Manon

Massenet - Manon

Metropolitan Opera

March 31, 2012

This might be the minority opinion but I thought Anna Netrebko's Anna Bolena was a beautiful failure. The role of the tragic queen didn't suit either her voice or her character, and as a result there was a leaden quality to her portrayal that made the long, stately opera even longer and statelier. Last night, the Netrebko I know and love was back, and how wonderful it was to see her again doing what she does best -- charming both the audiences and other cast members with her beautiful, lush soprano voice and her innate joie de vivre.

The title role in Masssenet's Manon on the surface doesn't seem like a good fit for Netrebko's voice either. Netrebko's diction can be cloudy -- she drops consonants, Joan Sutherland style, to achieve this very round, opulent sound. As a result I don't even know French but I do know that it's not supposed to sound like what Netrebko is singing/speaking. Her dark, cello-like timbre also doesn't really match some of the lighter, more high-flying parts of the role like the famous Gavotte.

But somehow, none of it mattered. Netrebko was in magnificent voice last night -- perhaps the best I have ever heard her. The waves of sound she hurled out into the auditorium were as seductive to the audience as the moves she put on des Grieux. The Hotel de Transylvanie scene was dominated by Netrebko's spellbinding presence and voice. She sang two perfect, on pitch high D's that she had apparently ducked opening night. In the Gavotte she even showed off a nice trill (yes, apparently, when she wants to, she has a pretty good trill), as well as a surprising ability to lighten her voice and negotiate the more florid music. But her best moment was in the St. Sulpice scene -- when she sang "Is this not my hand pressing yours? Is this no longer my voice? Is it no more for you like a caress, just as it used to be?" it encapsulated in a few lines the Netrebko appeal. Her voice is like a drug, a enveloping wall of sound that caresses the ear. People can carp all day about her cloudy diction, her rhythmic slackness, her spotty intonation, but I am still enthralled by the sheer sound of her voice.

Dramatically Netrebko showed an understanding of the part that was deeper than Laurent Pelly's surprisingly bland production. She is now 40 and a mother, but her inner coquette is still there in spades. She looked absolutely stunning. Netrebko's Manon appeared onstage looking very innocent, hair in long braids and a peasant skirt, but just from the way she sat, with her legs swinging playfully, you knew that this girl was a player. The mixture of feminine charm, selfishness, and perhaps (???) genuine love -- Netrebko had it all. The last part was maybe the most intriguing part of Netrebko's portrayal. She always kept the audience (and des Grieux) guessing about her true feelings. I have known Manons in my life and I find that this quality is their most irresistible appeal. One minute they are warm, sexy, and loving, the next cold, grasping, and rejecting, and they play men like ping pong balls with this "I love you I love you not" game. Even in her death scene Manon seemed more upset about dying than being eternally parted from des Grieux.

Piotr Beczala's des Grieux was a big improvement over his Romeo last year, which I found stilted and vocally underpowered. His tenor instrument is still on the slender side, and it has a squeezed, tube-of-sound quality I don't really like. He came to grief with "Ah fuyez" and sounded hoarse and shouty. But the difference was his dramatic involvement.  Musically and dramatically, he embodied the part of the ardent, foolish young man. Also, when he doesn't force his voice, it can be quite lovely -- "En fermant les yeux" was one of those moments. His chemistry with Netrebko was strong, and when at the end of the St. Sulpice scene she ripped off his robe and the two of them rolled in bed it actually seemed like an organic and natural progression of the drama rather than stage business.

Paulo Szot was Manon's sleazy cousin Lescaut and his light voice really in the old days would be called a "salon baritone." It doesn't really have enough weight or color to project into a 4,000 person house. Volume is not the issue -- there are singers with far smaller voices. The voice just has no impact. Fabio Luisi was fine conducting the more dramatic portions of the opera but I thought really didn't have a feel for the atmospheric "cheery bustling Paris" music that Massenet inserts into the opera at various times to set the background.

Laurent Pelly's production was a disappointment. I enjoyed his Fille du Regiment immensely but this production seemed to be an excuse to put Netrebko in several great-looking gowns ... and that's about it. All I have to say about the sets was that I was unaware Paris in the turn of the century was such a wheelchair-accessible place -- they mostly consisted of wheel-chair ramps that criss-crossed the stage. They evoked a kind of nothingness and nowhere-land and at times, detracted from the drama. It created, for one, an essential lack of performing space for the singers. For instance, at the end of thre Cours-la-Reine scene there is a little ballet that ends (in this production) with the ballerinas being carried off by the lecherous mob of men. Much of the choreography was hidden as the ballerinas danced behind the wheelchair ramps. The person-regie was basic and unimaginative. It's really a non-production production where I expect each Manon will probably come in and do her own schtick.

It was the spellbinding Netrebko who made the evening. In the final scene, Manon sings, "Oh lovely diamond! I am still a coquette." Yes you are, Miss Netrebko, and never, ever change.