| Tales of Hoffmann |
| Written by Kevin Filipski | |||
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Les Contes d’Hoffmann Composed by Jacques Offenbach Conducted by James Levine Directed by Bartlett Sher Starring Joseph Calleja, Anna Netrebko, Kathleen Kim, Ekaterina Gubanova, Alan Held Performances December 3, 2009-January 2, 2010 Metropolitan Opera metopera.org  Anna Netrebko in Les Contes d'Hoffmann; photo credit: Ken Howard/Metropolitan OperaA difficult opera to stage because of its mood swings between fizzy operetta and dark drama, Jacques Offenbach’s theatrical swan song follows the poet Hoffmann and his stories of various lovers. Sher falls into the trap of trying to have it both ways, piling on a frivolous carnival-like atmosphere at the same time attempting to dig deeply into the opera’s psychological aspects. The distracting sets (by Michael Yeargan), by-the-numbers costumes (by Catherine Zuber), and weirdly out-of-sync lighting (by James F. Ingalls) contribute to a pell-mell production that strains for cohesion. The constant busyness—here a revolving staircase shaped like a dragon, there a violin dropping from the sky, everywhere characters moving around for no discernible reason—underlines Sher’s failure to convincingly visualize Hoffmann’s state of mind (which is where the opera occurs, after all). Musically, this Hoffmann is more impressive, starting with James Levine’s conducting of the Met Orchestra and Chorus. Even throughout the many stretches in this opera that runs nearly four hours where Offenbach doesn’t properly propel his own drama forward, Levine leads us through the aridity to the next show-stopping aria or set piece. The mixed bag of performances starts with Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja, whose Hoffmann is sung decently but with little stage manner, and a charmless Hoffmann is no Hoffmann at all. As the four villains, Alan Held provides muscular singing, while Kate Lindsey effortlessly sparkles as Hoffmann’s muse who becomes his friend Nicklausse. Hoffmann’s four women are played by three singers; since they are all aspects of one personality, it works better dramatically with a single soprano taking on all the roles, even though that would extremely challenging for even the most accomplished singer. Kathleen Kim dispatches Olympia’s “Doll Song” with ease; mezzo Ekaterina Kubanova, as Giulietta, sounds fine but lacks sultriness. Only Anna Netrebko—as Antonia and Stella, Hoffmann’s lost love—steals the show with a lyrical sound and bewitching stage presence. Still, none of Hoffmann’s relationships is vividly realized. For that, too, blame must go to Sher.
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