Met Opera 2022-23 Review: Falstaff
Hera Hyesang Park, Ailyn Pérez, Jennifer Johnson Cano, and Marie-Nicole Lemieux in Falstaff (Karen Almond/Met Opera)
The second revival of Robert Carsen’s production of Verdi’s final opera, the delicious comedy Falstaff, was mild, clever, and completely delightful, one of the finest comedies I’ve seen. Who better than Verdi, who had already written operas based on Macbeth and Othello, to make a tour de force out of Shakespeare’s immortal Sir John Falstaff?
The best scenes were, without fail, those with the Merry Wives. The second scene, at the restaurant, where they plot to trick Falstaff, was an indisputable highlight of the evening. When Fenton grabbed Nannetta’s hand, twirled her around, and kissed her, I was in a state of such joyous energy that I thought Yes! instead of Ick, as I usually do.
The ladies were a perfect quartet. First, Hera Hyesang Park was Nannetta, with some nice teenage energy and a lovely silvery voice to match. Her song as the Queen of the Fairies, “Sul fil d’un soffio etesio” was just beautiful. For that scene, she was dressed in a bridal gown and full-length veil, standing on a table framed by blue mist. This may be the closest I come to seeing fairies, I thought, and sat back to savor the evocative experience. Hera also did a great job crying over her comfort ice cream (Nannetta’s father wanted her to marry bumbling old Dr. Caius!). What flavor was the ice cream?
Hands off, or else… Michael Volle and Ailyn Pérez in Falstaff (Karen Almond/Met Opera)
Of course, the fabulous Ailyn Pérez was a fabulous Alice Ford. Ailyn was less hammy than some of her comrades, but it balanced out the foursome and she was clearly “having a ball,” as she put it. One of her many funny moments came just before Falstaff entered her kitchen. She preened seductively — but Falstaff didn’t come in. Check the door, start again. Not there. The third try was the charm. Later, she slapped Falstaff’s hand away from her legs, hard, to my delight. No means No! Falstaff is more about comedy than music, but Ailyn delivered on both fronts. When she asked the men who was the fool now (“Chi è, chi è?”), her honeyed voice caressed the words teasingly, and I luxuriated in it. Her warm, nimble soprano stood out from but never overshadowed the ensemble, and I don’t think her co-stars could have wished for a better partner.
Jennifer Johnson Cano and Marie-Nicole Lemieux were delightfully histrionic as Meg Page and Mistress Quickly. Marie-Nicole’s flirty “Revereeeenzaaa” scene was easily one of the funniest of the afternoon, and when Meg interrupted Alice’s rendezvous with Falstaff to announce (extremely hammily) that Ford was coming, I could hardly keep from LOL’ing, hard.
Get! In! The! Basket! From left: Jennifer Johnson Cano, Michael Volle, and Marie-Nicole Lemieux in Falstaff (Karen Almond/Met Opera)
Michael Volle was a pitch-perfect Falstaff, elevating the action at every opportunity but humanizing him too, especially when Falstaff, fresh from sweltering in a basket and a dunking in the Thames, laments the cruelty of the world — even if the line “With you [speaking to himself], true manliness will depart the world forever” still struck me as funny. Interestingly, his potent voice, although often used for Wagner, suited the relatively light part well too. Wotan and Falstaff! Who would have thought? He handled the physical comedy well, on his own and with the aid of his padded suit, which, as Volle explained, made getting up and sitting down visibly difficult. Padded suit? Why? “Should Falstaff grown thin, he’d not be himself,” explains our knight.
The supporting men were solid too, from Christopher Maltman as Ford and his Vegas cowboy suit, to Bogdan Volkov as Fenton the romantic waiter, to Chauncey Packer and Richard Bernstein as the petty thieves Bardolfo and Pistola.
Michael Volle (center) and most of the Falstaff ensemble (Karen Almond/Met Opera)
Robert Carsen’s production is just fantastic. It updates Windsor to the 1950s and revolves around food. Food, food, food, already the center of Falstaff’s life, was the center of every scene, from the restaurant where the Merry Wives meet to Alice’s gorgeous chartreuse kitchen to the end scene, when the “fairies” roll Falstaff on a massive table and then, unmasked, dine around the same. Even the horse at Falstaff’s inn made his appearance lustily eating a bundle of grass. Speaking of which, the horse is so cute, and I deemed him Most Excellent at eating grass. There was one thing about the production that I didn’t like; when Falstaff chases away Bardolfo and Pistola, he fires a gun twice at the ceiling. The lighting and sound effects were good, and it scared me. (I read the news.) I’m glad I didn’t stay for Cavaradossi’s execution by firing squad in Tosca the next day.
STAGE DOOR
At the stage door, the singers came out at a steady clip. Michael Volle has a very tight hug. He doesn’t seem at all to be the grouch he often plays onstage. Opera singers must really live on the go; he left the stage door with two big suitcases, and I got the impression he was heading straight to a plane.
With Jennifer, I told her how exciting her upcoming role debut as Mistress Quickly (in Houston) is — but asked pleadingly whether she would keep doing Meg Page. “I don’t know,” she replied ruefully. Noooooooooooo, screamed my head.
With Ailyn!
Ailyn is just the sweetest! My heart leapt when she said that she follows this blog (not officially, but who cares). Ailyn Pérez knows who I am! We chatted in Spanish — her family is from Mexico and I’m half Chilena — and I had a lovely time. Her fiancé, bass Solomon Howard — who proposed to her during curtain call of Tosca at the SF Opera and has the deepest voice I’ve ever heard — was with her to lend support and take photos with a professional camera. “You two are so sweet,” I commented, and wished him mazel tov.
I felt bad at not giving Bogdan more attention, but with everyone in the room (and I was talking to Ailyn), I didn’t get much in but a “Слава Україні!” Likewise, my conversation with Hera was brief but pleasant.
Marie-Nicole and I chatted in a mixture of my sorry French and English, about Quickly but more about tennis — World No. 7 [at the time] Félix Auger-Aliassime (who she says is from her town!), Novak Djokovic, and the great Roger Federer. I also asked about the correct way to pronounce “Au revoir.” (Answer: anything goes, can even be “Bye-bye!”) She’s as energetic in real life as her Mistress Quickly!
I even saw Christine Goerke, coming in early for that evening’s Lohengrin! I recognized her when she had barely cleared the doorway and shrieked, “Christine!” I can be shrill, and she jumped. Fortunately, she remembered me, from when she sang Brünnhilde in Tanglewood and we wore the same color (royal blue)! I didn’t want to delay her too much, and I would be seeing her as Ortrud that night, so I let her go after an all-too brief catch-up.
We left to get a quick lunch, having discovered the new Shun Lee Cafe. Verdict: Excellent and attentive service, but subpar food.
Next up in my weekend marathon: Lohengrin, Wagner’s 5-hour epic medieval drama.
