[Met Performance] CID:323540



Salome
Metropolitan Opera House, Thu, March 7, 1996

Debut : Charlotte Hellekant, Dean Elzinga, LeRoi Freeman, Lucinda Childs




Salome (135)
Richard Strauss | Oscar Wilde
Salome
Catherine Malfitano

Herod
Kenneth Riegel

Herodias
Hanna Schwarz

Jochanaan
Bernd Weikl

Narraboth
Mark Baker

Page
Charlotte Hellekant [Debut]

Jew
Philip Creech

Jew
Dean Elzinga [Debut]

Jew
Bernard Fitch

Jew
Anthony Laciura

Jew
John Horton Murray

Nazarene
John Fiorito

Nazarene
Jeffrey Wells

Soldier
Raymond Aceto

Soldier
James Courtney

Cappadocian
LeRoy Lehr

Slave
Tony Stevenson

Executioner
LeRoi Freeman [Debut]


Conductor
Donald Runnicles


Director
Nikolaus Lehnhoff

Designer
Jürgen Rose

Lighting Designer
Gil Wechsler

Choreographer
Lucinda Childs [Debut]





Salome received eight performances this season.

Review 1:

Review of Shirley Fleming in the Post

Cruel Salome's chilly strip-tease

It is five years since the unappetizing characters of Richard Strauss' "Salome" were last on the Met stage, but they were back in force on Thursday, occupying the dank black basement of Nikolaus Lehnhoff's modern-day set, surrounded by their leather-clad, Nazi-like retainers and by their dozens of dinner guests in peculiar varieties of costume.

Catherine Malfitano took the title role for the first time here, and gave it plenty of vocal power and dramatic venom, if not the ultimate touch of feline depravity that some past Salomes have exhibited. Strauss' most cruel stroke - that 15 minutes of the "Dance of the Seven Veils" that must be the nightmare of many a soprano (and sometimes of an audience as well) - got by without embarrassment (Malfitano is light on her feet), in new choreography by Lucinda Childs. It was not a particularly sensual affair and no clothes were shed until the abrupt end, when Malfitano somewhat awkwardly takes off her dress to reveal a very conservative white slip.

Bernd Weikl came up out of the cistern with appropriate weight and presence, and sang Jochanaan's doom-laden pronouncements with fine authority. Kenneth Riegel, as Herod, had a bad night: after a strong start, with plenty of incisive vocal thrust, his voice simply deserted him following the dance and he made it through the rest of the evening mostly mouthing the lines.

Mark Baker, as Narraboth, got the opera off to a good and resonant start, and one was sorry when he did away with himself. Hanna Schwarz, looking like the matriarch of the Charles Addams family, was a striking Herodias and vocally on the mark. Donald Runnicles conducted a vivid, supercharged performance that also gave due attention to Strauss' quiet, lithe woodwind writing.

Review 2:

Mary Campbell of the Associated Press

The role of Salome, a 16--year--old sexpot princess, is very difficult to cast, but the Metropolitan Opera has chosen a winner this season.


Soprano Catherine Malfitano is very nearly ideal as Richard Strauss' Salome, who's determined to kiss John the Baptist whether he's alive or dead. After he spurns her, she uses her sex appeal to get him killed.


Malfitano is youthfully slim and shapely in this production which opened Thursday. Her singing can be insinuating and sensual, her soft notes ingratiating and young. She doesn't produce a huge column of sound at peak volume but her voice came through the large orchestra. Even at the end of the opera, she sounded fresh.


Malfitano also is an accomplished actress, presenting Salome going mad in a welter of eroticism but so goal—oriented she can still manipulate to get what she wants. Some singers have made Salome awaken to sex at the sight of John the Baptist. Malfitano's Salome was never innocent.


The entire cast was strong. Bernd Weikl was John the Baptist, as he was when this production was new in 1990. His voice has majesty and authority, making believable that he is a prophet and messenger from God.


Kenneth Riegel was in excellent voice as Herod, who has imprisoned the Baptist in a cistern and lusts after his wife's young daughter. Riegel emphasizes Herod's interest in the prophet. He believes the Baptist is holy, fears him and therefore doesn't want him physically harmed.


He's tricked into killing the prophet by telling Salome he'll give her anything she wants if she dances for him, expecting her to ask for jewels.


Hanna Schwarz as Herodias tellingly sings her annoyance that John the Baptist calls her immoral and delights in his death. Mark Baker was effective as Narraboth, a guard who's infatuated with Salome.


Conductor Donald Runnicles used the orchestra for dynamic effect and didn't make it unfailingly loud.


Lucinda Childs, who heads a modern-dance company, made her Met debut choreographing the Dance of the Seven Veils. The dance succeeded in looking spontaneous, as though this agile teen-ager were improvising.


The set in the Nikolaus Lehnhoff production proclaims decadence. The stage is a basement floor. The outside of Herod's castle is above, with big windows through which can be seen party guests dressed in 1920s chic. Walls lean forward at various angles; none are straight.


Salome's costume has been changed from girlish to a golden silk gown with golden cloche hat. Some of the staging has been changed since 1990, principally to make Salome far more sexual in her embraces of John the Baptist's severed head.



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