Soprano Sorceress Bewitches Ithaca Country Mouse

Monday evening was my last Met premiere for the year and the evening was a wonderful combination of beautiful sound, vibrant color, and exciting star-sighting.  If I am using rather simplistic vocabulary for this entry, I think it's because I've been overwhelmed and intimidated by the opera cognescenti who have posted on blogs about Renee Fleming's performance in Rossini's Armida.  While I've linked to some of the opinions on a new opera blog that I've learned about called Parterre, I prefer to tell you that I really enjoyed the performance although it was not my favorite Renee Fleming performance-I think Rusalka takes that honor.  I also am not a fan of coloratura and trills, preferring a radiant, straight vocal line in lyrical passages.  Armida is a demanding role which requires both lyrical singing and extensive coloratura which runs from high notes to low.   Renee Fleming bewitched me with her performance and Anthony Tommasini agrees that the Armida belongs at the Met and with Renee Fleming they have the right soprano for a soprano's tour de force.

The Mary Zimmerman production used fantastic color and exotic costumes to create the seductive world of a sorceress's island during the Crusades. ( I've been transported to a number of islands and sorcery this year with Armida-on a grand Met scale and The Tempest-on a clever BAM scale.)  The first act juxtaposed blinding white walls with glimpses of fortresses and golden minarets in the background.  The Crusaders were dashing in their long red robes with gold helmets. I could imagine this taking place in some of the ruins we saw in Acre Israel-before 1000 years had diminshed their majesty.  Unfortunately, the Times' photo slide show does not capture any photos from the first act, so you'll have to take my word for it.  The magnificent scrim which featured a brilliant blue storm tossed ocean is also not in any photo-alas-it makes me want to cheat and take photos at the performance.   But if you view the slide show you'll see lots of Armida's sorcery and the magic that Zimmerman designed for this new production. 

I went solo to this premiere so what did Greg miss?  He missed six (count them-6!) excellent tenors and the only tenor Trio in all of opera. He missed a second act ballet that I loved but would have bored him.  He missed my excited star sighting:  Christine Baranski AND Julianna Margulies of The Good Wife were both right next to me and I could check out their make-up, hair and dresses up close. ( I have to confess that it was great fun when I heard Julianna introduce her husband to a mutual friend since when she said "This is my husband" it sounded just like a line from The Good Wife.  And she is really beautiful).  And had Greg attended he would have reminded to me bring my opera glasses which I lost.  I bet Armida whisked them away when I wasn't looking.