I feel like I’m at the O.K. Coral tonight, not because of the set, but for the audience’s behavior. There’s a lot of talking, candy wrappers, and picture taking; It wouldn’t surprise me if some of these barbarians brought spittoons to spew chewing tobacco!
The opera is set in the old American west with a very traditional wooden set.
It is fair to say I did not give Puccini doing Americana a fair chance.
Cliche’s and double entendres abound and while the singing and music at times transcends, I’m never completely won over.
Honestly, I’d like to see this again. For whatever reason, I really didn’t give it fair shake.
La Fanciulla Del West begins in the Polka Saloon where the bartender is getting ready for the miners to return. They are heartfelt people who are all in love with the owner of the bar, Minnie. She reads them bible stories instead of taking them up on their offers. Being a motherly figure and an object of desire to the men I would love to know what Freud thought about it. Jack Rance is the sheriff and on the look out for a bandit named Ramirez. A stranger named Dick Johnson comes in who Minnie vouches for, but she and everybody else don’t realize he is actually the bandit Ramirez. Will he steal the gold from the bar or steal Minnie’s heart…?
Notes on the production
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Composer…………………….….. Giacomo Puccini
Joe…………………………………….. Scott Scully
Minnie………………………….……. Eva-Maria Westbroek
Jack Rance………………………… Zeljko Lucic
Dick Johnson……………….……. Yusuf Eyvazov
Wowkle……………………………… MaryAnn McCormick
Nick……………………………………. Carlo Bosi
Metropolitan Opera
10/12/18