By Natalia Di Bartolo – In a new production by Thomas Jolly with Benjamin Bernheim and Elsa Dreisig, Gounod's Opéra returns to Paris –
After the great wait in Paris for the staging at the Opéra Bastille of “Romeo and Juliet” by Gounod, one would have expected, in the performance of 26 June 2023 to which this writing refers, the top of all the tops from a new production of the opera.
Approaching the Shakespearean masterpiece, still transfigured by the French musical genius, and staging it should be a sort of ritual, because the performance, both for those who produce it and for those who listen to it, induces an immersion in the Divine. Therefore the entire work requires overall cohesion, a powerful cohesion; it should touch supreme interpretative levels, including orchestral ones; it should be performed and staged almost with devotion, note for note…And the aforementioned cohesion should, as always, start from mystical gulf, from Concertmaster and Orchestra Director.
Listen instead, as happened at Bastille, under the direction of Maestro Carlo Rizzi, a French opera performed to the metronome, with precision, but partly with detachment and with the solemnity worthy of a Don Carlos, already removes a high percentage of "glue" from the scene. Maestro Rizzi, moreover, conducted the Opera tending to flatten the dynamics to the "full force", moreover with an agogic understanding from which the necessary poetic inspiration was not evident, and which appeared more attentive to the score than to the empathetic feelings towards the theme treated on stage: this is the feeling received, especially in the first part of the opera. Then, fortunately, especially in the most tragic moments, it grew. Furthermore, he took over parts of the work belonging to the ppremiere at the Palais Garnier on November 28, 1888, in a deeply reworked version, with a Ballet, compared to the original of the work, which debuted at Théâtre-Lyrique (place du Châtelet) on April 27, 1867: he inserted the interlude of the nurse's reappearance in the scene of the first conversation between Roméo and Juliette; he included ballet; caused the work to end without the sentence “Lord, Lord, forgive us! ” in duet, which is found in the libretto of the original (also 1867) by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, but simply with the "I love you" by Juliette. Philologically therefore, a sort of mix between the two versions which gave a sense of reopening of cuts. However, this last phrase, sung in unison before dying by the two protagonists, has become a matter of tradition and is highly functional, both scenically and musically, to the final tragedy. Therefore, there where the cradle of the very precious should be “French Tradition”, it seemed that Maestro Rizzi's choice took away, regardless of philology, a good part of the final pathos from the two performers.
The aforementioned “all strong” of the although remarkable Orchestra Parisian style was reflected on the stage and, inevitably, was sometimes also adopted by the performers.
La bella Elsa Dreisig, Juliette, slipped by costume designer Sylvette Dequest in a sort of "White Clown" costume, which penalized her quite a bit, she has a lot of voice to spare, but she should take care of the modulation, take care of the expression, follow the character's shocking life path with more participation, perform with feeling what must be performed in this way. Very attentive ears noticed the almost perfect execution of the opening cadence of "I want to live", which the majority of sopranos still shorten, wrongly, due to difficulty or carelessness. Dreisig performed it, basically, as it was written, but with a traditional ending. However, where was Juliette's carefreeness as a girl? Where were the yarns, the plans, the shades? Unfortunately, this is not the first case to be found today in young sopranos, even if they are gifted: the school of “yarns” seems to have become extinct. On the other hand, Dreisig performed well the main scene of the potion, despite lacking a greater depth of pathos, and in any case she completed the work in full voice and without any problems.
Benjamin Bernheim was a Roméo from whom more was expected, both from a vocal and interpretative point of view. The tenor proved to be a Roméo perhaps oppressed by the ghosts of the glorious past that preceded him, but also poorly guided from a directorial point of view. So he too seemed detached, not very empathetic towards Juliette, using his own beautiful voice sometimes even with a stage detachment from his character which penalized both him and the couple. Yet he was a Roméo in the wake of tradition: excellent pronunciation, great musicality, he allowed himself some falsetto piano in the French style, but at times he seemed to "exit" the character, and then return to it in the key moments. In any case, he's a great tenor for this role and not only: his vocality lends itself to all’Opera Français: he demonstrated it in the triumphant Faust which preceded this production and is valuable Werther. A rarity these days.
