Les Troyens, Metropolitan Opera HD Live, Jan. 5 2013

Les Troyens started at 9:00 am on the West Coast ... that’s early for a Saturday morning! But Götterdämmerung started at the same time, and is about as long, so it has been empirically determined that such a performance can be managed.

Francesca Zambello’s production featured the same basic background for all five acts. Starting about 10 feet above stage level, it looked as though we were within a gigantic woven basket, with a large circular hole in its side, positioned above the center of the stage. Within this hole, various things were to be seen, depending upon the act. In Acts 1 and 2, we saw a random scattering of long, thin planks, covering no more than 10% of the area of the hole in the basket; the very center of the hole was left clear, forming a hole within a hole of 3-4 feet in diameter. In Acts 3 and 4, we saw a large number of bundles of clear plastic rods, sort of approximating sheaves of wheat; there were three distinct rows of sheaves, filling only the lowermost chord of the circle of the hole in the basket. In Act 5, we saw a mast, a yardarm, and a sail suspended from the yardarm.

At stage level, Acts 1 and 2 featured crisscrossing ramps with very large rivets that looked as though they might have been taken from the deck of a battleship. In Act 3, Dido’s throne was a simple wooden bench set atop a short circular platform; the top of the platform looked like a model of the foundations of the buildings of Carthage. In Act 4, these foundations were covered by a red sheet and throw pillows. Behind the circular platform was a large curved box, perhaps 8 feet tall and 3 feet deep, the surfaces covered with very clear plastic (plexiglass?) that occasionally reflected some light. Inside the curved box was greenery, some of which looked like a branch of a tree with leaves at the end. In Act 5, one end of a yardarm lay on the stage, and extended up and to the left, supporting a sail. Also on stage were a dozen or more coils of heavy rope. For Dido’s death scene, the yardarm and sail were hoisted out of sight, and another circular platform wheeled in; this one supported several wooden boxes of moderate size. What this design was supposed to invoke escaped me.

Our cast:
Cassandra: Deborah Voigt
Dido: Susan Graham
Anna: Karen Cargill
Aeneas: Bryan Hymel
Iopas: Eric Cutler
Coroebus: Dwayne Croft
Narbal: Kwangchul Youn
Conductor: Fabio Luisi
Production: Francesca Zambello
Set Designer: Maria Bjørnson

This was my first ever Les Troyens, and my dominant impression was 4½ hours of very pleasant music, but there may be more reasons besides the production demands for the fact that it’s rarely performed. The most notable music is that of the love duet in the last half of the fourth act, which started out “pleasant” and ultimately became “lovely.” Bryan Hymel, a late replacement for Marcello Giordani (who is said to have “bailed” on this production and promised never to sing Aeneas again), sang the high, challenging role most impressively and garnered the biggest ovation during the performance. Susan Graham made a fine Dido (her duet with Anna in Act 3 was a thing of beauty); Deborah Voigt seemed somewhat detached from her Cassandra. Bass Kwangchul Youn sang a superb Narbal. There’s 4½ hours of music but not a lot of musical ideas, so the whole experience ranks a bit short of a beta. There is a different production of the same opera, by David McVicar, of which San Francisco Opera is a partner. I reckon we’ll see it locally sometime soon, though not next season, which has already been announced. Music usually works better the second time around.