As far as the audience was concerned, the opera at the Metropolitan last night was Donizetti's "Maria Meneghini Callas."
Judging by the wild jubilation of the crowd, it was a far more fitting title than the pedantic and ponderous one given in the program book, "Lucia di Lammermoor."
This was Mme. Callas' first portrayal at the Metropolitan of the celebrated coloratura role of Mad Lucy. That she stole the show isn't exactly news. This time she stole the opera along with the show.
The excitement of the crowd mounted in volume and intensity till it exploded like a bomb after the "Mad Scene." Lucy Lucey and her last note collapsed together and the crowd went wild.
One would have supposed that the demented little Scotch girl had just been impersonated by a composite Bernhardt, Duse, Mary Garden and Tetrazzini. Mme. Callas wasn't quite that -but she was Callas. As such, the house was hers.
It was an oddly contradictory performance in some ways. There was the undeniable fascination of the lady as personality and show woman. Yet, she wasn't truly moving as the helpless troubled Lucy.
Amazing Shrewdness.
She sang with amazing shrewdness of half voice and subtle shifts of color, and once in a while with real beauty of tone. Yet, as a whole, it wasn't warm and attractive vocalism. Too much tin foil around the voice.
She botched the last note of the "Mad Scene," yet some could argue that is precisely what would happen to a mind unhinged - voice and mind would crack together. Mishap or stunt, it had a weird, shivery effect.
You couldn't help taking notice of Maria Callas last night. The theatrical flair, the studied gesture, the assertive force riveted your attention. You were all eyes instead of all ears, which reverses the usual order in coloratura.
The others, Giuseppe Campora, Enzo Sordello, Paul Franke among them, gracefully took a back seat, not to mention a backstage - Mme. Callas having been permitted the royal solo bow after the "Mad Scene."
Fausto Cleva conducted with alert care.
10 ноя 2017
