Lucia di Lammermoor at ROH

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Most reviews I have seen mention a miscarriage, not an abortion, as a contributory/primary reason for Lucia's madness: it is not because she murdered Arturo. She has conceived a baby via Edgardo.

The mention of abortion in Rupert's review doesn't chime with that I saw:

https://bachtrack.com/review-lucia-di-lammermoor-mitchell-damrau-royal-opera-april-2016

Reviews from other colleagues:

http://www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/reviews/lucia-di-lammermoor-royal-opera-house_40152.html

http://www.theartsdesk.com/opera/lucia-di-lammermoor-royal-opera

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/opera-lucia-di-lammermoor-at-covent-garden-xglg3tchr

[jean]

Today's Guardian:

http://www.pressreader.com/

[french frank]

Today's Guardian:

http://www.pressreader.com/

Is that the right link?

[Nevilevelis]

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/apr/08/lucia-di-lammermoor-review-fussy-but-an-unforgettable-finale

[Flosshilde]

Yes - it's the review I gave a link to in message 28.

[jean]

Is that the right link?

It was when I posted it - sorry, I didn't see the Flosshilde's earlier post & couldn't find a link direct to the Guardian site for some reason.

[Prommer]

My word, this has left me conflicted.

Huge attention to detail, very well thought through, attractively sung, beautifully played. (Some dream solo work from the harpist and glass harmonicist... also great horns)

Also: distracting detail and some poor stagecraft; an interpretation to be admired not taken to one’s heart; no standout performances; conducted with no sense of how this piece should flow and sweep all before it.

Nothing that offended me to see on stage. A pleasing surprise after what we were led to believe with all the warnings, and after the truly offensive and appalling Tell of last year.

It drew one in, without really plunging one in to the story.

Damrau’s mad scene coloratura was wonderfully acted - every phrase thought through, but the topmost notes were approximate and clearly do not come easily to her. As a result, there was a sense of disintegration but no abandon in the singing. One felt kept at one remove.

Earlier reviewers picked up on the crasser touches: humping in time to the music before 'Verrano a te'; Arturo’s extremely prolonged death throes in the imagined scene where Lucia (and here Alisa) kill him; the running bath during Edgardo’s final lament. These have all been toned down without being ‘solved’.

So, Katie Mitchell and the Royal Opera: not nearly as bad as I had feared; in fact, much to admire if not to ‘enjoy’; a qualified success.

Will be immeasurably improved by more practical revival directors, and a more idiomatic and spontaneous conductor.

My question is, though: can this staging admit of spontaneity because this team has clearly lavished so much very detailed work on it?

[jean]

Thanks for this! In cinemas on Monday next.

[David-G]

I could write a lot about this production, which has a lot to enjoy, but which I regard as seriously flawed. But there is one major problem which I found hard to forgive. In all the scenes the set is split in half, usually with the singers and the principal action in one half, and the "invented side action" in the other half. This means that in the betrothal scene, and in the mad scene, the whole chorus is crammed into a narrow enclosed space, from which the choral sound never properly emerges. I suspect that half the choral sound went into the wings. This is made worse in the mad scene, where the large billiard table acts to pen the chorus into their cramped space at the back. As a result the choral sound was muddied as well as diminished. It was hard to believe that this was the same chorus that sung so magnificently in Boris a few weeks ago - and I am sure that this was due to the unfortunate arrangement on the stage.

And also - I cannot forgive the running tap, which quite gratuitously and unnecessarily ruined Edgardo's final aria.

[Cockney Sparrow]

I managed, surprisingly, to pick up (weeks ago) not-the-worst upper slips seats for last night. My first time to see Lucia, quite an omission after years of opera going. Just a few points.
Yes, the bathtub took a hell of a time to fill (well, actually it never seemed to get very full - there's no shortage of water in the Highlands, what's the problem with the plumbing?). With the speakers high up we had quite a bit of the babbling brook sound and it did impinge on Edgardo's aria, quite unnecessarily. Poor.
I haven't fully read this thread, nor reviews. Gratuitous shirt shedding by Edgardo in the coupling in the mausoleum - in the Scottish climate?

SPOILER ALERT :
And yes - Arturo’s extremely prolonged death throes - I'm surprised they've been toned down - the windmilling legs last night led to titters in separate areas of the slips (we couldn't get seats together) - presumably mirth was the intention? If so, misguided, surely…


Is the glass harmonica used much in Lucia productions? It was very atmospheric and skillfully played last night.

Overall, the production and cast are still worth seeing, though - for me. I'd go to the cinema to see it again (and as I had to crane over to get a better view last night, it would be good to see it full on, from a comfortable seat). However, I will be going again in May, seeing Aleksandra Kurzak and Stephen Costello in the lead roles, and from a better vantage point. So it will be interesting to see how the direction compares to that of the first cast……

(Apologies if my comments are repetitive on the points made, for those who have followed the whole thread).

[underthecountertenor]

Is the glass harmonica used much in Lucia productions? It was very atmospheric and skillfully played last night.

Overall, the production and cast are still worth seeing, though - for me. I'd go to the cinema to see it again (and as I had to crane over to get a better view last night, it would be good to see it full on, from a comfortable seat). However, I will be going again in May, seeing Aleksandra Kurzak and Stephen Costello in the lead roles, and from a better vantage point. So it will be interesting to see how the direction compares to that of the first

I think the ROH first used the glass harmonica instead of the flute (in modern times anyway) in 2003 (Christoph Loy's short-lived production with Andrea Rost as Lucia (whose career seems to have come to a halt soon after). It's a season for pit oddities at Covent Garden - they've got Oedipe coming up, which should feature a musical saw (very briefly but very tellingly)/

I'm planning to do the same as you: cinema on Monday and Kurzak and Costello next month. I think it's well worth it.

[gurnemanz]

The cameras were in when we went on Tuesday. We had a very good evening but I agree with misgivings mentioned above by others. The explicit humping and murder were an unnecessary distraction, as was the split set. It was somewhat bizarre to have all the wedding guests crammed in on one half the stage. We enjoyed the topical homage to the snooker World Championship. Charles Castronovo was a superb Edgardo and this was reflected in the enthusiastic ovation he received.

I was reminded about Chekhov's gun when I saw the bath front stage. Someone was going to use it some some point. The last time I can remember seeing an opera which ended with the main protagonist immersed in water was Mattihas Goerne in a tank for Wozzek a few years ago.

[jean]

I enjoyed it in the cinema - paradoxically perhaps the 'split screen' wasn't such an irritant on screen, because for much of the time only one half filled our screen.

I understood that the director was trying to give Lucia some self-determination - too much perhaps, as she clearly was not mad when she killed Arturo, the madness only beginning with the onset of the miscarriage (not abortion, unless you think of a miscarriage as a spontaneous abortion).

What I haven't seen mentioned is the decision to dress the women of the chorus as men - this didn't look convincing in closeup. I suppose it was done to isolate Lucia further in her active struggle against the male dominance that surrounded and controlled her.

But what I found most irritating was the corporeality of the ghosts - really, they added nothing - and the presence of a phantom Edgardo for Lucia to interact with in her madness; she was perfectly capable of acting that without a prop. (Reminded me of how much better it is not to see gory locks being shaken.)

Beautifully sung though, and I loved the bathroom. I want it.

[Flosshilde]

I had hoped to see this, but Monday night wasn't convenient, & something I'm committed to which I thought was the 7th/8th of May is in fact this coming weekend, so I won't be able to see the repeat. So anoying

[jean]

I didn't really want to go last night, but we're not getting a repeat - the audience was tiny, no more than 20, if that. Bodes ill for further opera relays here.