Elizabeth – I was a bit surprised at how empty the Met was for this season’s first performance of Die Frau ohne Schatten. At first I thought it was just that I had arrived rather early and not many people were there yet, but as the lights dimmed I looked around and huge chunks of the house were empty. By the end of the evening, I understood why. Strauss’ complicated story of the woman without a shadow is musically gorgeous, and the staging is colorful, brilliant and truly awesome, but, at four hours and ten minutes, is obscenely long for a convoluted fairy tale.
It started off well enough. A giant mirrored box with only the audience side open reflected vivid costume colors, especially those of the Emperor, who was dressed like Liberace. The effect was very surreal—you couldn’t tell what time period you were in or where you were. It was engaging, though; the staging was visually stunning. But the story wasn’t quite as clear to me. For example, does the Empress love the Emperor? It seems so, but she also laments her inability to transform into other creatures, like the white gazelle she once was. It also wasn’t clear to me why she would love someone who tried to kill her when she was in another form.
When we go to the human world, the Dyer’s house, the stage transformation is amazing. The entire set rises up into the ceiling as we follow the nurse and the Empress downstairs into the human world. And they did a fairly depressing job depicting humans—giant man babies dressed in rags clamoring for crumbs in a worn down looking house. Not enough food for everyone, mattresses and thin blankets for sleeping. The Dyer laments that his wife has not given him any children, he apparently wants 13 kids. In this environment it made perfect sense to me that the Dyer’s wife wouldn’t want children.
That said, I still appreciated some of the pieces about love and children. I loved the Watchmen at the end of the first Act singing about the importance of conjugal love, while walking on top of the set of the human world. Also impressive was that two of the Watchmen were making their debut. And the songs of the unborn children were gorgeous and haunting. Even though the reality of these babies coming to life would likely be the big helpless man babies the Wife was dealing with on a daily basis.
Speaking of, Christine Goerke as the Dyer’s Wife was amazing. What range and projection, especially over some very loud orchestral parts. She was gorgeous. I also particularly liked Ildiko Komlosi as the Nurse—her acting was wonderful. I followed her for quite some time with my opera glasses and delighted in how in the moment she was.
Johan Reuter, as Barak the Dyer, was enjoyable. I must confess at times I missed the male voices. There were a lot of female voices in this opera. All the women were good though. When Anne Schwanewilms as the Empress first opens her mouth I was enchanted. She was gorgeous visually and musically.
And they sang for forever, especially the women. At one point the house lights came on and the cast still sang for another ten minutes. It was as though the unionized lighting staff at the Met were trying to send a signal that it was time to wrap this opera up.
Strauss’ score is musically dramatic, like a movie score at times—in a tremendous way, but it was just so insanely long. Kudos to conductor Vladimir Jurowski and the Met orchestra because they conducted and played with verve and energy the entire time.
Goerke’s reaction to the wild applause for her was genuine and touching. The crowd seemed really there to see her. Seeing her humility and joy almost made the four plus hour opera worth seeing.
Shawn – First off a quick question, do people get to the Met later or does the Met raise the chandeliers earlier than they used to? As a child I remember the house being full when the lights went up. It was nearly empty when they raised them on Thursday. But of course childhood memories are often warped.
After Norma and seeing what NOT to do with empty space onstage, Act One of Die Frau ohne Schatten demonstrated exactly what can be done with empty space, mirrors, lighting and costumes. Absolutely stunning stuff. I don’t know that I have seen anything as beautiful at the Met (or onstage anywhere) as some of the light effects from the late Herbert Wernicke’s production of Die Frau ohne Schatten. At one point the entire stage seemed to be full of shimmering three dimensional water. It was really breathtaking. No doubt the light cues are complex but the shifts into different lighting modalities felt effortless from the audience. The spirit world of the god Keikobad is described as “mysterious and unfathomable” in the playbill synopsis and amazingly the set actually demonstrated this.
The costumes blended and complemented the ethereal light play of the mirrored cube set even if the Emperor looked like Liberace. If Liberace were a pimp in a Turkish seraglio.
The dazzling light space juxtaposed with the cluttered, grimy claustrophobia of the Dyer’s home served to underscore both sets’ excellence. The home felt all the more real world. Limited, mortal, depressing. Again the light play was excellent as the Empress stayed on the staircase, above the action in the Dyer’s home, thusly casting no shadow but bathed in the shadows of the Nurse and the Dyer’s Wife. And the fantasy sequence actually felt like magic. As the opera progressed, the mirrored cube set transformed from the aforementioned water and shimmering space into a tunnel, a prison and a maze. Really amazing stuff here production wise.
And the singing, this is a sing and a half for almost everyone onstage. Ildiko Komlosi was wonderful as the Nurse. Her acting was specific and menacing but also broken and pleading when being exiled to the world of mortals at the end of the opera. I actually believed she felt she was always doing the Right Thing, which is vital for a fully dramatically realized antagonist. And she was onstage for nearly the full four plus hours without losing anything vocally or energetically.
As the Empress, Anne Schwanewilms, was fine but often sounded a little thin to me.
Christine Goerke’s performance as the Dyer’s Wife was amazing. Vocally full and lush and expressing a wide range of believable emotion. She absolutely hooked me. And her response to her deafeningly thunderous ovation was movingly charming, humble and authentic. Something in far too short supply in opera. She actually jumped when the wall of sound from the audience first hit her during her curtain call and looked to actually be crying in joy. It was lovely to watch.
Amongst the men, Richard Paul Fink stood out to me the most as the Messenger of Keikobad.
Oddly, the last three rows of Dress Circle were completely empty. Completely. I didn’t move around but I assume the other sections were similarly unpopulated. (I know Die Frau is over four hours but isn’t that more musical bang for your buck?)
At one point during Act Three, I looked around the house at the reflected lights from the mirrored stone emperor all over the golden roof and balcony boxes of the Met house. I don’t think I have ever seen it look so beautiful. The entire house was transformed and pulled into the scene onstage. It was marvelous.
Conductor Vladimir Jurowski and the Met Orchestra enthusiastically and beautifully played Strauss’ lush and varied score. (Go trombones!)
As for the story of Die Frau ohne Schatten, it was a touch abstract but I got it. I particularly loved the dancing menses. Although I would have gotten it without that I think.
– Elizabeth Frayer and Shawn E Milnes
Related Links:
Choral Excellence, Free Ricola and Eric Owens as the Devil: Mefistofele at Carnegie Hall
Six Characters in Search of a Murder: Two Boys at the Metropolitan Opera
Minimalist Druids and Shiny Druid Queens: Norma at the Metropolitan Opera
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