This afternoon was the last High-Definition simulcast of the current Metropolitan Opera season. For those of you who haven’t followed this as breathlessly as I have, the Met embarked on an experiment this year in which six Saturday afternoon performances during the radio broadcast season were also beamed to select movie theaters across the country. For $18, you could walk into one of those theaters- with popcorn and soda if you so chose- and experience a Met performance as it was happening in NY. . . but on a big cinema screen over big cinema speakers. I blogged about Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin a couple of weeks ago- but that particular screening was actually a rerun of the original live simulcast which had occurred back in mid February. There had been five of these live simulcasts before today- The Magic Flute (an enchanting opera by Mozart) I Puritani (a Bellini opera with lots of vocal fireworks) The First Emperor (a new opera written for Placido Domingo by Tan Dun, the guy who wrote the music for “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”) the aforementioned Eugene Onegin, and The Barber of Seville (a delightful comedy by Rossini.)
Today’s opera was Puccini’s “Il Trittico” – which is actually three one-act operas rolled into one. . . Il Tabarrro, Suor Angelica, and Gianni Schicchi. This was a fun walk down memory lane for me, because the first opera I ever appeared in was “Il Tabarro” at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln – and I sang the title role in Gianni Schicchi at Carthage a few years ago. (I was telling kathy today that one of the interesting things about that was that the director of the production – who shall remain nameless – never asked me to do it. He simply circulated a list of the cast, and there was my name at the top, in the title role. I was bemused, to say the least- but I stuck around anyway and I’m glad I did. “Suor Angelica” is an opera I’ve never sung in- probably because it’s an all-female cast – but it’s one of the first operas I owned in a complete recording, and it’s near and dear to my heart.
What a great time this was, today. The production at hand is the largest that the Met has ever done- and it was a spectacular feast for the eyes and extremely well directed by the guy who did “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” on Broadway. All three casts were terrific, but two people stole the show for me. One was Barbara Frittoli as Suor Angelica, a nun who had an illegitimate child and who was put in a convent to escape her shame – but who longs to see her son again. I was bawling my eyes out just about the whole time- to the point where Kathy probably wished she had brought along an umbrella – or a snorkel. Fortunately, she didn’t seem to mind- I cried during Suor Angelica and she cried during the pilot episode of Eight is Enough when the mom died. Two softies, we. The other great star of the show was Stephanie Blythe, who sang major mezzo roles in all three operas. She has to go from funny to evil incarnate and back to funny again – and did it without missing a beat. Amazing.
As magnificent as these performances were, probably the most interesting moment of the afternoon came when I accidentally sat on Kathy’s purse- and when I tried to pull it out from where it was wedged, my feet went out from under me and I was on the floor in an instant – ever graceful. I was happy to give my wife and Marshall a good laugh.
These simulcasts are not necessarily everyone’s cup of tea- but as far as I’m concerned they’re the biggest thing since the invention of fire. If you ever get the chance to try one of these out, DO. You may be pleasantly surprised.