Maddening Macbeth

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Sometimes, a story is so universal that it can be updated without affecting the integrity of the drama. San Francisco Opera’s deeply problematic production of Verdi’s Macbeth, which debuted last Wednesday, proved to be one of the exceptions. Shakespeare’s tale of greed and ambition leading to ruin can stand up to changes of setting and time, but David Pountney’s staging, directed here by Nicola Raab, left the opening-night audience troubled and confused.

The curtain opened on a female chorus, presumably the witches, dressed in red and in every imaginable style, and playing with a strange assortment of props, the likes of which the War Memorial Opera House stage has rarely seen. The women held stereos, played with egg beaters, and remarkably, constantly hula-hooped (yes, while singing). Besides contributing an incredible amount of noise, these objects were a troubling sign of things to come.

The set consisted of gray, concretelike walls that swooped down toward stage left, and a gray box that moved and turned to represent various locations. Unfortunately, any action that occurred inside the box was only visible to those seated in the center of the house. The shock of seeing King Duncan’s dead body was therefore only shocking to a small portion of the audience.

Yesterday’s Future

The stage resembled a set from Star Wars, and my immediate association was strengthened when Macbeth (Thomas Hampson) made his first entrance bearing a striking similarity to that film’s Lando Calrissian. Just when I thought I might be overreacting, Banquo entered with several soldiers whose molded-plastic breastplates and futuristic helmets brought to mind Darth Vader’s storm troopers, though clad in black rather than white.

Lady Macbeth’s initial absurdity may be chalked up to workplace safety. It was nonetheless distracting to watch Hungarian soprano Georgina Lukács, standing on the 10-foot-tall box, grapple with the safety line to which she was tethered. At the outset, it seemed that Lukács’ awkwardness was due to the thick black rope tying her to the box. As the first act progressed, however, it became apparent that she lacked any grace of movement. Every step seemed labored, and acting was limited to swaying and holding her head.

Indeed, I wondered about her interpretation of the character. Shakespeare and Verdi gave us a woman of incredible strength and ambition, who slides into madness while desperately trying to hold herself together. Lukács, however, seemed unhinged from the outset, eliminating any chance of character progression. Her stage direction was also a hindrance. Lady Macbeth’s fierceness, quite an anomaly for a female character of the time, was cheapened by a series of bizarre pseudosexual reactions to the many murders.

Georgina Lukács

All photos by Terrence McCarthy

Sadly, her singing did not help. While the upper reaches of her voice displayed glimpses of a bright, silvery tone, the other registers were unfocused and her vibrato had a clearly apparent wobble. Lukács’ voice does not seem inclined toward movement, so quicker passages and occasional decorated lines dragged behind the orchestra.

Great Singers Brighten the Gloom

Hampson, on the other hand, was in fine vocal form. He sang with great clarity and line, displaying none of the woofy quality that I have heard in his voice recently. His Macbeth was strong and commanding, becoming thoroughly unnerving as his visions and paranoia took over.

Thomas Hampson

The singers in supporting roles were particularly exciting. As Banquo, Raymond Aceto displayed a dazzling tone unusual in a bass. His Banquo had warmth and humanity, and was particularly touching as he convinced his son Fleance (Ben Seigel) to escape just prior to his murder. Alfredo Portilla was forceful and determined as the avenging Macduff.

Raymond Aceto

Adler Fellows Noah Stewart (as Malcom, son of the murdered king, Duncan), Elza van den Heever (as the Lady in Waiting), and Jeremy Gaylon (as the Doctor) made the most of small parts by singing with wonderful legato, color, and grace. The cast also featured several children, among them the second and third Apparitions, sung by Josephine Hicks-Jablons and Jack Gorlin, both of whom showed poise and much promise.

Guest conductor Massimo Zanetti was somewhat less successful. Although lauded for his interpretation of Verdi, Zanetti turned in a perfunctory performance this time out. The evening seemed to pass at a constantly brisk pace, and there was little in the way of nuance or color from the pit.

Straying From Verdi’s Direct Path

In letters to his librettists, Verdi emphasized a need for concise action and strong, forceful lines. His quickening of the play’s pace means that the characters have little time to evolve. There are fewer opportunities to emphasize the increasing guilt and madness of the main characters. Thus, the stage director and singers need to make the most of the time given.

Instead, Pountney seemed intent not only on distracting his audience, but also underestimating its intelligence. In Macbeth, atmosphere is hugely important to the psychological drama. Indeed, the chaos and disorder that take over minds and the realm are almost characters in themselves. It is when the natural world telegraphs the turmoil of Macbeth’s mind that he succumbs to madness and the drama is at its climax. This descent is rendered meaningless if that chaos exists from the outset.

Attempting to explain away the insanity of the production, an interview with Hampson in the program notes tells us that Pountney’s (misguided) point is to give us “surreal” use of materials that are unconnected to the action in order to highlight the way in which the main characters are finding their fates in a society with which they have no relationship. The messy and completely disjointed result, however, precludes any insight into the characters. If the goal was to heighten the drama, the director made a wrong turn and hit an asteroid belt. His confusing, ridiculous production managed to completely eviscerate the natural, thrilling tragedy that Shakespeare and Verdi have given us.

