Review Roundup: Jeanine Tesori's GROUNDED Opens at the Met Opera

Jeanine Tesori and Director Michael Mayer's production of Grounded, based on librettist George Brant’s acclaimed play, is now on stage at the Met Opera.

Mezzo-soprano Emily D’Angelo stars as Jess, a hot-shot fighter pilot whose pregnancy takes her out of the cockpit and lands her in Las Vegas, operating Reaper drones. Maestro Nézet-Séguin conducts a cast that also features tenor Ben Bliss as Eric—a Wyoming rancher who becomes Jess’s husband.

Jeanine Tesori’s new opera Grounded, commissioned by the Met and based on librettist George Brant’s acclaimed play, wrestles with complex, often-overlooked issues created by 21st-century warmaking: the ethical conflicts created by the use of modern military technology and the psychological and emotional toll supposedly safe remote technology takes on our servicepersons.

Mezzo-soprano Emily D’Angelo stars as Jess, a hot-shot fighter pilot whose unplanned pregnancy takes her out of the cockpit and lands her in Las Vegas, operating a Reaper drone halfway around the world. Confronted by the challenges of this new way of doing battle, she must fight to hold on to her sanity—and her soul.

Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin oversees the Met premiere of Tesori’s score and a cast that also features tenor Ben Bliss as Eric, the Wyoming rancher who becomes Jess’s husband. Michael Mayer’s high-tech staging presents a variety of perspectives on the action, including the drone’s predatory view from high above.

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Let's see what the critics have to say!

Richard Sasanow, BroadwayWorld: Sure, Tesori writes well. The score moves freely “among the realistic, psychic and technological,” says the program, with its echoes of Copeland and Sondheim among the more modern sounds. Nonetheless, some of it could have used a little more help from the librettist to direct what she has done, eg, what could have been better filled out musically. More time might have helped that along, though the Met Orchestra under Yannick Nezet-Seguin gave a compelling performance of the score.

Kevin W Ng, Bachtrack: Though Met music director Yannick Nézet-Seguin’s orchestra and chorus are on peak form, Tesori’s score is unmemorable at best and cloyingly sentimental at worst. There’s no doubting Tesori’s technical skill – vocal lines are lyrical and flatter the singers while allowing for every word to be understood, and the shifting, turbulent orchestration is vibrant without overwhelming the singers. And Tesori respects the operatic tradition she finds herself part of, with nods to Barber, Menotti and Floyd along with a repeating brass motif that recalls Verdi’s Don Carlo. But the 100-minute score drags, with too much film score-like filler and a relentless pleasantness at odds with the extreme subject matter.

Zachary Stewart, TheaterMania: The weakness in Grounded mostly derives from Mayer’s staging, which relies heavily on projections (by Jason H. Thompson and Kaitlyn Pietras) and is hamstrung by Mimi Lien’s hulking set. It elevates the chorus high off the stage, which is striking in the opening moments, as projected clouds fly behind them. But Lien stuffs Jess and Eric’s house under this central platform, giving the impression that they live in a cave. The ceilings are so low, with important scenes staged beneath them, that I wondered if anyone in the Family Circle could see.

Zachary Woolfe, NY Times: [Tesori] moves from tender lyricism to pounding marches with a swift fluidity captured (if often quite loudly) by the Met’s orchestra under Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the company’s music director. [...] But Tesori’s gift for tunefulness, so charmingly evident in her musical theater work, has unfortunately been sidelined, as if it’s too lowbrow for the likes of opera. And there’s not enough that’s interesting or idiosyncratic in her score — its orchestration, structure, vocal lines — to compensate.

David Wright, NY Classical Review: Michael Mayer’s production surrounded the cast with splashes of color or video “snow” or geometrical patterns suggestive of, but not depicting outright, video game imagery and grainy air-war footage. Co-projection designers Jason H. Thompson and Kaitlyn Pietras bathed the broad planes of Lien’s set in sky blue, starry midnight blue, and bursts of red or blinding white as the drama demanded, subtly coordinated with sound designer Palmer Hefferan’s sonic effects.

David Salazar, Opera Wire: In sum, it was… a frustrating experience – a story that felt like it had more to give (and more to cut as well) and a production that certainly could have done more to fill in those blanks. But, also a night salvaged by an artist that should be getting other opportunities to do more starring roles at the Met.

Photo: Emily D'Angelo as Jess in a scene from Jeanine Tesori's Grounded by Ken Howard / Met Opera

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