Marlis Petersen as Berg's "Lulu" (photo: Metropolitan Opera) |
The Metropolitan Opera's latest HD Live broadcast is Alban Berg's "Lulu", his sordid tale of the complicated temptress who disrupts the lives of all who surround her. Unabashedly lurid, this is a challenging piece to say the least, especially with its relatively unapproachable music. It's not a particularly popular work, though its fans are avid. However, it's undeniably unsavory, and, as opera plots go, this one is a real lulu.
In a prologue, the Animal Trainer invites us to visit
his menagerie, including “the serpent Lulu”, the cold-as-ice
“heroine” of this story. Lulu (Marlis Petersen) is sitting for
her portrait by The Painter (Paul Groves), with her lover Schön
(Johan Reuter) in attendance, when her husband The Physician
rushes in, discovers her and collapses in shock, dying. Later, after
Lulu and The Painter are married, they are visited by the aged
Schigolch (Franz Grundheber) who is either her father or a former
lover, when she hears Schön
has become engaged. Schön tells her husband about her lurid past,
causing him to cut his throat. Lulu is indifferent to the suicide,
convinced Schön will marry her. His son Alwa (Daniel Brenna)
composes a ballet for Lulu to perform but she refuses when she sees
Schön in the audience with his fiancée. Lulu convinces him to break
off his engagement. Later, now married to Schön, she continues to
attract admirers, including Alwa and the lesbian Countess Geschwitz
(Susan Graham), causing Schön to insist that Lulu shoot herself to
protect his reputation. Instead, she shoots and kills him. Committed
to a hospital with cholera, she plans her escape by arranging for The
Countess to take her place. Alwa reaffirms his love for Lulu and
agrees to take her to his Paris mansion, where they have a raucous
birthday party for her, broken up by the police just as she leaves.
Later, Alwa, living in a cheap London garret, confronts Lulu, now a
prostitute, as she brings home her first client. The Countess enters
with Lulu's portrait. Lulu brings home yet another client, who is
killed by Alwa. Schigolch drags away the body and disappears. The
Countess contemplates suicide when Lulu brings home another client,
who turns out to be Jack the Ripper (Reuter again). Arguing about
money, they go into her room. Her screams are heard as she is killed
by Jack. Attempting to help, the Countess is also stabbed by Jack,
who leaves as the Countess, dying, cries out one last time for Lulu.
The Met is
fortunate that Petersen, who has made this role her international
signature, has consented to perform it for one last run. Even those
opera fans who detest twelve tone works will find her performance,
both in acting and singing, truly magnetic. The entire cast sang the
difficult score very well, and Conductor Lothar Keonigs led the
orchestra superbly. The creative team was another matter, as Set
Designer Sabine Theunissen and Projection Designer Catherine
Meyburgh, in this production by William Kentridge, repeated their
work seen in the Met's “The Nose”, but overly so, producing very
drab visuals. The same could be said for Costume Designer Greta
Goiris and Lighting Designer Urs Schönebaum. The expressive Live in
HD Broadcast Host was Deborah Voigt.
It may
never be one's favorite opera, but as it stands in this current
version, it's at least never boring. But then, sin at this level
rarely is either.
Encore broadcast will be shown on Wednesday December 2nd at 6:30pm at a theater near you.
Encore broadcast will be shown on Wednesday December 2nd at 6:30pm at a theater near you.
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