Profile reviews
1And there were three auspicious Met debuts: the Moldovan baritone Andrey Zhilikhovsky brought burly sound and impish charm to Schaunard
Past Production Reviews
4Die Darsteller setzen Prokofjews graziösen Buffo-Ton punktgenau in lebendiges Spiel um. Wunderbar werfen sich der geldgierige Don Jerome und der selbstverliebten Fischhändler die Bälle zu. Kraftzentrum ist die Haushälterin, die Duenna. Violeta Urmana spielt diese raffinierte Megäre; mit Haaren auf den Zähnen und großem Herzen zugleich. Im roten Gaze-Kleid kokettierend, hat sie bald den Fischhändler an der Angel.
Richard Jones’ production revived with warmth, elegance and added resonance
Café Momus on Christmas Eve is clearly suffering from a waiter shortage; fewer customers too, plus a shrunken crowd milling outside. Otherwise, there are fewer changes than you might expect in Dan Dooner’s Covid-conscious, socially distanced edition of Richard Jones’s 2017 production of Puccini’s masterpiece. The snow continues to drift from the heavens, and the bohemians’ Paris garret hasn’t got any warmer. More to the point for this story of sudden love, poverty and cruel death, the characters still intermingle, embrace, and, in the case of Musetta, bite. Meanwhile, down in the pit, an orchestra of 74 has been stripped down to 47, armed with Mario Parenti’s reduced orchestration. Yet despite much lighter forces, Puccini remains Puccini.
