Marcelo Álvarez Is Twice Unhappy in ‘Cavalleria’ and ‘Pagliacci’

Mascagni’s “Cavalleria Rusticana” and Leoncavallo’s “Pagliacci” have been yoked together for so long that it is easy to think of them as two halves of the same work. Both are short operas written in response to the literary verismo movement that swept Italy in the final decades of the 19th century with an emphasis on real-life stories featuring ordinary people: unhappy lovers caught in the rigid moral code of a Sicilian village in Mascagni’s work, unhappy lovers in a troupe of traveling comedians caught in the glare of the footlights in Leoncavallo’s. Yet each opera inhabits its own musical and aesthetic universe.

A new production by the British director David McVicar, which opens at the Metropolitan Opera on April 14 under the musical direction of Fabio Luisi, promises to respect those differences while presenting them in a unified setting, a Sicilian village as it would have appeared around 1900 (for “Cavalleria”) and then again some 48 years later, when telephone wires crisscross the public space and colorful movie posters are plastered over the ancient walls.

The tenor Marcelo Álvarez takes on both the role of Turiddu in “Cavalleria” and that of Canio in “Pagliacci,” a feat that, while not unusual, remains impressive. A fine actor, he should do well with the layers of self-awareness, deception and knowledge that these two characters grapple with as they are trapped in tawdry yet agonizing tangles of jealousy and infidelity.

The Dutch soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek, who turned in a gripping performance in Shostakovich’s “Lady Macbeth of Mtensk” last year, takes on the role of the jealousy-torn Santuzza in “Cavalleria.” In “Pagliacci,” the tragic female lead of Nedda falls to the soprano Patricia Racette, also a skilled actress. In an interview posted on the Met’s website, Mr. McVicar expresses his confidence that with a cast this strong he will achieve the usually elusive feat of making the comedy-within-a-drama of “Pagliacci” truly funny, bringing out elements of vaudeville and slapstick that, as he says, “underline the agony that is raging beneath the surface.”

(The Metropolitan Opera presents “Cavalleria Rusticana” and “Pagliacci” in a double bill conducted by Fabio Luisi from April 14 through May 8; metopera.org.)

Source link

- http://bit.ly/1D8AQSL