When a stranger comes to town and promises salvation, you know there’s gonna be trouble.
That’s the premise for “The Music Man,” seen only a month ago here in Durango. It’s also the premise for the next MET Live in HD.
“The Pearl Fishers,” by Georges Bizet, will be transmitted live from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City starting at 11 a.m. this Saturday. Screened at Fort Lewis College as part of the Met’s worldwide program to bring opera to the masses, the bizarre tale centers on a classic love triangle. It also has more loopy plot twists than a French horn.
In 1863, Bizet was a 25-year-old French composer who had yet to create his masterpiece, “Carmen.” A commission with a tight deadline put him in a bind. Two librettists cobbled together a story based on a novel about curiosities in Ceylon, part of the then-rage for exotic Oriental tales. Under time pressure, Bizet cobbled the score together by recycling bits from other compositions and not a few borrowed themes from other composers. The resulting premiere of “The Pearl Fishers” took place on Sept. 30, 1863, at Paris’s Théatre-Lyrique – right on deadline.
In the new Met production, when the opera opens, villagers choose a new leader, Zurga (baritone Mariusz Kwiecien). His best friend, Nadir (tenor Matthew Polenzani) arrives after a year’s absence. The two friends reinstate their brotherly bond – which includes a history of loving and competing for the same girl. In a memorable duet, they recommit to friendship and vow never again to let a woman come between them.
Meanwhile, Leila (soprano Diana Damrau), a virgin priestess, floats onto shore in what is usually a spectacular entrance. She promises her boss, the high priest Nourabad (bass Nicolas Testé) to save the fishing village from natural disasters and remain true to her vows. Her boss reminds her that if she fails, she will die.
When Nadir and Zurga realize Leila is the same woman they once vied for, there’s certainly trouble in River City. To shorten the story, no one keeps his or her promises, and as the village eventually goes up in flames, there’s one more unbelievable plot twist.
Whoever told you opera told deep humanistic stories with logical endings?
What’s gratifying is Bizet’s music, what Hector Berlioz said had moments of “ravishing originality.” At turns languid, luxurious and frenetic, there are memorable themes and exhilarating dances. Leila and Nadir have a beautiful duet, but so do Nadir and Zurga – a 19th-century bromance about male friendship. Bizet’s choruses border on sacred music unless they frantically disintegrate into religious hysteria.
The Met’s first production of “Pearl Fishers” since 1916 brings a new vision to opera. British filmmaker Penny Woolcock, 66, updates Bizet by creating a modern but poor Asian fishing village. And she enhances the entire production with film projections. At the beginning, you’ll see live dancers suspended on wires behind a scrim as if deep-sea diving for pearls.
Look up Woolcock’s credentials on the Internet and you’ll discover she directed the film version of “The Death of Klinghoffer,” which, thanks to Dan Morgenstern and Charles Leslie, we all got to see as a bonus production last year.
To push the “Music Man/Pearl Fishers” comparison a notch further, consider this: American salesman Harold Hill debarked a train in River City, Iowa, and Virgin-Priestess Leila slipped out of a skiff in Ceylon. He created trouble in a small Midwestern town. She ignited trouble with two old flames.
jreynolds@durangoherald.com. Judith Reynolds is a Durango writer, art historian and arts journalist.
If you go
The MET: Live in HD presents Bizet’s “The Pearl Fishers,” at 10:55 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 16, in the Vallecito Room of the Fort Lewis College Student Union. Based on a fantasy novel by Octave Sachot, featuring Diana Damrau, Matthew Polenzani, Mariusz Kwiecien and Nocolas Testé in a new production by Penny Woolcock, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda. Tickets: $23 general, $21 seniors, students and MET members, available online at www.durangoconcerts.com, by phone at 247-7657 or at the Welcome Center at 8th Street and Main Ave., or at the door. Note: Surcharges may apply. Running time: two hours 50 minutes. Sung in French with English subtitles.
