We were in New York to see Gillian Welch at Carnegie Hall, so we took the opportunity to go to the Metropolitan Opera the night before. Montreal's own Yannick Nézet-Séguin was conducting too so it was an opportunity not to be missed.
I'd never seen this opera before, but I had seen the Oscar Wilde play on which it was based, at Dublin's Gate Theatre in 1999 or 2000. I remembered the play as being quite subtle, but the opera was very much the opposite. There was sex, there was abuse, there was gore, and not enough was left to the imagination. It's often the case that operas are extravagantly staged, but some of the best ones I've seen have been quite sparsely presented so that space is left for the singing and music. But I guess the Met has got far too much money for that.
So it was good, but almost ridiculously overblown. The music was fantastic though.
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| Photo: Evan Zimmerman/Met Opera |
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