Review: That Was No LADY, in Mtsensk or Anywhere Else, But Boy Was She Spectacular!

Afraid of Shostakovich? Don't be.

Granted, going to the composer's brilliant, stunning and, yes, demanding, LADY MACBETH OF MTSENSK is not like going to LA TRAVIATA or TOSCA--or even MEDEA or IDOMENEO, which preceded it in the Met's opening week. (I saw it on October 7.)

But it is a glory to behold, in Graham Vick's knockout production, designed and costumed by Paul Brown, staged this time by Paula Suozzi, with Ron Howell's choreography. And there were times when the music, with the Met orchestra under the firm, smart baton of Keri-Lynn Wilson, almost sounded like, yes, Puccini, though it was clearly expressionist as well.

Don't take my word for it. When I interviewed tenor Brandon Jovanovich when he first did the role at the Met back in 2014, I asked him whether he found anything surprising about going back to the opera, which he had previously done a couple of times. Here was his response:

"It was rather shocking that the role is rather musical for me--there's a lot of lyricism in parts of it--because it's not how I think of Shostakovich."..."Yes, it's slightly bombastic--Shostakovich wasn't the best composer for the voice, by any means--because of the writing and orchestration. But the only ugly thing that I have to do with my voice is in the rape scene...."

The opera has been updated from the 19th century to contemporary times and (although not having seen the original setting) appears to have gained relevance and force and made the music perhaps more relevant to the characters' lives. The kind of bombast by the factory workers in Act I-to percussion accompaniment-fits a modern brutality of men who, today, might be sent off to fight in the Ukraine.

Yet, it is not really hard on the ears. Yes, it calls for big voices, particularly like that of the dazzling performance by soprano Svetlana Sozdateleva, making her Met debut in the title role, a nickname for Katerina (Katya) Ismailova.

There were moments, hearing the always surprising music, when I wondered what the great Birgit Nilsson would have done with the role, but Sozdateleva certainly doesn't leave us feeling shortchanged even a tiny bit as she went from bored housewife to high-flying murderess, her voice intense but never ugly. And she is every bit the match for Jovanovich's Sergei, who she arm-wrestles, falls in love with and eventually marries...until he takes up with someone he finds even more exciting.

Katya longs for affection, feeling "no one will ever come to me," until Sergei comes knocking. He tells her "I am, a sensitive man," but it's hard to believe unless he's in bed (or against the refrigerator) with her. The tenor is every bit the match for Katya, physically and vocally, and can take the beating he receives when his affair with her--she's still married to the wimpy Zinovy Ismailov, ably sung by tenor Nikolai Schukoff--is uncovered. His energy is relentless as the changes in tone of his life seemed to go on endlessly. His portrayal is wildly impressive.

You can easily understand how Katerina's miserable life raises her hackles, surrounded by brutish men that make her life hell. Her father-in-law Boris Ismailov is perhaps the worst, treating her like a servant as he secretly lusts after her himself. In the hands of bass-baritone John Relyea, he is fearsome and whips the music into a frenzy. He brilliantly conveys his sense of entitlement, yet with an undeniable boredom of his own that he doesn't quite admit to, and magnificent as he sings about getting old.

The superb cast shows the depth of the Met's roster, whether in providing a stageful of cleaning people or bloody brides, the chorus and other players are wonderful. Of particular note in supporting roles was bass Goran Juric, both funny and well sung as he made his debut as the priest; bass-baritones Alexander Tsymbalyuk, with his ringing voice as the old convict and Jeongcheol Cha as the Millhand; and mezzo Maria Barakova as Sonyetka, who easily takes Sergei from Katya. There were too many others to mention all the standouts in the opera's smaller roles.

The nearly 30-year-old production was a triumph of an evening for the Met.

There are three more performances of LADY MACBETH OF MTSENSK this season, on October 12, 15 and 21. Don't miss it. For more information and tickets, see the Met's website.

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