Met Broadcast, Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet

[Xenophanes]

I always think of Anna Russell's "Hamlet, the Great Dane."

My wife and I went the see the movie theater Saturday afternoon (April 24, 2010, for posterity's sake) to see the rerun of the Metropolitan Opera HD broadcast of "Hamlet" by Amroise Thomas.

As my wife is perennially never on time, we arrived during the overture.  The light was so dark we couldn't see where to sit for several minutes, and the screen was never lit as brightly as in a normal movie.  It took quite a while to get used to that. The sets were mostly dark and stony looking too, and the props generally pretty sparse, even for a big old castle.

I found the opera itself to be rather slow moving and lacking in action--sort of natural, I suppose, as much of the real drama is internal to Hamlet himself and Ophélie. My wife, who was quite tired, fell asleep during the second act, and woke up toward the end of the 'play within a play.' Seeing Hamlet all covered with red (actually spilled wine), she feared she had missed seeing Hamlet kill his uncle.  I assured her that the was yet to come. She stayed awake during the second half.

The scenery represented the old castle from medieval times, but the costumes were subdued modern, with trousers, sport jackets, and so on, except for knives, swords, spears and shields, etc. That didn't bother me for more than a few seconds.

With the intermission, the opera took about 3 hours and 20 minutes or so. During the intermission, by the way, Renée Fleming proved a very competent interviewer.  She talked to the Hamlet, baritone Simon Keenlyside, who made the very pertinent point that the opera is not the Shakespeare play, but can be very dramatic in its own right.  Get away from the expectation that it is Shakespeare and take it on its own terms. Personally, if someone wanted to interview me during the intermission of a long and vocally demanding opera, I would politely tell them to see me after the performance! But Keenlyside knows the role inside and out, is very physically fit, and has great vocal endurance.  Fleming also talked with the conductor, Louis Langrée, who extolled the many virtues of the opera.  Peter Gelb, the Met's General Manager, outlined the projected HD broadcasts for next season. After that, there was a 15 minute intermission, with the minutes and seconds remaining showing on the lower right of the movie screen. We were able to go out into the mall to walk and buy a drink and popcorn in the lobby on our return.

The performers were excellent.  One could not ask for a better cast.  I found on the net that Simon Keenlyside has done Hamlet many times.  I had heard of him before, but had never heard him sing.  His performance was magnificent, from tender moments to grand and controlled anger to existential angst and indecision (he is a very conflicted young man) to sternly rebuking his mother for participating in the murder of his beloved father, the senior Hamlet.  And Hamlet sings a lot in this opera. Keenlyside's voice seemed tireless through the whole long opera.His acting was as good as that of any stage actor.  And he sings a lot in this opera.  His voice sounded as fresh at the end as at the beginning.  Frankly, the sound wasn't particularly kind to his voice, though I could tell he was excellent--so I tried some things on youtube and found he really does have a beautiful tone color.

It looked to me that Hamlet died, after killing his murderous uncle, of the wound from his fight with Laërte (tenor Toby Spence), who blamed him for Ophélie's death.  This seems to be the Met's solution to the problem of how to end the opera.  The composer evidently had originally given it a happy ending, with Hamlet becoming king, but for English audiences, came up with a tragic ending with Hamlet committing suicide after killing Claudius.

Ophélie was sung by lyric soprano Marlis Petersen, who had the role thrust at her only days before, due to Natalie Dessay's indisposition.  I really like her voice. She sang and acted very well, as if she had polished the part and done it many times. She is very concerned about Hamlet, whom she loves dearly; she comforts him, though to no avail; she is distressed at his change of attitude so that he no longer seems to lover her. She performed a long and difficult "mad scene," having visions of Hamlet as her husband, strewing flowers all over the stage, negotiating some difficult florid high passages on the way, and dying due to cutting her wrists, --well, it looked like she died twice, as he lay down after saying she was dying, but presently arose and continued on until she finally really died. That's hardly Peterson's fault, but the stage direction. She made it convincing both times!

I should mention that Ophélie's father, Polonius (Maxim Mikhailov), had been in on the plot to kill Hamlet's father.  His is a fairly minor part. Unlike in the play, he is not killed by Hamlet, but lives to mourn the death of his beloved daughter. One wonders why, if the father was such a good guy, so many people around him wanted to kill him!

Jennifer Larmore sang Gertrude, Hamlet's mother.  She scarcely seemed that much older than Ophélie, but that happens in opera.  She also was excellent in a part I find rather inconsistent: Gertrude feels guilty guilty for having loved her husband's brother, the elder Hamlet, and at having helped killed her husband; she fearful of discovery;  she sincerely loves her son, Hamlet, and wishes that he would find happiness with Ophélie, whom she genuinely likes.  And she sings very well, too.

There were two big voiced bass-baritones: James Morris as Claudius, and David Pittsinger as the elder Hamlet's Ghost. Some on the net did not like Moris's portrayal, but he sang magnificently and I thought he acted well, too.  He was regal in the beginning scene announcing his marriage to Gertrude; he had to try to calm Gertrude, who feared discovery; he was towering with rage at Hamlet during the 'play within a play' scene; and came to feel guilty for killing his brother and fearful of Hell. I liked his characterization.

The Ghost is not a big part, but played well. David Pittsinger, whoever he is, has a big voice, very effective.

In sum, I found the opera rather problematic as being overlong and needing more action, the lighting rather dark, but with magnificent performances both from a singing and acting point of view.

[knight66]

I wanted to see this, but our local cinemas did not renew the contract this year to relay the performances. I have the DVD version with Keenlyside and Dessay from the Liceu. It has its dry patches, but that production is very effective and both main singers do it full justice. I don't recall such a long ovation as Dessay gets for her 'Mad' scene, she manages to stay in part throughout.

Mike

[mc ukrneal]

Sounded great! Thanks for sharing that!

[sospiro]

I wanted to see this, but our local cinemas did not renew the contract this year to relay the performances. I have the DVD version with Keenlyside and Dessay from the Liceu. It has its dry patches, but that production is very effective and both main singers do it full justice. I don't recall such a long ovation as Dessay gets for her 'Mad' scene, she manages to stay in part throughout.

Mike

I have this as well. I need to be in the right mood to watch it but Keenlyside is brilliant & actually prefer Dessay in this rather than in her newer stuff like La Fille.

[knight66]

I am not a great fan of Dessay, though I did enjoy her in La Fille. I have suggested elsewhere on the site, that you need to see her, listening is not a terribly pleasant experience, but add her acting and you get much more out of her.

Mike

[sospiro]

I am not a great fan of Dessay, though I did enjoy her in La Fille. I have suggested elsewhere on the site, that you need to see her, listening is not a terribly pleasant experience, but add her acting and you get much more out of her.

Mike

Well for the first time I'll be seeing her live in La Fille at ROH in May so will be able to give a more informed opinion.

[knight66]

I will look forward to that.

Mike