Stranger in Paradise?
Prince Igor at The Metropolitan Opera
Lessons to be Learned
There are a few lessons to be learned from Prince Igor, currently being performed at The Metropolitan Opera:
- If an opera hasn’t been staged in over a 100 years at the Met Opera,then there is probably a reason why.
- Russians have had a long history of oppression — so has the audience.
- Sometimes the best intentions don’t always work.
Borodin
Borodin is a composer after my own heart — not only was he one of the most famous Russian composers of all time — he was also a famous chemistry professor! Haven’t you heard of the Borodin reaction? Probably not, but I’m sure you are familiar with many of his “tunes.” There was even a Broadway musical (operetta?) — Kismet — based on his music:
Prince Igor
The current production at The Metropolitan Opera is billed almost as a premiere — having been reconstructed from years of historical research. The overture (composed by his student Glazunov) has been excised and instead the opera begins with a rousing chorus opening number:
Actually before the opera truly begins, we are subjected to high-definition projections developed under the vision of director Dmitri Tcherniakov. These black-and-white images essentially turn the setting of Putivl into Sin City, though not for the better, as both are dystopian societies of oppression.
After the rousing Russian hymn and despite the appearance of an ominous solar eclipse, the battle against the Polovstians is on! Unfortunately once the fighting begins, Prince Igor’s army is destroyed and he is taken captive by the “evil villain” Khan Konchak (yes, that’s his name.) In a bizarre sense of friendship, Khan offers the captive Igor anything he wants, including maidens. And then — just like in any classic musical—here begins a “dance of the maidens” — also known as the famous Polovestian Dances:
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the music above, you might have heard the song “Stranger in Paradise” before:
One could argue that with “Stranger in Paradise,” Borodin wrote one of the biggest hit songs of the 1950s. Not too bad for a chemistry professor!
It is during the Polovetsian Dances that we are subjected to both the banal, lifeless choreography of Itzik Galili (in his Met debut) and the awkward appearance of the Met chorus singing the vocal parts from the Parterre and Grand Tier boxes. A snapshot of the choreography can be seen here:
An hour-and-a half-later (after little dramatic exposition) we have reached...
Intermission.
Following some more black-and-white projections, Act II begins. Act II is a bit more interesting as the village is trying to figure out what to do since Igor is missing. One of the (evil) princes convinces the townspeople that he should rule in Igor’s absence. Soon another battle is imminent. And…
Intermission.
Three-and-a-half hours later, we have reached Act III. At least here, the sets have received some applause…
Essentially after the battle, Putivl has fallen into ruins, but there is a glimmer of hope as the long-lost Prince Igor has returned— lost, forlorn, and, incognito. Once he has been discovered, the town comes back to life despite how sad and depressed the townspeople are (think Anatevka at the end of Fiddler on the Roof). And…
Curtain.
As you can probably tell from the plot summary, there is not much plot to this loooooong opera. There is also little dramatic narrative that drives the opera. Hence, sitting through this opera can be best described as tedious.
I do have to mention that I did leave out some sub-plots and characters: the deserting soldiers Skula and Yeroshka, the love interest of Konchakovna, the worried wife Yaroslavna, and the evil prince Galitsky and his rise to power.
Despite the over-the-top and distracting conducting of Gianandrea Noseda, the orchestra sounded good, especially the solo winds (clarinets, oboes) considering the average orchestration. Vocally, the cast and chorus were relatively strong as well. Although I can’t solely blame Dmitri Tcherniakov for this tedious production, one would have hoped that after years of scholarly research, he would have developed a critical edition worthy of being presented at the Metropolitan Opera after an almost 100 year absence. Even so, this production is worth seeing, at least for curiosity’s sake.
Perhaps we’ll have to wait another 100 years for a better production of “Prince Igor” to come along, or at the very least, a revival of “Kismet”…
