BWW Reviews: LADY MACBETH OF MTSENSK is 'Opera Noir' and Utterly Wonderful at the Met

Compared to Dutch soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek as Katerina Ismailova in LADY MACBETH OF MTSENSK at the Met, Barbara Stanwyck and Lana Turner were couple of pikers in their film noir triumphs, "Double Indemnity" and "The Postman Always Rings Twice." Westbroek kills her father-in-law with rat poison, strangles her husband with her lover's belt and, as the piece de resistence, drowns her lover's new girlfriend, while going under herself. And she has to do it all while effortlessly singing Shostakovich's demanding score.

What a dame!

Sensational production

For an opera perhaps best known for being condemned by Stalin in 1936 and banned in the Soviet Union for nearly 30 years, LADY MACBETH is a knockout, particularly in Graham Vick's sensational production that debuted at the Met in 1994,with sets and costumes by Paul Brown. Based on a 19th century novel of the same name by Nikolai Leskov, the production is updated to the 1950s, using eye-popping colors for Katerina versus a chorus of brides in white, first seen manically pushing vacuum cleaners, which set her apart from her contemporaries. She is bored out of her mind--spending her days in front of the television--and abused by her father-in-law Boris for not producing a child with her uninterested husband, Zinovy.

The music captures every aspect of the miserable life of Katerina. Yes, there is some aspect of what Soviet critics of its time called "neurotic music" and "quacks, hoots, growls and gasps" but the composer's deft writing often covers up the dissonce. And whatever the demands makes of the listener, boy, is it worth it!

Wonderful actors

Life is not good for her--until her husband goes out of town and she takes up with the new hunky workman, Sergei, sung and acted with vigor by tenor Brandon Jovanovich. His big, bright voice easily sails over the composer's heavy orchestrations. Sergei may not be the brightest bulb in the box, and has the potential for brutishness as shown in his first scene, but he also has sex appeal to spare and is just what the miserable Katerina ordered. Jovanovich and Westbroek are wonderful actors and, with the help of director Vick (and Met assistant stage directors David Kneuss, Yefim Maizel and Peter McClintock), manage to bring humanity to roles that could easily be unsympathetic.

As in every noir, just as everything seems to be turning up, they suddenly go south. With father-in-law and son out of the way, Katerina and Sergei are married--but during the celebration Zinovy's body turns up and it's off to Siberia for the couple. Sergei blames Katerina for their dire straits and finds himself a fresh girlfriend, Sonyetka (tartly sung by mezzo Oksana Volkova), even as Katerina accepts the blame and tries to win him back. The last straw for our heroine is when Sergei tricks her out of her nylons so Sonyetka can have them. It's just too much for her and the final murder is set in motion.

Outstanding cast

The entire cast is outstanding, under the firm baton of conductor James Conlon. Tenor Raymond Very's steady tenor brought just the right touch to the role of Zinovy, while Anatoli Kotscherga brought his blunt bass to the role of Boris. Among the outstanding portrayals, vocal and otherwise, in smaller roles were bass Mikhail Kolelishvili as a priest, tenor Allan Glassman as a shabby peasant, and tenor John McVeigh as a teacher. It was a triumphant night for the Met Orchestra, as well as for the Met Chorus, under Donald Palumbo.

The mere name "Shostakovich" surely scares off many opera-goers--there is twelve-tone music, yes, but also surprising lyricism--but judging by this amazing performance at the Met, there should be a much bigger audience for this brilliant, noir-ish work.

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Photo: Brandon Jovanovich as Sergei and Eva-Maria Westbroek as Katerina Ismailova.

Photo by Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera