme with Ramon Vargas and Elena Kelessidi, also at the Royal Opera, and H.M.S Pinafore at the Savoy Theater). After Act I the stage machinery got stuck and the backstage staff had to spend about half-an hour repairing it, forcing an extra interval. A lot of the energy was drained out of the performance and it ended 45 minutes late - Tito Beltran, the Tybalt, went home early without taking a curtain call. Fortunately, I had a ticket for a subsequent performance that really was one for the ages.
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