On Saturday, we went to see the first of the Met's HD broadcasts: Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, starring the super-soprano-of-the-moment Anna Netrebko, and tenor Roberto Alagna (who I hadn't heard in quite some time). A bit of history: the first of these broadcasts we saw was last year's Eugene Onegin, featuring pretty much the BEST singers in the WORLD Renée Fleming and Dmitri Hvorostovsky. I cannot imagine that I will ever see anything that good again in my lifetime. So, you can infer that this production was "no Eugene Onegin." Here is my assessment:
THE GOOD:
- Anna Netrebko. After a shaky start, she really warmed up, and delivered a stunning "Amour ranime mon courage" in Act IV. She's a gutsy singer, and I admire her.
- Roberto Alagna. His voice is truly lovely and his diction is impeccable.
- Nathan Gunn and Isabel Leonard. These two outshone all of the other secondaries.
- Roberto Alagna's pants. Baby blue velour was not a great choice for him.
- Netrebko's diction. She has the worst diction in the world. Would it kill her to be a BIT more intelligible?
- The random short chorister who was always in front, and never knew what he was doing.
- Renée Fleming's backstage interview with Trebs and Robbie at intermission. Awkward. There was one shining moment when we had a super close-up of the back of Alagna's pants.
1 comment:
I heartily agree...Although you didn't include the fact that "Frosty the Snowman" came blaring out of the movie speakers just minutes after Romeo and Juliet killed themselves. I'm still trying to decide if that was a high or low point...
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