BWW Reviews: That Was No Lady, That Was Netrebko, in Verdi's MACBETH at the Met

Ever since I heard Anna Netrebko's "Verdi" album last year, which highlighted excerpts from the operatic treatment of Shakespeare's MACBETH, I knew her Verdi was the real deal and couldn't wait for her to take on the full Lady Macbeth on stage. Her performances in the Adrian Noble production currently at the Met confirmed my best expectations--and then some.

Sexy, urgent and, ultimately, mad, she was everything you want from the queen of Scotland--except maybe dark hair. It was her idea to play Lady Macbeth as a blonde, to bring out more of the sexual power she has over her husband. (More about that in a minute.)

Too big, too rich

Despite her billing as the Met's current prima donna assoluta, I've never quite bought Netrebko as the ingénue, despite all those bel canto operas that she's done in the house. (Well, maybe Norina and, more so, Tatiana in Tchaikovsky's EUGENE ONEGIN.) Consequently, I've been disappointed in most of her performances, despite her dramatic ability and passion. Her voice always sounded too big, too rich but not flexible enough to be satisfying in these roles.

With Lady Macbeth, I believe, she has hit her stride and the best is yet to come. She has proved that with the TROVATORE she did with Domingo in Salzburg (seen on medici.tv). Where does that put Bellini's NORMA--in which she'll open the Met season in 2017? I'm not sure--but I'm willing to hold off judgment.

Lady Macbeth, the sexpot

As for Lady Macbeth, the sexpot, Netrebko needed someone to play off and baritone Zeljko Lucic was not it. His acting was strong--sometimes very strong--and he sang well enough, though the sound is not the least bit Italian and lacks a resonance to command the proceedings. But as for sex appeal, sorry; he just wasn't the one for her to play off. He was too gray. It says something that Netrebko's strongest presence, like her entrance in Act I or the sleepwalking scene, were when she was alone on stage.

Bass Rene Pape--who luckily has been around quite a bit lately at the Met, in concert and as Sarastro, in addition to Banquo in MACBETH--was an exciting, dignified presence in the opera, as well as an eerie one as the bloody ghost. The last of the principals of note was tenor Joseph Calleja as Macduff; while this role is not huge, it is key, since he kills Macbeth in the end. But before that, his voiced sailed in the ensembles, excited in "O figli! O figli miei" and made me wish the role was larger.

Not-quite first-tier Verdi

Conductor Fabio Luisi led a thrilling performance with the Met orchestra, and though this is not-quite first-tier Verdi (though it came just before his mid-career masterpieces), they played like it was. The Met chorus sounded great. In Verdi's version of the piece, the three witches have been transformed into a three-pronged chorus that looked like a group of old ladies from St. Mary Mead (Miss Marple's hometown), but they were fun to watch and good to hear. And the scene where the throngs are fleeing Scotland, away from the crazed Macbeth, was powerful and resonant.

This was another one of those productions where you really didn't know what the set/costume designer (Mark Thompson, with lighting by Jean Kalman) was thinking about, or what a change of time and place envisioned by director Noble added to the proceedings.

Never mind. It was Netrebko's evening and she brought it off in style.

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Photo: Anna Netrebko as Lady Macbeth

Photo by Marty Sohl/Metropolitan Opera

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