Disappointments at the Met

I cannot believe that I haven't written since Grimes was over. Shame on me! All in all, it was a great success and I am incredibly glad that I had a month full of auditions lined up to keep me from falling into deep post-show depression. To make a long story short, many good things have come from it.

Now, for the real reason I felt particularly compelled to write today. To start, I do not claim to be a critic, nor do I really want this to be a place where I review performances on a regular basis. There are many people who do that well (and some not so well), so I will leave it to them. However, my disappointment over the Met's new production of Peter Grimes cannot go unsung. Don't get me wrong, the singing was lovely (for the most part), and the music-making was top notch. The set and the direction, however - OY! Can you say, unimaginative? Detracting from the story? Ugh...there were so many moments in which the humanistic aspects of certain characters' interactions were ripped away because of the hulking set. For example: at the end of the opera, Peter has gone insane and both Ellen and Balstrode come to try and lend him some help. The music is stark, poignant and heart-wrenching, most of actually being acapella. The director had them placed inside these doors within the mammoth wall of a set about 10-12 feet off the ground, on either side of Peter. Is that poignant? Does that serve the music? I don't think so. They couldn't interact with Peter, each other, nothing...
I understand what the director may have been going for - emphasizing the isolation of the Borough, the difficulty Ellen and Balstrode have in reaching Grimes emotionally, etc, etc. But on the huge stage of the Met, this deconstructionist vision doesn't work!!! I can see how it might work with a different piece in an intimate setting, but not in opera. If a director doesn't listen to what's in the musical score, then he or she is lost, plain and simple. Most good composers give it to you, especially Britten. Everything you need to know is right there in the score, really, truly...

I will stop my ranting now, but I was so disappointed and the review in the NY TImes mentioned nothing about any of this, except a few negative words about the set. Basically the problem wasn't just the set, but what the director chose to do with it, so all are to blame.

Just my two cents from someone who just studied the score inside and out for the past 6 months.

On to new things...