The Metropolitan Opera Presents Hamlet
Simon Keenlyside a Brilliant Hamlet
By: Susan Hall - Mar 25, 2010
Thomas originally wrote the role for a tenor. An unusually gifted baritone, Jean-Baptiste Faure, came along and Thomas adjusted the range. Faure had created the roles of Nebusko in L'Africaine and Posa in Don Carlos, and his impact must have been like Keenlyside's today. Edouard Manet painted Faure as Hamlet. Christine Nilsson became as star as the original Ophelie.
Not only does Keenlyside have the perfect baritone with a beautiful lower tessitura veering toward bass, but he is a consummate actor of lithe and dramatic movement. He is sure to be the camera's delight in the upcoming HD.
The librettists chose to follow the plot of Alexander Dumas' play based on Shakespeare and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern got dropped. Only Tom Stoppard could care. Who kills who at the end is not a matter of life and death. Ophelie's cortege accompanies her as usual.
Commercialization of classic texts are familiar forms in all art. All the hoopla in the English-speaking world about defiling Shakespeare is silly.
Hamlet, first produced in 1868, is one of a very few of Thomas' operas to survive. It has moments of musical subtlety. The expanded overture frames the appearance of Hamlet's ghost, in which role David Pittsinger gives a chilling performance.
Hamlet's love duets with Ophelia, at first in present tense and then recalled, are beautiful.
After the poisoning of Gonzango, which mirrors the poisoning of Hamlet's Dad, Hamlet snatches Claudius' crown and the chorus wells up in disapproval. Hamlet gets drunk and cries of 'Traitor' are mixed with a frenetic waltz over which Keenlyside sings, pitifully drunk. Early critics called this merely a 'glou-glou' effect, the gurgling of liquor pouring from a bottle, but it works.
Plot adjustments are not this opera's problem. Despite some lovely arias including "To Be or Not to Be" and "Get thee to a Nunnery," and the mad scene much beloved by coloraturas and their fans, composer Emanuel Chabrier was on the mark when he said, "There is good music, there is bad music and there is Ambroise Thomas." It may be heresy to suggest that scissors come out before Hamlet is produced again, but surely they could help.
What clearly should remain is the role of Gertrude, Hamlet's wicked mother, who is sung by the gorgeous and dramatic mezzo, Jennifer Larmore. The confrontation scene with her son is worthy of the Old Vic and any opera house in the world. That she can be so bad and still entrance is no small feat.
Marlis Petersen is at once a noble and fragile Ophelie. Lovely to look at in her billowing white gown, and then her slinky nightgown, she has a delightful coloratura surprisingly weighted with drama. This adds to the pleasure of listening to her.
In the mad scene Petersen's recitatives have sweetness. Her songs are jewels. As she fades out there is an other worldly quality to her singing which matches her exit from life.
Gary Halvorson, who has directed so many of the recent splendid HDs, is not on board for Hamlet. His signature 45 degree camera angle from behind row J will be missing.
This time the Met has three Hollywood-magnitude stars in Hamlet, Ophelie, and Gertrude, so glamour is going to abound. Dr. Brian Large is directing. Don't be put off by his dual doctorates in music and philosophy. He has won more Emmys than you can count on both hands. Head out to your local cinema on Saturday, March 27th.