The Met’s Lohengrin overran five hours
OperaNo reviews yet on the Francois Girard production of Lohengrin at the Met, which ended a few short hour ago, but eyewitness reports turn in high marks for Piotr Beczala in the title role and Christine Goerke as Ortrud.
Girard’s crowd management and command of lighting were outstanding, his eye for beauty unfailing.
The one caveat is length. Condutor Yannick Nézet-Séguin somehow made it last more than five hours, which is Jimmy Levine territory. Spectators say it did not flag, but Wagner’s long enough without the heavy breathing.
The advertised time is 4 hours 35 minutes.
With a 6.30pm start for the next performances, nobody gets home before midnight.
Photo: Marty Sohl / Met Opera
Looks identical to Covent Garden’s Rusalka set. What’s the carbon footprint of shipping it back and forth over the Atlantic?
Zero. This was originally a co-production with a Russian company but because of the Ukraine war the sets were made independently in the US. Also, you might note this is a completely different opera and production. Why make a comment like that?
It’s called a sense of humour.
Not really. You would do yourself and others a favor by finding a good comedy writer.
It seems the sets were built in Cardiff. Even so…
Actually, the Met had its duplicate sets made in Cardiff, Wales, so the carbon footprint of getting them to New York was non-zero. https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/met-opera-scraps-set-russia-builds-lohengrin-97451966
Goodall famously showed that slow tempi can be very revealing in Wagner. I never heard a Lohengrin from him, though.
Good chunk of overtime for the musicians.
Don’t blame YNS. Length is roughly 3h40.
Problem is, two intermissions at the MET take longer than 55 mins. So 4h35 was never realistic.
People just want to eat and drink nowadays, and caterers demand profits or they won’t staff up.
It started about 10 minutes late and the intermissions were 40 minutes rather than 30. This explains the 5 hour run time instead of the 4 hours 35 minutes in the schedule.
If only this comment could be moved to the top…
Who wants to sleep through Slohengrin(andbearit)
It’s a shame you feel that way, there is some really gorgeous music in that opera.
You should go down to the pit, push him out of the way and conduct it yourself so it finishes in time for your train.
Running time of Levine’s 1998 Met CD is 3:28.
The CD doesn’t have intermissions, unless you take one between changing CD’s.
The length may not have been because of the music…it could have been because of long intermissions.
This isn’t true. The show ended at 6:45. Which, with a start time of 2:05 and slightly longer than usual intervals, brought it to about the usual length.
6:50 by my phone (not a meaningful difference). With YNS I expected shorter. I guess he made up time with his 30-minute Beethoven 5 on Friday.
I was there, it started at 2
Having seen Girard’s Parsifal, very high hopes for Lohengrin. These two operas also benefit from the availability of singers who can really sing the roles.
It did not last “more than five hours.” It lasted 4 hours and 50 minutes. If it had, I would have missed my train.
You are misinformed. The curtain came down at 6:57.
That was after extensive curtain calls.
Piotr Beczala was simply out of this world.
And the house roared its approval when he took his curtain call (I have the video!). Beczala, on last night’s performance, is a Lohengrin for the ages. Like Kaufmann, he has that open, baritonal richness to carry a role that places relatively few demands on the very top of the range. But his entire dynamic and vocal range is one, homogenous sound world that never loses its “ring”. His piano and mezza voce never come “off the voice”, never trading effect for core, bright sound. He gave a masterclass in applying the best techniques of bel canto to Wagner’s sublime, Romantic lyricism. We witnessed something truly special.
And Yannick Nézet-Séguin brought ecstatic, shimmering textures from the orchestra – fantastic, as always. Special mention to an almost vocal base clarinet. I found Yannick’s tempi to be spot on, never flagging, and might even say that “In fernem Land” could have been allowed to decant a fraction of a hair more.
A sublime afternoon. Fabulous cast (I would only make one substitution), production and design (though I really did not understand Lohengrin’s contemporary, plain white shirt and black trousers in a sea of medieval gowns. A simple, off-white robe would have been so effective and timeless. He looked nothing like a mysterious knight, even if Piotr played one beautifully).
I’m so happy I drove the 400-mile round trip to catch it. Grab a ticket if you can.
What substitution?
I prefer not to say, if that’s ok. Audiences will decide for themselves. It’s just my own, highly subjective view…
You were not stingy with your “own, highly subjective view” otherwise. Why back down now?
Nikitin?
NO, it is NOT OK! You wrote extensively and then what? Lack of courage? The reviews are already out. Do not fear that you might not agree with them, they do not even agree among themselves! So, who should have been replaced and, if you have a suggestion, by whom?
I just wanted to write about a highly positive experience, particularly the revelatory performance of Piotr Beczala. I’m a former singer, but not a music critic, so I’m not in the business of passing negative commentary on the artistry of individuals. Had Piotr been awful, for example, I would not have shared the experience here. Nothing to do with courage, and everything to do with respect. You might see elsewhere that I am very willing to put my name to opinions that relate to an artist’s off-stage choices, such as the regime they choose to represent. But I leave the negative reviews for critics, (who seem to concur with my view, in this instance).
“Respect” is correct. If a person wants to make a judgement, they can listen to it themselves on the Met Opera free live stream. To a great degree, all criticism is subjective and personal.
As long as one refers to the performance of an artist, be that good, bad or somewhere in between, without attacking the artist personally, there is nothing wrong with negative comments regarding the performance. If, on the other hand, one writes a personal attack, then it is wise to refrain from commenting. How does this apply to you? Are you not capable of separating the performance from the performer? Example: I have often heard great performances from singers whose voices per se were not my cup of tea, but that did not prevent me from applauding their performances. Get the message?
Francois Girard designed Lohengrin production as sequel to his Parsifal. Lohengrin is son of Parsifal and a knight of the holy grail, naturally he dressed the same way as knights did in Girard’s Parsifal production. (there were talkings about putting the revivals of 2 productions together)
Ah! That makes sense! Thanks for that. Sadly, I missed the prequel…
It wasn´t particularly slow.It´s the long intermissions at the MET,
The intermissions are interminably long at the Met under Gelb. Not just new productions, but also for older shows that previously had shorter intervals. During the Volpe years, with his technical and practical knowledge of the stage–as well as that of Joe Clark–things were better.
Now, stage elevators at the Met (mocked by cynics in the Zeffirelli productions but effective and often awe-inspiring) and other time-saving mechanisms are used less frequently.
The two Joes with their practical knowledge reined in the sometimes ignorant impulses of certain designers and directors to make production operate more efficiently and within budget.
Those days are over…and look where they are.
Ha! I knew someone would find a way to blame Gelb for this – and here we have it. Whatever it is you’re going on about – you don’t have a clue.
The call is coming from within the house…
The MET struggles on this site to find any success; even when a performance is exemplary, NL finds a way to criticize.
Here’s an extensive review from 27 February:
https://parterre.com/2023/02/27/a-whiter-shade-of-grail/
The Live HD in cinemas went down at Basildon tonight – screen blanked out but sound, thankfully continued. The cinema dished out complementary tickets as compensation.
They didn’t know if it was New York’s fault or their own software tripping off the projector due to overrun and getting ready for the next show.
What do the buffs think?
No interruption during relay at Dover last night. Problem must be at your end.