Idonemeo is one of the greatest operas ever written. A Greek tragedy complete with meddling gods, monsters, love triangles and chaos with a silver-lined ending, it’s everything I expect in an Opera Seria piece and more. Mozart’s soaring music and vision fill the piece and mesmerize any audience member. Boston Lyric Opera’s new production of this classic opera was beautiful and inventive, though lacking in through thought. It was a very good effort with wonderful singers that rounded out Boston’s premiere opera company’s Idonemeno.

BLO took a set originally built for Glimmerglass Opera’s production of Orphee et Eurydice that was stunningly beautiful and perfect for this setting. Great lighting and multiple entrances added depth to the space and kept the audience guessing where to look next. I wish I could see more sets like this as it fit the stage well and did not stand in the way of any action – wonderful!

The singers were fantastic. Camille Zamora as Ilia made a soaring starting point for the opera to lift off. Her presentation, while over the top at times, was exciting, energetic and anything but boring. Ilia is one character that can seem boring, self deprecating, and daft, but Zamora infused power and motivation to create a journey that her character traveled throughout the piece. Sandra Piques Eddy was a surprising Idamante. Her stage presence read masculine at every moment and Idamante’s character and character flaws were easily visible. Jason Collins as Idomeneo was the stand out voice on stage. His aria in the first act was very human and distraught, his second act mellizmatic aria looked easy as pie and beamed from low to high with perfect Tenor placement. Caroline Worra as Elettra had a beautiful voice and presence on stage, though I would have loved for her character to further walk the line between crazed, loving, and confused. Her rage aria before the finale was something I was told would be stand-out fantasic; and it was sung well, but did not make me jump out of my seat as I was expecting to. Worra had good effort, but her energy had a constant decrescendo from the beginning through the end of the 3 hour production.

Lillian Groag’s stage direction was very exciting in the first act. Creating a play within a play that read to the audience as such is an extremely hard task, but I wanted to hop out of my seat at the end of Act 1 and applaud her. The action was so intense yet still a play within a play that I was left with my mouth open at the simplicity of her staging. I’m saddened that it ended after the curtain closed the first time. The second and third acts lost all their charm and left me questioning if we had traveled into the story completely or were still watching players on a stage. That paired with a company energy level declined left me with a slight bad taste in my mouth.

On the other hand, the musical direction of David Angus was spectacular. Those who knew the music well before coming to the theater could be seen on the edges of their seats with an expectant look in their eyes for the thrilling music and upon the curtain drop sat back with a content smile of satisfaction on their faces. The Orchestra and the Chorus benefited greatly from Angus’ baton and blossomed in key moments of every act. Bravo on a job well done and flawless conducting on such a long and intense score!

My only other area of contention was the supertitles. While much of the music was cut from the opera, the words and statements being sung on stage were changed and reinterpreted on the screens in English. There were distinct moments when the audience was laughing at what the “translation” said while the words and thoughts being expressed on the stage were the exact opposite. Reinterpretation of passion to sarcasm, hatred to sexy, loving to boredom: these are not things that should be changed so easily.

All in all, this was a beautiful piece of music, wonderful to listen to, wonderful to see in action and well done by Boston Lyric Opera. With only a few complaints, but more smiles from me, I would love to see more productions on par with this Idomeneo. Both David Angus and Lillian Groag are great additions to the company of BLO and I would be happy to see their return to the helm in the future.

Now, on to next season!

Boston Lyric Opera’s 2010-2011 Season: Tosca- The Emperor of Atlantis – Agrippina – A Midsummer Night’s Dream

The star-crossed lovers Idamante (mezzo-soprano Sandra Piques Eddy) and Ilia (soprano Camille Zamora)
share a bittersweet moment before Idamante heads off to battle