Peter Simek’s review is the first one I’ve ever read that made me want to go to an opera. About the set Wick hates so much, he writes:
Through the doors, high-powered floodlights produce a film-noir effect, casting large shadows and obscuring parts of the set in pitch black. As Macbeth, at the prodding of his wife, succeeds with his infamous rise to the throne of Scotland, the king and queen seem trapped on the stage in the empty confines of the kingdom they have won for themselves.
That makes it sound thematically illuminating, as though the set were realizing the interiority of the principal characters visually. It’s a review that makes me suspect that there might be something to think about in opera – you know, instead of how to endure all that posing and gorgeous caterwauling (like the guys with the exploding bottles in the Bud Light ad).
I thought I was going to have to go hear it for myself. Whew, I’m off the hook. Close call.
