Wide awake at La sonnambula – past report 3/14/2014

Friday night at the Met: La sonnambula (The Sleepwalker). This opera is a gem from the bel canto (beautiful singing) era of 200 years ago. Gracious melodies alternate with acrobatic passages to showcase vocal artistry. You expect the soprano to be excellent, and Diana Damrau was. Despite the florid nature of the style, Damrau avoided gratuitous ornamentation. Every leap and trill was tied to her character's physical movement or emotional state.

Any concerns about the tenor were quickly dispelled by Javier Camarena's first entrance. He had a clear, ringing voice with rounded tone and a nice ping at the top. He produced a dazzling array of vocal curlicues without being too fussy about it. And he could act! (We were truly spoiled this evening.) And what was that, a high D in act two? A little tight, but hit and held clean -- he just about stole the show.

This production is staged in the present, in a rehearsal studio for a company preparing La sonnambula; an opera within an opera. I overheard several audience members complain that the production didn't make sense. On the contrary, I felt the principals and chorus were entirely engaged and had fully fleshed out their characters. The setting allowed some whimsical visual images: the soprano is seen sleepwalking outside on a window ledge several stories above Amsterdam Avenue; she then literally walks the plank fifteen feet out above the orchestra.

After her final display of melismatic mastery, how did Diana Damrau close the show? With not one, but TWO cartwheels. Is there anything this Wundersopran can't do? For all the complaints at intermission, the audience was certainly on its feet and roaring during curtain calls.