The Tales of Hoffman, San Francisco Opera, June 23 2013

Having seen the dress rehearsal of this production and commented on the sets there, I will merely add that for the Olympia scene, the stagehands turned the blue-gray walls around so that we could see the backing trusses that held the walls up. Also, the Antonia scene opened with most the stage being blacked out. On the left we saw Antonia’s little bedroom, complete with wallpaper that looked as though it dated to 1881, the date of the premiere.

Our cast:
E.T.A. Hoffman: Matthew Polenzani
The Muse/Nicklausse: Angela Brower
Lindorf/Coppelius/Dr. Miracle/Dapertutto: Christian Van Horn
Olympia: Hye Jung Lee
Antonia: Natalie Dessay
Crespel, Antonia’s father: James Creswell
Giulietta: Irene Roberts
Stella: Jacqueline Piccolino
Conductor: Patrick Fournillier
Director: Laurent Pelly

Many of the performers sang exceedingly well. Most memorable was Hye Jung Lee in the role of Olympia, who dispatched marvelous coloratura notes simultaneously with being swung around, fairly rapidly and to significant heights at the end of a boom. In Seattle, where the Rhinemaidens are on trapezes at the beginning of Das Rheingold, they move around but assume stationary positions whenever they need to sing. Christian Van Horn, as the four villains, was resplendent of voice. He seems to me to be a candidate to succeed Samuel Ramey as Boito’s Mefistofele. Natalie Dessay impressed with the quality of her voice; too bad that we didn’t get to hear her sing all of Hoffman’s lady loves, as originally announced. I had already seen James Creswell sing authoritatively in small part of the Pharisee in The Gospel of Mary Magdalene and was eagerly awaiting a second chance to hear him; he did not disappoint. The audience buzz was very favorable to Matthew Polenzani, our Hoffman, but to me he sounded a bit strained, with a touch of glare. Overall, an enjoyable performance, but ultimately not that interesting. Somewhat short of a beta.