Review Roundup: Perez and Domingo in ROMET ET JULIETTE at The Met

By: Apr. 25, 2018
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The Met is hosting the return of Bartlett Sher's production of Gounod's sumptuous Shakespeare adaptation of Romet et Juliette, which was a hit of the 2016-17 Met season ("a revelation" declared the Huffington Post). Now the sweeping tragedy returns with Ailyn Pérez and Charles Castronovo as the star-crossed young lovers. Plácido Domingo conducts.

Perhaps the most enduringly successful of the many operatic settings of the world's consummate love story, Roméo et Juliette is an excellent example of French Romanticism, a tradition that values subtlety, sensuality, and graceful vocal delivery over showy effects. In the opera there is a slight shift of focus away from the word games of the original play and a greater focus on the two lovers, who are given four irresistible duets, including a brief final reunion in the tomb scene that does not appear in the play.

Charles Gounod (1818-1893) showed early promise as a musician and achieved commercial success with his opera Faust in 1859. Among his most famous works is a setting of the Ave Maria based on a piece by J. S. Bach. Jules Barbier (1825-1901) and Michel Carré (1821-1872) were the leading librettists of their time in France, providing the text for many other operas, including Faust for Gounod, Mignon (also from Goethe) and Hamlet for Ambroise Thomas, and Les Contes d'Hoffmann for Jacques Offenbach.

In Shakespeare's lifetime, Italy was a land of many small city-states in constant warfare with one another, but this same country was also the cradle of the Renaissance, with its astounding explosion of art and science. The image invoked by the story's setting in the ancient city of Verona, then, is a beautiful but dangerous world wherepoetry or violence might erupt at any moment. The Met's new production moves the action to the 18th century.

For tickets and more visit https://www.metopera.org/season/2017-18-season/romeo-et-juliette-gounod-tickets/

Let's see what the critics have to say!

Anthony Tommasini, NY Times: Ms. Pérez, too, had a variable night as Juliette. This gifted artist has had a busy Met season so far, appearing in the title role of Massenet's "Thaïs" and as the Countess in Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro." With her vibrant stage presence and fresh loveliness, she is a natural for Juliette, and mostly sang with bright, youthful sound, capped by radiant high notes. But during the music's tender, softer passages, her voice, especially in its midrange, sometimes sounded shaky and pale, with occasional pitch problems. The baritone Joshua Hopkins was a standout as the impetuous Mercutio.

George Grella, NY Classical Review: Meantime, Pérez was constantly shaping phrases and shading her sound, using small bits of rubato and modulations of dynamics for added expression. There was a touch of dialogue in her articulation, which added to the sense of drama she projected, as in the high-flying passage in "Ecoutez! Ecoutez!" In Act I, she had a slight harsh edge, but that was nowhere apparent in "Non! Non! Je ne veaux pas t'ecouter" later in the same act; this was mellifluous and shining, bright vocalism. The vocal contrast between Shin and Pérez in "De grâce, demeurez," serendipitously reflected the social gap the two characters had to bridge.

Check back for more reviews!



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