Mezzo-soprano Kathryn Miller holds degrees in singing from London’s Royal Academy of Music and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Comments

The reviewer neglected to point out the audience’s criticism of the performance. After the bows of the singers and the conductor, Nicolas Raab and an associate came on stage. They were greeted with the biggest round of boos I have ever experienced, in over 45 years of opera going, at the War Memorial. If anyone applauded, he was unheard in the chorus of disapproval. Hopefully the General Director heard us. Was this a lasting (I hope not) legacy of the (fortunately) departed Pamela Rosenberg?

Posted by Don McKay on November 20, 2007 at 7:45 pm
Yes, this is a Rosenberg flatulence in the elevator, the last. Mr. Hampson saved the day, proving what needs not proof — that singing always saves opera, no matter what the smell. Thank you, Ms. Miller, for a helpful review; I enjoyed Mr. Gereben’s “Alvin” analogy, but your Star Wars observation hits the mark better. George Lucas will outlast Georgina Lukacs.

Posted by Louis Weiner on November 20, 2007 at 8:57 pm
Worse production I have ever seen. The Italian was horrible too. My Italian friends who witnessed this with me had to read the English subtitles… WHat a pity, MacBeth is such a great Opera… and this was a waste or resources… my time and money.

Posted by Amelia Martinez on November 21, 2007 at 12:50 pm
To clarify Don McKay’s observation: The “BOOs” were directed at celebrated director David Pountney and his associate Nicola Raab. Manic, schizophrenic props and direction distract us from Verdi’s masterpiece. I prefer to market these types of offerings as “BASED on the Opera of Verdi (Based on Shakespeare)”. During Ms. Rosenberg’s tenure there were many productions which truthfully marketed might read thusly: SAN FRANCISCO OPERA– WHEN THE MUSIC IS NOT ENOUGH!

Posted by Claudia on November 24, 2007 at 11:34 am
Even though, by the end of the evening, I was able piece together a reasonably coherent interpretation of the production (at least to me), overall I agree that it added little and detracted a lot. Even supposing that my Jungian intepretation (e.g. the chained Lady Macbeth is an Jungian anima figure representing a repressed side of Macbeth’s personality, and is the source of his inconsistent and eventually disastrous behavior) the question remains: does it really illuminate anything? So suppose 5% of the audience “understands” and likes Jungian interpretations — those people probably can find the same meaning in the mythic story without having it pounded into them. The other 95% just find it distracting and puzzling and probably missed more than one very satisfying musical moment while they were trying the divine the meaning of the green typewriter placed front and center on the prompter’s box.

An aside–from the Balcony, the mirrors of the big cube (Macbeth’s unconsious mind presumably) provided a perfect view of the prompter in this box. From this we learned that Thomas Hampson evidently doesn’t need any prompting.

Posted by David Koffman on November 25, 2007 at 1:13 pm
Surely we can’t go on invoking the ghost of Pamela Rosenberg forever. Gockley has been here long enough, I should think, to be held liable for his own decisions, good or bad, including this Macbeth.

I remain very grateful for Pamela Rosenberg’s contribution to the opera culture of this city. Sure, she made some mistakes, but she brought us some wonderful things. (For François d’Assise she will be forever appreciated by me.) We should all be hoping Gockley does as good a job.

Posted by Marjorie on November 27, 2007 at 3:27 pm
I just moved to San Francisco from New York, so I want to bad-mouth my new neighbors . . . but I can’t help but wondering if San Francisco opera-goers have EVER seen operas anywhere else. I’ve been going to opera for over twenty years at the likes of the Met, the Opera Bastille, etc. and I found this production of Macbeth to be refreshingly provacative.

The sets that were met with so much criticism? A variant of it was done by no less than Judy Taymor at the Met in a stunning production of “The Magic Flute.” What’ more, it does precisely what the reviewer claims it does not: It enhances and in some respects defines Macbeth’s descent into madness. And the costumes? Last year, City Opera of New York did a production of “Semelle” that featured a Marilyn Monroe look-alike and 50’s carhop uniforms. Both of these productions were met with critical acclaim precisely because they differed from the ho-hum, pedestrian versions of these operas we’ve all seen a thousand times.

I have a great deal of admiration for the San Francisco Opera for the chances they took on this production; and to my mind, they succeeded brilliantly. My hat is off to Nicola Raab for having the courage to pull it off.

Bravo!!!!

Posted by Thomas on November 28, 2007 at 1:55 am
I attended the last performance of Macbeth today, luckily I hadn’t read any of the not-so-glowing reviews prior. I formed my own opinion: The chorus initially was very disjointed, especially when the females were singing at the wall (reminiscent of Iphegenie…), and Lady Macbeth was sub-par. I’m not a professional singer, but I’ve sung long enough to know there was something wrong with her voice. I could skip rope through her vibrato, and it became distracting as well as annoying to me. Thomas Hampson was stellar, as was Noah Stewart. Hula hoops, witches painting their toenails, the ever-present, but never referred-to typewriter, men in drag, costumes that looked like Planet Of The Apes, zombie/mummies with oven mitt hands? I know I’m not really into modern productions, but this was definitely NOT something I’d see again.

I hope you all saw La Rondine…now THERE was some great singing!!!

Posted by Jennifer B on December 2, 2007 at 11:22 pm