I sat in the Balcony Box left side, halfway along, so couldn't see about 1/4 of the stage. Luckily with La Guleghina, no problem, you can hear her from anywhere.
So, I usually am not into overtures. I thought, ugh. And sure, the first minute-and-a-half kind of blew. But then, suddenly, it got exciting. And it was a hit parade of all the tunes I knew from this opera. There was a moment many minutes in, when the thing should have ended, when people started to clap, and then boom, it picked up even more. Lots of energy. Bu-du-du-du-du, and then into the soprano's famous cabaletta and then the famous bari-sopra duet. The best! I'm not usually into noticing conducting, but this dude (looked old!) was on fire! This opera seems to be a cabaletta-fest, perfect! In my mind I'm imagining the bouncy Italian conductor's hair flopping all over the place doing this opera, but I must note this old dude just kept bringing the energy all night.
So, the set on this is maybe one of my favs so far. Sure it's cheesy, but whatevs. Basically it is a giant turntable. One side is the Jews, the other is the Babs. Seriously, Jews need more color. Babs get silver & gold & fire. Their idol looks like something from the Alien movies, wtf is it? A melted goat? Couldn't figure that one out. Poor other side, no color for the Jews; they get yellow/off-white, some scrolls, and some really boring-looking chorus members. The Babs get shiny helmets, nifty crowns, and lots of actual fire.
Who knew that there would be death-defying height stunts at the opera. Nabucco's actual daughter (pretty mezzo, whatever) plus the bass (who sucked at first, got way better, and then ran out of steam by the end of the night, but was overall a B-) are standing on this crazy-ass high platform at least as high as Dress Circle. And crazy mezzo girl clearly has no fears of height whatsoever it seems. So while the poor bass is terrified and white-knuckled constantly holding only the wierdo table-railing in the middle of the super high platform he's trapped on, crazy mezzo girl is standing 3 inches from the corner of the thing and leaning over like she's standing on the subway platform looking to see if the 1-train is coming. Except she could fall 30 feet to her death if the air-conditioning makes the wind change. It made me nervous, and I was sitting down behind a railing.
So then the drably dressed chorus sang for a long time. Ugh. Move along please! And the finally, La Guleghina arrived. Dressed in gray, looking psychotic, wig not looking as blonde as in the pics, but more like a fittin grayish blonde. And she was heaving her giant sword all over the place, spewed deliciously filthy chest in all directions, and screamed out some great notes. It was great, her voice is really in good shape, possibly the best I've heard her. She tore up some high notes, mostly in pitch. None of her nasty vibrado - no, now it's all vicious brutal screamy attack-notes. Love it!
Eventually Nabucco arrived and woofed some stuff out. He has a beautifully loud voice, but it's wierdly omni-directional. Really really nice breathing. Sort of like Hvor_____(many letters) except without the gasping for air. And, btw, the tenor, who sounds so so good on recordings, and I really want to like him, really has too much going on in his voice live - he sounds like the note he's singing the right note plus all its nearby friends, and it's not a wobble or a pitch thing, just a wierd overtone thing. Maybe b/c of my seat way off to the side there was some funny echos happening? I really did not like. Everyone in the house did though, so I shall reserve judgment until my next Nabucco (parterre box, hurray, only 6 days from now!).
So then everyone sang all together. And Guleghina went way off to the left where I couldn't see, and the horrible old man next to me kept poking my back if I leaned too far to see her. Couldn't figure out what the hell was going on, but despite the fact I couldn't see her and she was practically facing way, Guleghina dominated. And it wasn't her usual scary mega-vibradoey voice, it was very focused. And then out of nowhere she screamed (well, actually sounded like singing, surprisingly) a crazy high note, and it was delish. Like at least a Csharp or D. It wasn't so long, but it was huge, focused, and perfectly in pitch.
And, by the way, who knew there was so much actual fire in this opera? They burned down the temple by shoving actual burning torches into cubbyholes of scrolls or something. The smoke was billowing up. And then there was a total fireball on stage and it was amazing. Fireballs + Guleghina hurling out high notes = demented opera heaven.
And then the turntable turned FOREVER. So frigging slow. Seriously, like 5 minutes. Old conductor looked like he might expire before the next scene began. And then the stupid thing turned sidways in such a way that all the action happened in the one corner I couldn't see.
Guleghina came out before her big aria and totally screeched some off-tune highs that were really awful. And then, who knew it was still possible, she cranked out a beautiful lyrical aria. None of her usual crystal soprano junk, but just a pretty mid-volume soprano voice with extremely impressive breath control. Like Radvanovsky on steriods. It was like Guleghina lip-synching to a fantasy-version of her former self. It was really quite impressive. The crowd went unsurprisingly wild.
