We found a new theater for this broadcast, in Gig Harbor, Washington, 20 minutes from my sister’s home. In contrast to our regular theater, where we arrive an hour early to claim our favorite seats, we arrived 40 minutes early to find one person in line and a locked door. We were admitted at 9:30 to find a theater very much like our regular one, with just-as-good audio and video.
Otello opens with some of the best, that is most violent, storm music in all of opera. We saw the residents of Cyprus standing on three levels of a castle wall-like structure, the darkness of the staging suggesting the severe storm that nearly caused Otello’s ship to crash on the rocks. After he had disembarked, the wall slid out of sight to reveal a large plaza made of stone, with many large columns supporting who-knows-what out of sight in the rafters, and the outside walls of numerous monumental buildings.
In Act 2, the columns remained, but upstage was a small garden with grass and walking paths in which Desdemona and Iago’s wife could stroll, as mentioned in the libretto. Downstage there was a large table where Otello could conduct the affairs of state. The columns stayed in place for Act 3, but now we were clearly inside a large building, with a very large painting upstage forming a backdrop. For Act 4, Desdemona’s bed was set on a ziggurat with three levels, amidst the columns, with a different very large painting behind the bed.
Our cast:
Otello: Johan Botha
Desdemona: Renée Fleming
Iago: Falk Struckmann
Emilia: Renèe Tatum
Cassio: Michael Fabiano
Lodovico: James Morris
Montàno: Stephen Gaertner
Roderigo: Eduardo Valdes
Herald: Luthando Qave
Conductor: Semyon Bychkov
Production: Elijah Moshinsky
No question about it, superb singing all around. Botha, Fleming, and Fabiano were particularly impressive, and Morris sounded wonderful. The only problem was Botha’s physical appearance. He is a very large man, and lying on the floor at the end of Act 3 does not show him off to his best advantage. The HD cameras showed more perspiration on his face than we usually see in other HD closeups, and his acting skills appear to be limited. But sonically, he was fabulous. A strong beta.
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