10/1/13 – ‘Turandot’ at the Met

Today was the day we had put aside to take Jenny shopping! So we started at the ‘Lululemon’ store on 3^rd Avenue where Jen bought some gym gear which only came in sizes 2/4/6/8, then on to ‘Bloomingdales’ before treating ourselves to the New Year’s sales items at ‘Century 21’ where the mink coats were discounted from $5000 to only $1500. This took most of the day and after a stroll through the park we all arrived home exhausted but loaded up with considerable loot.

Later that night, Jenny and Richard had tickets to ‘Lion King’ and we were off to the Met’s final of three performances of ‘Turandot’. So we put on our glad rags and what a wonderful time we each had. Unbeknown to us this was the last night of the Met mini-series of performances of this famous opera.

The series was being run to celebrate the 25^th anniversary of Franco Zefferelli’s original production of ‘Turandot’ and, as a farewell treat, they were using the Zefferelli original designed set, which having been kept in the archives for all of that time and is now to be retired (much to the anger of many New Yorkers who were braving the cold outside that night to get people to sign a petition to have it preserved). The first act used a sombre blue set of bridges and chinese temples. It was nice, but nothing to get excited about.

But when the curtain drew back for the beginning of the second act the scene had changed. We were now transported into the throne room of the Imperial Palace and found ourselves beholding scenes of such opulence and luxurious splendour that they drew from the audience a collective gasp of surprise and a spontaneous standing ovation. The gold and silver set that was revealed shone so brilliantly in the otherwise darkened theatre that it actually hurt one’s eyes to look upon it. It was a grand production with a cast of nearly one hundred performers.  We enjoyed ‘Nessun Dorma’ (of course) but as is almost always the case nowadays, we were left a little underwhelmed. I suppose it was bound to happen, after all any rendition of this famous aria will always be compared (inevitably unfavourably) to the perfection of the Three Tenors.

Just when I thought that the night could not get any more wonderful I learned that Peter had arranged for us to take supper in the ‘Grand Tier’ dining room that straddles the main staircase during the two intermissions. In the first break we were treated to delightfully light chicken and lobster dishes and in the second dark chocolate brulee and profiteroles. With both we had matching champagnes. It was truly magnificent!

 After the performance we took our time leaving the theatre and instead walked down below the staircase to view the ‘wall of fame’ which boasts paintings and photos of the who’s who of performers that have graced the Met Opera. There we found Melba, Caruso, Domingo and ‘Fat Lucy’ to name but a few. But the most exciting thing we found was the corridor devoted to all of the performances of Wagner’s ‘Ring Cycle’ dating back to the original performance commanded by King Ludwig in 1869 in Munich. Having enjoyed and survived (along with Hans and Sue Sauer), the epic 20 hours of the Met’s 2012 simulcast performance conducted by James Levine and featuring Bryn Terfel (as Wotan) and Deborah Voigt (as Brunhilde), we were amused by the crude staging and costumes used in the 1869 production. Compared to Robert Lepage’s incredible stage design with its 24 identical wedges rotating independently on a horizontal axis across the stage and alternately providing level, sloping, angled or moving surfaces facing the audience as well as a flat surface onto which bubbles, falling stones and fire could be projected, the 1869 set did seem very primitive.

It was quite simply a magical night. (Apparently Lion King was good too!)