And then the mega-cabaletta. So good. There were highs, chests, good mid-range, and more accuracy than Guleghina has ever achieved. But man, the first 2 C's were vibrado-free lazers. Harsh, sure, but none of the formerly common nasty spreading displayed most poorly in Guleghina's Turandots. The spectacular high notes were, as some reviews have said, "brutal." But nonetheless fantastic. Her first try on the nasty double-octave drop wasn't so good; she kinda flubbed the chesting at the bottom and missed lots of the notes on the way down there, but she got it when she did get there. The second time the high C was way more urgently exciting and lazer-ey, the run was a bit better, and she chested the hell out of the bottom and held the low C nicely. It was impressive, I mean come-on to, to sing high C then a zillion notes down and then low C in chest over only mere seconds later takes serious talent.
As a bonus, instead of the usual lazy soprano/tenor practice of copping out when the chorus joins in to save up to blast just the final note, she sang along (and impressively audible even though she was facing away while walking up the scary stairs!) and then La Guleghina ripped a fantastic last note that was: 1) loud; 2) not flat; 3) very long ; and 4) somehow achieved without the usual mouth-open-so-wide that is her usual. Hysterical clapping throughout the house. Well deserved. I can't imagine any other singer I have seen live doing any justice to this role. Sure, she's not perfect (more chest please!), but man, a thrill.
Also, with her scary vibrado on occasion, there were some times, where I thought, wow, she's trilling? Oh no, sorry, that's just her vibrado. Sometimes it worked though. Trebs needs to take lessons from La G.
Intermission was a unified Soviet effort to fight to the bar for hard liquor. Serious. None of the usual politeness. Everyone was speaking Russian and fighting to the booze line. And everyone was deleriously happy after such a good first half. It was pretty fun. Everyone seemed happy. And nobody was drinking champagne. It was all hard liquor.
So then Act II started, a bit boring, I must say. But then came the confrontation between Guleghina and Mr. Woofy Nabucco, and he really proved his singing and acting skills, turning his character (who I suspect with lesser singing actors is just a lame-o) into a very sympathetic and desperate dad. And Guleghina was such a raging nasty bitch. I mean, sure, he tried to dethrone her and all, and to call her out as a daughter of slaves, but she was mega-pissed. She raged through all kinds of unfamiliar music, and it was amazing.
They had their famous duet, and it was delish. Didn't realize that the famous bit was only the cabaletta-ish part of a much larger duet that is like 12 minutes of great singing. And then, in a moment of delicious opera heaven, La Guleghina went to scream her high Eb and, although somewhat rough to find and hold, it was there and eventually on pitch, it was almost musical, and it was like a nuclear explosion. Audience went wild. I must state that she really does do exceptionally well blending in duets and ensembles - she is actually very considerate and musical, just maybe the voice doesn't do what she wants it too sometimes.
Then the chorus had their famous bit. Not the hugest fan of it, actually, but they did great. I spent the whole thing trying to see if I could identify an acquantance in the Chorus, Brandon Mayberry, who is very tall, very cute, and usually very easy to pick out on account of his cute tallness. I think he was the dude in the green pants (the only Jew with color, really), but wasn't sure...
A special note to Amber Wagner, who sang at the met council auditions a year/few years back and had a bit part here (the bass's sister, I think?). She tossed out a few nice high beautifully-sung notes in act I, a few more in act II, but what impressed was a few larger ensemble bits where she DOMINATED. Cast this girl as Freia in Rheingold please, she has the goods.
Then, after a few dull minutes, Guleghina came out in yet another new outfit. Dressed even chestier and lower-cut than before, she sang her death aria with surprising emotion and beauty, with some crazy long breaths and none of that unstable crystal piano singing she used to do; it was gorgeous and stable. And then, near the end, she was basically in the push-up position about to expire (she takes poison). Instead of slowly slumping down and dying, she slammed to the floor with a horrifically violent thud. If you've seen Monty Python's Flying Circus, it was like the giant foot of God had just stomped on her. I'm surprised she didn't break her face. It was demented.
And then the opera ended rather abruptly, like "soprano's dead, everyone go home!" No complaints here.
The curtain call was amazing. Guleghina came out to hysterical screaming. And she did little diva claps to everyone - audience, cast members, chorus, set, cieling, god, satan, orchestra, conducter, herself - it was great. And somehow there was some kind of upper-body wardrobe malfunction b/c there was some serious cleavage going on while she clapped. Maybe just the high angle from where I was, but it was some good stuff. The chorus got a huge ovation for their great work.
And, hurray, my recording from the broadcast worked (well, mostly, it cuts out a bit, somehow always during good high notes), so I can relive the experience. And wow, Guleghina sounds 50 times better live than recorded. Anyone wanting a night (and short, too, 2.5 hours including intermission!) of great great opera, you must go to one of these with La G. Despite her apparent recent rejuvenation, Guleghina's years are numbered, and this must be one of her greatest roles. Don't miss it!
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