Pleasant it Stephen by Lea Desandre, coming from baroque singing (and you could feel it), all the other performers, including stood out Capulet by Laurent Naouri, the Frère Laurent by Jean Teitgen, the Mercutio by Huw Montague Rendall and the Probably by Maciej Kwaśnikowski.
The Choir, educated din Ching-Lien Wu,he obviously made us listen to a perfect pronunciation, but he was also caught up in the overall climate of detachment and too busy moving, as well as singing. And here, at this point, the person responsible on the scene should be mentioned: director Thomas Jolly which, keeping faith with his surname, he created a potpourri of styles and settings, recreating, with scenes by Bruno de Lavènere, on a revolving platform (even too much), the sumptuous entrance staircase of the’Garnier opera. Found effective, it must be admitted, well lit by the lights by Antoine Travert: the theater of tradition within the theater of innovation.
It seems that the Jolly be a fine connoisseur and even stand as a re-reader of Shakespeare and that he wanted to explore in this Parisian staging the concept of the oxymoron. In Shakespeare, the rhetorical figure is structured in such a way that the antonymic elements (love/hate) are not necessarily dialectical and therefore the oxymoron is very difficult to focus on. Could such an oxymoron be glimpsed here? But then, pushing his hand, he populated the stage more than mimi than of dancers, unleashed, guided by coreograbout Josepha Madoki in the wild “danza waacking”, created underground to assert one's right to choose and freedom, on "disco" music, from Latino gay community in Los Angeles in the 1970s. Invasive surgery, style Broadway musical, which, as mentioned, even involved the choir, who lent himself to these contortionist choreographies, comand it seems to be used today among "innovative" directors. Never costumes extremely varied and showy, "multi-stylistic", of the aforementioned Sylvette Dequeste and the confusion, which was between a masquerade ball and a circus, thus created on the stage, especially in the first act, spoiled the atmosphere and even penalized the performers.
Yet the Jolly It had some flashes of effectiveness. Of the oxymoron, which in this context should have been explored in a highly authoritative way, there was very little to enjoy, in truth, but some effective ideas were appreciated, especially in the scene of Mercutio describing Queen Mab and in the dreamlike moments of Juliette. But the Jolly decided that the main performers often stayed away, that they did not look each other in the eyes in duets, making it difficult for them to create the so-called "chemistry" of a couple, typical of the protagonists. It even caused Roméo and Juliette to wake up from an admittedly tasty sleep at dawn on their wedding night, as if, in a situation like that, the two unfortunate spouses had even had the time (and state of mind) to falling asleep peacefully and then debating whether he had heard the nightingale or the lark.
Finally, in the finale, we glimpsed the photocopy, both vocal and scenic, of one wonderful English production from many years ago, with historic, unforgettable performers.
At this point, the connoisseur's memories could not help but set in motion and conclude, obtorcocollo, that even in Paris the Opera Français no longer seems to have, today, the overall artistic value it should have. Perhaps, when expectations are of such a high level, it is unfortunate to see more than one of them dashed, despite the fact great success with the public of the evening.
Natalia Dantas ©
Roméo et Juliette
Music by Charles Gounod,
Libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré
Romeo: Benjamin Bernheim
Juliette: Elsa Dreisig
Brother Laurent: Jean Teitgen
Mercutio: Huw Montague Rendall
Tybalt: Maciej Kwaśnikowski
Benvolio: Thomas Ricart
Count Capulet: Laurent Naouri
Paris: Sergio Villegas-Galvain
The Duke: Jérôme Boutillier
Grégorio: Yiorgo Ioannou
Stéphano: Lea Desandre
Conductor
Carlo Rizzi
Stage director
Thomas Jolly
Chorus master
Chin-Lien Wu
Costume designer
Sylvette Dequest
Lighting designer
Antoine Travert
Set designer
Bruno de Lavenère
Choreographer
Josépha Madoki
Orchestra of the Paris National Opera
Chorus
Choirs of the Paris National Opera
Photo Vincent Pontet OnP, Teaser OnP