Glimmerglass Festival
B.A. Nilsson on July 23, 2015
Metroland
Macbeth
Music by Giuseppe Verdi, directed by Anne Bogart, July 17
Even as the characters of Macbeth and his wife inspire each other to greater acts of infamy, so too do
the roles that Verdi created vie in the realm of vocal demands. But with two proven Glimmerglass
veterans singing the parts, we were in good hands. Eric Owens was a knockout headlining Kurt
Weill’sLost in the Stars in 2012, while Melody Moore triumphed in the demanding role of Senta in
2013’s The Flying Dutchman. To unite them as theater’s best-loved hateful couple was a stroke of
casting genius.
Which means that a welcome and inevitable high point was Lady M’s sleepwalking scene (“Una macchia
è qui tuttora!”), in which Moore explored an impressive range of her powerful voice. It’s a bravura aria
insofar as it allows the singer to offer a more nuanced portrait than earlier numbers–but those earlier
ones include the pure menace of “La luce langue” and the bravado of her drinking song, “Si colmi il
calice.”
Owens, meanwhile, added to his performance the nuance of showing us a man going mad. It’s built in to
the score, but we also saw it in his face and movements. By the time of his Act Three moment of
The Glimmerglass Festival | PO Box 191, Cooperstown, NY 13326 | (607) 547-2255 | www.glimmerglass.org
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misguided exultation, thinking his triumph will be complete (“O lieto augurio”), he acts too shaken to
convince us he really believes it, adding to the tension of the moment.
Soloman Howard, as Banquo, doesn’t get much vocal display–he’s murdered early on–but what he sang
was flawless. And he made a truly frightening ghost in the banquet scene.
Verdi expanded the presence of the witches by turning them into a chorus, but their initial appearance
was tempered by their costuming, making them appear like a group of early-bird shoppers waiting for
Macy’s to open. Director Anne Bogart also placed them in several scenes in the castle, most intrusively
in the sleepwalking scene.
They were in full glory, however, when joined by the ensemble for Act Four’s opening chorus “Patria
oppressa,” beautifully sung and movingly staged.
What marred the production the most was furniture. Designers seem to get easily distracted by the set,
and this production had a large, cumbersome scenic piece built around three French windows on a truck
that chorus members struggled to re-angle between scenes.
It was awkward enough in the first half; in the second, the truck was twisted perpendicular to the
proscenium, blocking sightlines, so the fulfillment of the moment of Macbeth’s murder was weakened by
his near invisibility. (Not to mention Macduff’s seeming indifference.) He crawled downstage to sing the
restored final aria “Mal per me che m’affidai,” which puts such a satisfying button on the opera that it’s a
shame Verdi cut it from a subsequent version, and a good thing that this production restored it. We need
to be able to savor Macbeth’s downfall.
Conductor Joseph Colaneri did brilliant work with the brilliant orchestra, a group that seems undaunted
by any score and goes to town with a classic like this one. Furniture aside (which is where it belongs), it’s
very much worth seeing both to enjoy Verdi’s setting of Shakespeare’s play and to revel in the stars who
so skillfully bring it to life.
The Glimmerglass Festival | PO Box 191, Cooperstown, NY 13326 | (607) 547-2255 | www.glimmerglass.org
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