Review: Are Met Audiences Blue? Yes, Because TRAVIATA Has an Angel

Soprano Angel Blue's Violetta didn't seem as tragic as we're used to seeing in Verdi's masterwork and maybe that's right.

She's lived life on her own terms and if she's dying of tuberculosis, well, c'est la vie. (After all, the source of the piece is French: the Alexandre Dumas fils "La Dame aux Camellias.")

Not that she doesn't look glamorous in Susan Hilferty's costumes--she certainly does--but there's something about her that's more the girl next door rather than the courtesan who would fit into the A-list parties that feature prominently in the storyline of the opera.

There's little of the hauteur, the grandeur, that would not only attract the Baron Douphol (veteran baritone Dwayne Croft, in fine voice) but bring him to fight a duel for her.

Vocally, I had no complaints about her. Ever since I heard her in arias from TOSCA and AIDA at this year's Richard Tucker Awards (she was the winner, FYI), I've been waiting to hear her in a full-scale role that would show off the wonders of her voice. This was it.

As Violetta, she sang gloriously, with the scale, the flexibility and shimmering warmth that are the calling cards of the role. If I had any complaints, there were none of the throw-away high notes that we expect from the diva that Violetta's supposed to be (even if Verdi didn't really call for them). Perhaps it's part of her concept, as I mentioned earlier.

Her Alfredo--the lover who falls head over heels for her at first sight--was tenor Dmytro Popov, the Ukrainian singer who made an impression in the Met's VERDI REQUIEM a couple of weeks ago. He was also not cut from the usual mold of his part--less the callow youth than usual, the young man with the sweet voice who's willing to throw away everything for love, but more a take-charge sort.

He had a beefier sound that seemed almost baritonal at times--nothing wrong with it but somehow unexpected. When Violetta gave him up at the behest of his father (to save the family's reputation), Alfredo's reaction seemed less the hurt lover than the angry one. When his father smacked him later in the opera, we understood it.

My only complaint about baritone Rucinski as Alfredo's father, Pere Germont, was that he looked too young to be Popov's father. Otherwise, he was superb, both in voice and character; his grand moment, with the famed baritone aria "Di provenza," was sublime and his scene with Violetta, after Alfredo has rushed off to Paris, was a highlight of the evening.

In smaller roles, mezzos Eve Gigliotti was a fine Annina and Megan Marino a smart Flora.

Conductor Luisotti knew exactly what to do with the Met's orchestra in this music and they played it to the hilt, with the chorus in fine fettle under Donald Palumbo. The evening might have been shorter without Lorin Latarro's choreography, but it wouldn't have been nearly as much fun without his troop of crack dancers, including soloists James Whiteside and Cara Seymour.

And then there's the production, originally staged by Michael Mayer, here by Daniel Rigazzi. Christine Jones's set was lit up (by Kevin Adams) like a Christmas tree, except for the scene in the country, which she tried to make more intimate by having the "walls" close in a bit, but her solution was a bit too subtle. (However, her use of an oculus, which was the third I'd seen at the Met in less than 10 days, with LOHENGRIN and NORMA the others, worked the best, at least for me.)

Having Violetta's bed front and center during the whole production was hardly a new take in this opera: We get it that this was all a flashback to the best and most tragic times of her life. But Mayer's grand addition to making this "his" TRAVIATA was the worst aspect of the show: the addition of the phantom sister of Alfredo. For me, it was completely uncalled for and added nothing to the proceedings.

But, again, this was a night for singing and to show us--even those who have heard her in PORGY AND BESS and FIRE SHUT UP IN MY BONES--that Angel Blue is the real thing. That's good enough for me.

There are three more performances of LA TRAVIATA with Angel Blue, Dmytro Popov and Artur Rucinski: Saturday matinee March 11 at 1pm (the Met's live radio broadcast), Wednesday March 15 at 7pm and Saturday March 18 at 8:30pm. For more information, see the Met's website.

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