Go back to Arts & Features pageSAN FRANCISCO -- In a perverse way, it takes some doing to make Placido Domingo's long-overdue return to the area a cause for anything but rejoicing. But the San rancisco Opera has pulled it off.
The superstar tenor reclaimed the stage of the War Memorial Opera House Tuesday night for the first time since opening the 1988 season in Meyerbeer's "L'Africaine," and the good news is that he sounded magnificent -- youthful, vibrant and utterly commanding.
Unfortunately, the vehicle for Domingo's return was Massenet's "Herodiade," a spectacularly sorry piece of work that looks and sounds even lamer than it ought to in the company's blocky, undercast production. >From all the evidence, the tenor's advocacy for this practically unknown 1881 treatment of the Salome story -- which was evidently the motivating force behind the staging -- is profoundly misplaced.
Domingo's name is a powerful draw, though. With demand for tickets runnin high, the opera has jacked up ticket prices on this production by $10, and Sony Classical is recording the performances for a 1996 CD release that will be the opera's only commercial recording.
But Domingophiles may be in for a nasty surprise when they discover how slim the tenor role of John the Baptist really is, comprising just one aria, two duets and a couple of walk-ons over the course of 3 1/2 hours of dull, blustery music. What's there is choice, but there sure isn't much of it.
"Herodiade" was clearly never a particularly sturdy contrivance to begin with, but Oscar Wilde and Richard Strauss have ruined it definitively for 20th century audiences. After their sexually predatory teenager, how could anyone take seriously the lovesick moonings of Massenet's bland little Salome? Or the genteel parlor romance between her and John the Baptist? Or the intricate, pointless roundelay of amorous and political urges that links them with Herod and his wife Herodias?
Massenet's score has its virtues, to be sure, including a sumptuous melodic vein that shows up in the showpiece arias, and the cheesy but seductive sense of spectacle that is essential to French grand opera. But not even the impassioned leadership of conductor Valery Gergiev could make a case for most of it.
At least there was Domingo, marking the 25th anniversary of his first appearance with the company and sounding as virile and musical as ever. His voice is darker than it has been in the past, but it flows with its customary clarity and beauty, and he shaped his role with forceful intelligence. John's big Act IV aria ("Adieu donc, vains objets") was so shapely that one almost cared about his predicament.
Renee Fleming brought her sweet, lovely soprano to the role of Salome, endowing the Act I aria ("Il est doux, il est bon") with a chaste ardor that was delightful. But her voice is small, making for inaudibility in the lower register and a sense of strain in the damatic climaxes.
The rest was unfortunate. In the title role (which is no more prominent than the other three major roles), mezzo-soprano Dolora Zajick -- whose Azucena was the lone bright spot in the company's "Trovatore" earlier this season -- sounded shrill and wobbly. As Herod, baritone Juan Pons offered his usual combination of gray, muffled tone, aimless phrasing and uncertain pitch. Bass Kenneth Cox sang drably as the court astrologer Phaneus.
Lotfi Mansouri's staging, on the latest of designer Gerard Howland's nickel-and-dime sets, opts for a simple, straightforward approach. In true Parisian style, the opera is beset by no fewer than three extraneous ballets, staged with no great flair by choreographer Victoria Morgan. The final scene, in the main hall of Herod's sybaritic court, features the most gratuitous nudity yet in a season of gratuitous nudity.
"Herodiade" plays through November 25 at the Opera House, with John Keyes replacing Domingo and Paul Ethuin conducting for the final two performances.
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