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When is it Appropriate to Boo at the Opera?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Lest anyone think that ‘regional’ opera is subject to artistic inconsistencies and that New York’s mighty Metropolitan Opera is steady and unsinkable, consider the following email, sent by AJC classical stringer James L. Paulk. He was at the Met Monday evening, eager to hear tenor Ben Heppner and soprano Deborah Voigt sing in Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde,” conducted by Met music director James Levine.
The show was hyped beyond all decency, compounding anticipation for opening night. The entire run, through March 28, appears to be sold out. Audience reaction plays an interesting role here. When the Met does not meet expectations, the audience feels confident and demanding enough to boo. When was the last time an Atlanta Opera artist(s) flubbed horribly and got a well-deserved boo? Could it be that Atlantans appreciate the difficulty of producing and performing opera more than we value our own experience in the theater?
Here’s what James Paulk passed along:
The Tristan (last night) was a debacle. Heppner was sick and bailed out. He was replaced by John MacMasters, who had apparently sung the role once, at the Welsh Nat’l Opera. One of the biggest singers I’ve seen, and one of few for whom Heppner’s big costume needed to be let out, MacMasters had a small voice and ran out of steam during the second act. From that point on, things deteriorated, with the voice at times inaudible, sometimes breaking up, and all sorts of other issues.
Voigt was remarkably consistent: she sang flat all night. Levine apparently decided that the best course of action was to let the orchestra drown out everything, and he was quite brisk, by Levine standards (the Met orchestra sounds wonderful when heard at this volume and with such energy). All singers in secondary roles were outstanding, perhaps excepting the Kurwenal, Wilm Schulte, who sang loudly but with no refinement whatsoever.
MacMasters got the loudest and longest booing I’ve heard since the fabled Francesca Zambello “Lucia” — a disaster! — but that was for her stage direction. Directors are more at risk from first night Met audiences than singers.
—jimmy paulk
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