Met's "Siegfried' in HD-TV Live

At last, Robert Lepage and the Metropolitan Opera have come up with a Ring production that realizes the potential we expected from that director and that company. We're already three-quarters through Wagner's Ring, but (as the awakening Brünnhilde might have said to Siegfried) better late than never.

I refer, of course, to the new production of Siegfried, seen worldwide in cinemas and returning to the Met stage in the spring.

Siegfried is the least performed of the four Ring dramas and often derided as boring. (Also for being sexist and monochromatic, since no female appears until the last act.) Among opera connoisseurs, though, Siegfried is admired: conductors James Levine and Christofer Macatsoris have called it their favorite part of the Ring. Siegfried is a vigorous, athletic and adventurous opera, just like its title character.

Fabio Luisi, who substituted as conductor of this production when Levine re-injured his back, brought a youthful verve to the score that was entirely appropriate. Under his baton the Met orchestra sounded transparent— lighter and more playful than it has under Levine.

Serendipitous substitute

In the title role, tenor Jay Hunter Morris fit perfectly into this conception. This was serendipitous, because Morris wasn't involved in this opera's rehearsals until the week before its premiere, when Gary Lehman was abruptly withdrawn due to illness.

Morris sang Siegfried with innocence and youthful enthusiasm. His voice isn't large, yet it rode buoyantly on the crest of Luisi's lyrical orchestra. Morris was ideally broad-shouldered as Wagner's dragon-slaying hero. He was convincing as a young man who roams the wilderness, bonding with the birds of the forest as he explores his country.

Then he climbs to the top of a rocky mountain, walks through fire and awakens the ideal woman— in this case, Deborah Voigt, who looked attractive and sang rapturously. For a change, the love duet seemed authentic. She didn't hold the high Cs as well as some previous Brünnhildes, but the two of them brought the opera to a convincing conclusion.

Morris— no relation to the bass James Morris— is a Texan who made his stage debut at Philadelphia's Plays & Players Theatre on Delancey Street in the world premiere of Terrence McNally's Master Class in 1995. (He played one of the opera students being coached by Zoe Caldwell as Maria Callas. )

Stammering dwarf

The appeal of the first two acts was further enhanced by the outstanding work of tenor Gerhard Siegel as the stammering dwarf Mime. Siegel blended malevolence and humor with precise articulation of all his grace notes. Bryn Terfel was sonorous as The Wanderer and Eric Owens was imposing as Alberich.

Robert Lepage's production went back to the bag of tricks he's deployed so effectively at Cirque du Soleil, with vivid three-dimensional images of a waterfall flowing into a reflective pool, and creepy crawling things on the floor of Mime's cave. Flying birds darted across the stage during the Act II forest scene.

Some minor disappointments included Mocja Erdmann as a thin-voiced— and invisible— forest bird, and a cartoonish dragon that was more appropriate for a Thanksgiving Day parade.♦


To read Steve Cohn's earlier discussion of Siegfried, click here.