Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor at Lyric Opera, 2011-2012

Last night my wife and I attended the first opera of our season this year, our 27th season as subscribers, Lyric Opera’s new production of Donizetti’s 1835 opera, Lucia di Lammermoor. I love Donizetti’s operas. I don’t think that Lyric produces them frequently enough. I love Lucia. I was prepared to enjoy this production. I wanted to enjoy this production. I was disappointed.

I could go into dreary detail on the shortcomings of the production. I didn’t care for the acting, the singing, the staging, the chorus, the orchestra, or the costumes. I thought that the set design held promise—I particularly liked the a vista scene changes, scene changes done quickly and in full sight of the audience, which didn’t interfere with the flow of the action of the opera. Unfortunately, the drab, uninteresting costumes and the flat staging actually made each worse than they otherwise might have been, the opposite of synergy.

Just one brief word on the staging. One principal falling to his or her knees and singing from the floor at some emotional climax—dramatic. Each principal falling to his or her knees and singing from the floor at each emotional climax—comic.

All and all not a propitious start to the season.

The Critics

The Trib’s review is lukewarm.

Indeed, strong vocal performances by an attractive young cast are what carry a production that is admirably straightforward in its recounting of the romantic tragedy. The show marks the Lyric directing debut of Catherine Malfitano, who has sung 20 soprano roles over nearly three decades with the company. She was always an intelligent operatic trouper who got at dramatic truth through the music, and so does she here.

Authentic Italianate style is upheld especially well by the Italian tenor Giuseppe Filianoti as Lucia’s lover, Edgardo. His voice blended beautifully with Phillips’ and their characters’ increasing desperation as the opera moved to its tragic denouement clearly engaged the opening-night audience.

Stylistic fidelity also was assured in the pit by debut conductor Massimo Zanetti, who presided over a virtually uncut performance of Donizetti’s score, thereby making its musical and dramatic structure that much clearer.

Lyric is billing this as a “new production,” when in fact it derives from a production first seen at the Central City Opera in Colorado in 2009.

Good words for the set design; criticism for the costumes.

Chicago Theater Beat liked it more than I did:

Lucia di Lammermoor is the perfect title because Susanna Phillips (Lucia) owns this show! Lying on the ground, falling down the stairs, mimicking bird-like sounds, Phillips is pure singing perfection. As she sings of her love in “Quando repito in estasi,” the audience falls hard for her. Under the stage direction of Catherine Malfitano, Phillips delightfully transforms from sweet innocent to spurned lover to full-on bonkers. Every level of passion is brilliantly actualized under the baton of Conductor Massimo Zanetti. The madness aria, “Il dolce suono… Ardon gli incense,” is unforgettable! Not only is the singing sublime, Phillips scurries back and forth on a precarious staircase. The visual heightens the dramatic craziness! I’m holding my breath and hoping Phillips doesn’t really *lose it* in the scene. The object of her affection is the charming Giuseppe Filianoti as Edgardo. Phillips and Filianoti enchant with the duet “Verranno a te sull’aure.” Filianoti creates his own ripple of swooning throughout the theatre. Later, Filianoti is powerfully commanding in rage and despair. I love this coupling!

There weren’t that many exclamation points in the performance I saw.

As did Chicago Critic:

The sets are generally simple, but that’s anything but a criticism. They are beautifully painted, and elegant in their minimalism. With one exception: Wolf’s Crag, the castle around and in which several scenes take place, is intricate, beautiful, functional, and overall masterfully designed. The costumes are excellent, with the subtle colors in the designs playing important roles. My only complaint is the supertitles, which, from time to time, were left wanting. For example, in the sextet, only two voices were actually translated. This does not affect the enjoyment of the music itself, but leaves the story slightly less fleshed-out than it could be. Still, that is a fairly minor caveat. Generally, this is the Lyric Opera doing a classic at their best.

However, The Sun-Times’s critic, Andrew Patner, saw the same things I did going into a lot more detail than I cared to in his criticisms. After criticizing the staging, conducting, and singing by the leads, Mr. Patner continues:

In his Lyric debut, Irish-American baritone Brian Mulligan took up the Enrico only recently when the announced singer withdrew due to an illness in his family. Perhaps due to the short preparation, he never made clear the cruel motivations of Lucia’s bullying brother. (Ryan alum Quinn Kelsey will take the role for the two Nov. dates.)

Current popular Ryan Center tenor Rene Barbera suffered from unfortunate costuming (by Wilmette native Terese Wadden) as the doomed arranged groom Lord Arturo Bucklaw, looking more like the bearded lady Baba the Turk than the Scottish boy heir from the castle next door. Ryan second-year baritone Paul Scholten was an impressive Normanno but first-year mezzo Cecelia Hall fell victim to Zanetti’s surging volume and Malfitano’s inattention. Even Michael Black’s fine chorus had a time with these issues.

Chin had some nice stage pictures, especially with a moonscape inspired by German Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich, and it was good to have Lyric’s former resident lighting magician Duane Schuler back in town. But too often this second entry in what is very much the Transition Season from William Mason to Anthony Freud as general director smacked of cost savings and lack of imagination.

Now I don’t feel hyper-critical any more.