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Performance Sat Oct 29 2011
Lucia at the Lyric
Last night I went to the Lyric Opera's performance of Lucia di Lammermoor, a classic tragedy in every sense of the word. "Family A" conquers "Family B"... female of Family A falls for remaining Family B member... they have to separate for a noble cause... female goes nutty because her family selfishly conspires against her... everyone is hurt because there is no honest communication... she dies, he hears of this and kills himself.
The story aside, I have to say that the entire first two acts were fairly uninspired. This is where we experience the hatred and anxiety of Enrico, the head of the Ashton Family, building for Edgardo, the last of the Ravenswoods because of the relationship that has formed between him and Enrico's sister. The love and the passion in the relationship, even their personal wedding, seemed lacking of confidence and flair. Brian Mulligan as Enrico wasn't convincing at being scared, confused or angry at anything. I understand his role was complicated by a number of options in front of him:
- He has to deal with the fact he wants his sister to marry an English aristocrat to be able to secure his waning power in the region.
- He need to listen to, and be seen as strong in front of his people.
- He loves his sister and deep down would like her to be happy.
- Other psycho craziness.
All that being said, people do get angry at one point and then confused but in the first two acts he lacked that conviction of owning any one emotion at one time, which left his performance seeming weak.
Susanna Phillips (Lucia Ashton) and Giuseppe Filianoti (Edgardo of Ravenswood) did fine throughout, but it wasn't until the final act that they relished their roles and immersed themselves in the moment. The way they brought up the level of their performance seemed to bring everyone to the table and inspire a complete embracing of what was happening. Christian Van Horn (Raimondo Bidebent) may have delivered the best performance in terms of consistency -- he owned his role and enjoyed himself, as far as I can tell. If there was anyone that could of pulled the cast together through the intermission to get such a great ending it would have been Christian.
Overall, a fine show that, rightfully so, may not be on the top of your list this year with the selection the Lyric is offering. Anything lacking in the first two acts, though, was easily made up, and then some, with the performances the cast pulled out to wrap it all up.
