THE CAPULETS AND THE MONTAGUES in Palermo - Review

by Natalia Di Bartolo – at the Teatro Massimo, on the podium Maestro Omer Meir Wellber, directed by Idan Cohen, a bizarre staging.

It can happen that sometimes the musicologist is also a cinephile and who, fresh from having seen the recent film Saw X of the famous American horror saga, you find the "hospital" climate on stage, but not in the apparently saving version of a luxury clinic, but in the version of a sort of taxidermy museum, which made us retrace the entire history backwards, with the usual, infinite and often vain search for the "visionary". In this case a Palermo in a work that echoes and inspires everything except aseptic atmospheres, taxidermy operating rooms and white-coat museums: “The Capulets and the Montagues” by Vincenzo Bellini, on stage on the Sicilian stage on November 26, 2023.

But, before we return to the setting and atmospheres created by Israeli director and choreographer Idan Cohen, what needs to be underlined is l’musical performance.

On the podium Concertmaster and Orchestra Director Omer Meir Wellber, at the helm of'Stabile Orchestra of the Palermo theater.

Master Wellber, appeared more in search of meanings than care for the signifier, kept a fluctuating agogic trend, clearly distinguishing the part it defined “singable” from the orchestral and choral one. During the interview, the Maestro underlined the attempt to distinguish between the two parts and the due search for “pathos” . But the pathos is not only found in the orchestral and choral parts, with a strong contribution from the ballet, but also in those that he himself defined as "singable". The search for pathos has unintentionally created a series of arbitrary dichotomies “inside” the stylistic and executive coherence of Bellini's masterpiece. Furthermore, Master Wellber himself had prudently announced that the times in Bellini may vary based on individual performers; which is always normal for a director who also has control over the stage. But this cannot also be applied to the orchestral parts, which therefore followed a varied trend, even at times Rossini-like in the symphony.

The direction, as a whole also showed little attention to nuances in the orchestra. In particular, some inaccuracies in the document have come to our attention solo horn which precedes and accompanies, together with’Arpa, the wonderful entrance of Juliet with the cavatina “Here I am in a happy dress – Oh! How many times…”; and equally, at times, the cleanliness of the orchestral attacks and closures left something to be desired. Anyway, luckily, keeping Master Wellber, in particular in its so-called "cantabile" part, a clearly lyrical and "sweet" inspiration, at times the true Bellini with times, dynamics and everything else it came out with strength, almost arrogance, beyond everything.

Even beyond one Juliet, the Spanish Marina Monzò, to debut in the role, in his second Bellini performance after “I Puritani”, with a relative lack of experience that could be heard entirely: voice barely a thread, with projection and ringing problems. However, despite several arbitrary breath intakes in the famous cavatina mentioned above, she was overall a Giulietta of remarkable aesthetic beauty and it is right to recognize a delicate interpretation.

In the role of Romeo, also in debut in the role, the best Russian mezzo-soprano Maria Kataeva, male protagonist who was in transvestite only in appearance but not in singing style, because he definitely sang "Women's" and it was perceived as such. An unusual reading, which was not entirely inappropriate: after all, Bellini wrote for two women and therefore the en travesti mezzo-soprano handed down by tradition can also in some cases appear forced, in search of an unlikely masculinity. It is therefore preferable naturalness, which also benefited from his contribution in duets and concertati.

Tebaldo, Ioan Hotea, a tenor with the necessary high notes was corrected in his part; likewise Capellio, Marco Spotti and Lorenzo, Gabriele Sagona; as well as the choir of the Teatro Massimo led by Maestro Salvatore Punturo.

But, to return to what was mentioned at the beginning, l’dark and aseptic setting by Idan Cohen, animated inconsistently by Ballet of the Teatro Massimo on his choreography, remained, despite the mental contortions regarding the plot and characters, devoid of real sense. All this to show how the fate of the two young Shakespeareans (who in this version are not Shakespeareans) was predestined and to try to narrate it as “impagliata” and always equal to itself, in a museum. Definitely questionable, then, il cigno insanguinato lying on an operating table with his head resting on a red velvet pillow; the same plank that would become Juliet's tomb. That the swan represented Juliet, also from the protagonist's plumed costume, would seem obvious, but the translated meaning also applies to the body of the Swan from Catania it screeched loudly.

Romeo and Juliet, who were conceived from the beginning as already dead for the father and all the other characters, according to the director, moved in a unreal atmosphere shiny with glass and steel of cryptic reading and, at times, even of a noisy intrusiveness, as happened at the door of a glass cabin during the Cavatina di Giulietta in the first act, which filled a long musical pause with an unpleasant mechanical click.

Therefore a dystopian museum, between glass cases and animal masks, an infinite conflict between two families, as in a "loop" which the director seems to want to recognise, we don't know how or why, even in Bellini's music; all contained in scenes by Riccardo Massironi and with i costumes/overalls and headdresses by Edoardo Russo and lit by Bambi lights.

Nobody takes away from the writer's conviction that in this new and bizarre staging of "The Capulets and the Montagues" was present either the scenic inspiration for the film of the famous American horror series Saw, be the inspiration” to certain “author” scenography and choreography much more illustrious and proven. She was obvious: it was evident from the accessories and headdresses of the choir and extras, from the movements and the tangle of characters who crowded around especially Juliet, remaining between mime and ballet even during some orchestral parts. Very unoriginal already seen which would have been much more elegant to avoid.

Public tepidly applauding, indeed, in front of the entire show.