Fifteen years after its Dallas Opera world premiere, and following celebrated runs in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington, DC, Jake Heggie’s ambitious operatic version of Herman Melville’s brooding, deeply symbolic tale of the sea has reached the Metropolitan Opera House. Leonard Foglia, in his Met debut, offers an expanded production of Moby Dick with everything that an opera lover could hope for: a taut, intelligently written libretto; a haunting, hugely effective score; great singing, dancing and acting; and a splendidly inventive staging.
Though greatly whittled down from Melville’s gargantuan text (over 700 pages in some editions), the libretto preserves much of the language and style of the epic novel. Librettist Gene Scheer estimates that roughly 50% was directly sourced from Melville’s novel, with some lines altered to make them more singable. A more crucial change was lopping off Melville’s opening chapters, which take place on land, opening with the whaling ship Pequod already out at sea, focusing the action on Captain Ahab’s obsessive hunt for the great white whale. In another change, the narrator Ishmael is renamed Greenhorn, reflecting his status as a novice crew member.
Scheer’s dramatic creation focuses on four characters – Ahab, his dutiful first mate Starbuck, the easygoing Greenhorn, and Queequeg, the exotic first harpooner – all stunningly portrayed by a standout cast. For this, the third performance in the Met’s run, American tenor Alex Boyer, who previously portrayed Ahab in a Chicago Opera Theater production, made a strong company debut in the challenging role, replacing an indisposed Brandon Jovanovich. With weighty and beautiful tone, Boyer convincingly conveyed the maniacal captain’s vehemence and anguish while hobbling around stage with a belted-on peg leg.
As Greenhorn, Stephen Costello, the sole holdover from the Dallas premiere, was in full voice, his pure tenor evincing both tenderness and elegance, his open-minded kindliness a dramatic contrast to Ahab’s rough, disdainful nature. He was at his most powerful as he lamented the death of his friend Queequeg, characterfully portrayed by Ryan Speedo Green, whose undulating bass-baritone served as an ideal complement to Costello’s sweetly tuned instrument. Together the pair delivered some of the most moving singing of the evening.
In the role of Starbuck, baritone Peter Mattei was in splendid form, vocally and dramatically, offering a convincing and melodiously voiced portrayal of the pragmatic and religious first mate who represents the voice of reason as he attempts to keep his captain’s maniacal obsession in check. The penultimate scene, where Ahab reveals his vulnerability to Starbuck and they together recall their homes, families and shared regrets, was the most moving in the whole opera.
Another outstanding performance was offered by the radiant soprano Janai Brugger, the only woman in the cast, in the trouser role of Pip, the cabin boy and mascot, who gets lost at sea but is eventually rescued by Queequeg. Singing with extraordinary energy, she quickly revealed her character’s good humor and playfulness. Among the smaller roles, baritone Brian Major as Gardiner, captain of the ship Rachel, which the Pequod encounters after a storm, sang with energy and emotion from one of the Met boxes. As the comedic duo Flask and Stubb, William Burden and Malcolm MacKenzie animated the lighter moments with their lively dancing and clowning, especially when they and the rest of the crew performed a carousing version of the traditional naval song Spanish Ladies, which evolves into a violent row.
With echoes of Wagner, Debussy, Britten and Barber, known for sea-inspired compositions, Heggie’s vibrantly orchestrated score is highly atmospheric, largely lyrical, often gripping. The music bursts with leitmotifs that constantly alter and evoke the loneliness of life out on the ocean and the changing moods and power of the sea though cinematic textures, dynamic contrasts and fragmented melodies – all creating a sense of epic scale and emotion.
Foglia, in his house debut, presents a streamlined, stylish and visually stunning production. Robert Brill’s realistic sets – dominated by masts, ropes and sails – employ a huge, curved wall at the rear of the stage to alternatively represent the hull of the ship or the ocean. The most dazzling effects are created by McCarthy’s animated projections which, when superimposed on the wall, create the illusion of crew members aboard whaling boats. Mood-enhancing lighting by Gavan Swift and period-appropriate costumes by Jane Greenwood enhance the spectacle.
Throughout the evening conductor Karen Kamensek ably supported the singers and led the great Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in a performance of great beauty and vibrance, while the magnificent all-male chorus – on-stage or off – continually impressed.
