Mastodawn

We heard the #MetOpera Live in HD performance of #TristanundIsolde this afternoon and thought it was a superb production. Lise Davidsen and Michael Spyres were great leads with a strong supporting cast and wonderful orchestral playing. Yuval Sharon's direction was much criticized by some traditionalists, but offers dramatic range and intensity (clearly based on careful attention to music and text) and great visual effects. In all, a great afternoon of #Wagner.

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capt_subway 2d ago

@IHender
Was there at The Met. Loved Davidsen & Spyres. Some dismissed Davidsen as just being loud, and not much beyond - rather harsh, I think.
The production could have been worse. That whole mime thing doubling the action. And what was with the baby Brangäne was holding in her arms at the very end?

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IHender 2d ago

@capt_subway Thanks for the response. Sounds like I was more positive about the production than you, but no matter. As for the baby, as I see it, it ties back to Tristan's story, which he tells at the end of Act 2. His father died before he was born and his mother died giving him birth. I think the director mirrored this at the conclusion to suggest that the story is cyclical. Doesn't fit with the opera's timeline, but I think it puts an interesting emphasis on its mythic/legendary aspect.

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capt_subway

@IHender
Nope. I'm not a nit picker. I'm just happy to be there, hearing the music. As a production, it was far from the worst I've seen at The Met. As far as horrendous Regietheater $hitshows are concerned, try the The Met's Carmen, set at the Tex/Mex border, with Cartel smugglers bringing in drugs, Escamillio a race car driver, act II playing inside a 16 wheeler; or La Forza del destiny, played inside what looks like an abandoned NY subway station; Cosi fan tutte in 1940s Coney Island, etc..