When I was first getting into opera back in November, I took a gander at the Met's Live in HD listings for upcoming shows. One title stood out to me, appealing to my historic sensibilities: Donizetti's Anna Bolena. Unfortunately, the encore broadcast had been a few weeks ago, and I resigned myself to never seeing the opera.
You can imagine my surprise when it popped up on PBS at 9 p.m. on Friday, January 20th.
Anna Bolena tells the tale of Anne Boleyn, second wife of England's King Henry VIII. The year is 1536, three years into the marriage. Anne, who married for the throne, is tiring of the whole deal and pines for her old boyfriend, Richard Percy. Unbeknownst to her, Henry is himself carrying on with her lady-in-waiting and good friend, Jane Seymour. Jane is guilt-stricken by the affair, and insists that Henry should save her reputation by making an honest woman of her, but he can't because he's married, so they should stop this immediately and go back to their lives. Henry interprets this as yet another reason to hate Anne and, looking for any excuse to get rid of her, recalls Percy from exile and welcomes him back to court. Through a series of misunderstandings and bad luck, Anne and Percy are arrested for treason, tried, and eventually executed.
Anna Bolena is most known for being sung in something called the "bel canto" style. Bel canto is vaguely defined even today but is accepted to mean that the score will have lots of opportunities to show off the diva's voice. I understand it as being that odd situation where a singer will pause a sentence so that she may go into a long string of vowels before resuming her lines. The voices were appropriately shown off, but it really took me out of the story when the dialogue ground to a screeching halt so that the singers could personally show us how high they could sing. I need lines to flow.
I cannot begin to comment on the quality of the singing. I thought it all sounded lovely, although I've heard other, more musically qualified critics say that some of the stars lacked technique. As we've previously established, I know jack about music.
This, I learn, was the first Live in HD broadcast to Russia, and I have to wonder if it's a coincidence that the three main stars were all Russian. Anna Netrebko starred as Anne Boleyn, Ekaterina Gubanova as Jane Seymour, Ildar Abdrazakov as Henry, and odd-nationality-out Stephen Costello as Richard Percy. Costello failed to win me over as the love of Anne's life; Netrebko almost had more chemistry with Abdrazakov than with Costello, making this scene awkward and kind of hilarious:
(Act 2: outside the courtroom)
Anne: Henry, please, can't we talk this over?
Henry: NO.
Percy: It's okay, Anne! As long as we're together, everything will be fine! We're married, after all!
Anne: !?
Henry: What.
Percy: I mean, I consider us to be married by the heavens because our love is so deep.
Anne: Oh, Ricardo!
Henry: That's it, everybody dies.
It's said that opera singers don't have the energy to care about acting, the singing being their main focus. But some of the acting here was very convincing; Gubanova did especially well being woman tormented by her affair with her best friend's husband. Abdrazakov was appropriately angry with everyone around him, but didn't seem especially in love with Jane, and I found it hard to believe that he'd quit his wife for a lusty affair with someone who wanted to end it, especially if he's the king and could literally have any court woman he wanted. Costello...just sort of stood there and sang about how much he loved Anne.
But the real star was Anna Netrebko. The show was hers from start to finish; I've read that she's not a perfect bel canto singer, but what she lacks in technique she makes up for in passion and sincerity. Indeed, she played her role convincingly, unhappy with her marriage, but still caring for Henry; forgiving of Jane at first but hating the happy couple when they wed so soon after the divorce; rejecting Percy's offer of an affair in the beginning, but accepting his love when all hope is lost. Her "mad scene" towards the end was spectacular.
I now turn my attention to the production. The sets were very bare-bones, trying to look appropriately period without having to deck out an entire palace, while the hunting grounds had some very abstract tree-trunks and background lighting that jarred somewhat with the aesthetic tone of the sets. The costumes were gorgeous, but I don't understand why the entire court was dressed in black or grey for most of the opera. Anne and Henry wore most of the only color; it certainly made them stand out, but to what dramatic effect I couldn't tell you. In the opening scene, in which Anne is the focus, she's in black and white like everyone else. Anne wears red to the hunting grounds, but she's not the sole focus of that scene. Henry wears gold to the trials, but that scene is entirely about Anne and Percy, who are both in black. Why was Anne's hair left down in prison, forcing her to manually lift it for the executioner? And why was Anne's brother bald?
Speaking of costumes: this production was the very definition of "heaving bosoms." My god, that cleavage! And I know this is nobody's fault, because operas are cast for talent and not looks, but I can't see anyone leaving Anna Netrebko for Ekaterina Gubanova based entirely on lust.
I don't know. I thoroughly enjoyed my surprise operatic experience. Netrebko was the star and stole the show with great proficiency. The supporting cast was well-rounded if not perfect, and if some thought the singing wasn't up to snuff, at least it was a great piece of theatre.
Tune in later this month for my Met experience at Götterdämmerung!
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