Find out what's happening in Opera - New York City and around the World
OperaNotes Review
Metropolitan Opera House
March 23, 2004
By Charlene Frank
Salome
From the play by Oscar Wilde
Music: Richard Strauss
Conductor:
Valery Gergiev
Production: Jürgen Flimm
Set & Costume Designer: Santo Loquasto
Choreographer:
Doug Verone
Cast:
Salome: Karita Mattila
Narraboth: Matthew Polenzani
Jochanaan: Albert Dohmen
Herod: Siegfried Jerusalem
Herodias: Larissa Diadkova
The Page: Katharine
Goeldner
First Soldier: Peter Volpe
Second Soldier: Richard
Bernstein
Yes, she got naked. That's what everyone was talking about after reading about it in the New York Times, so yes, she did. It was an intense, beautiful, sexy, revolting opera that never asks for forgiveness. Oscar Wilde at his wildest. He would have been proud.
Salome opened at the Met in 1907 and the Board of Directors shut it down after one performance. It was considered noisy, ugly and decadent. But it wasn't just the prudish Americans who said "no" to Salome; it received similar receptions in London and Berlin. Of course, that didn't stop Salome, it simply made it more tantalizing. And here we were tonight, in the sold out Metropolitan Opera House, giving the actors, especially soprano Karita Mattila (Salome) a standing ovation. If Oscar Wilde could have chosen a soprano to represent Salome, I'll bet he would have chosen Karita Mattila.
This was the first time I've ever seen Salome. The first time I've seen any Strauss opera. A few years ago I had a friend who insisted that I must keep listening to Strauss and that I'd learn to love him. I tried and although I thought the music was beautiful, but I didn't love the operas. He kept saying "read the libretto when you listen to Salome, and you'll understand the music". I still didn't love it. Now I've seen it and I want to see it again and again and again. It was absolutely beautiful. He was right, in this opera, the music is the words, it doesn't accompany the words. I am sold. Especially if Katria Mattila is in it. She is a fabulous soprano, she can dance, she is sexy and she is a top of the line actor. She was so expressive and so seductive that she was part sexy woman, and part very bad spoiled little girl, but totally, as Herod (Siegfried Jerusalem) found out much too late, a heartless monster. I didn't understand the costume design at all, but that was very easy for me to overlook because the opera was so exceptional.
Is this opera sold out for every performance because Karita Mattila gets naked? Well, perhaps it peaks people's interest, but even if she didn't, it would still have sold out. The emotions ran strong throughout. When she carried Jochanaan's (Albert Dohmen) head to the silver platter and started kissing it and declaring her love for it - whoa. Now that was strong. Her mother, the colorful mezzo Larissa Diadkova, was a well studied drunk and although Siegfried Jerusalem may not be the best tenor I've ever heard, he was still very good and he was perfect as the lustful Herod.
I took the bus across town after the opera. Everyone was reading the article in the Playbill "Salome, Scandal and Censorship". I asked people what they thought. Everyone said it was wonderful. When I added "And it was hot", they all smiled and said "it sure was". You've got a hit Jürgen Flimm.
I've heard that some people yelled "Boo" in the audience on opening night. Too hot for you? Too bad. This was a great opera, and tonight it was all shouts of "Bravo". No, that's wrong, it was all shouts of "Brava"! The music was extraordinary.
If you don't have a ticket for this performance yet, you might want to join the crowd outside before the performance trying to buy one. It is a short opera that is huge on talent.