LES CONTES D’HOFFMANN – REVIEW OF 2024 LIVE FROM THE MET PRODUCTION

Reviewed by James Karas

Live from the Met in HD is back with eight productions streamed directly from New York to a theatre near you. This year’s opener is Jacques Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffman, a lavish and extraordinary revival of Bartlett Sher’s 2009 production. It has a cast of outstanding singers, and production values that only a handful of opera companies can dream of equaling. It is opera as we dream of seeing it. 

Les Contes d’Hoffman has some unique features that we don’t usually associate with grand opera. The hero, E.T.A. Hoffmann (Benjamin Bernheim) is a poet, a dreamer, a lover  and a romantic, an interesting combination but not the stuff of a classic opera hero. The opera itself has several aspects that take it out of the mold. We have good and evil opposing each other as if we are dealing with medieval themes. Offenbach was a great operetta composer and he has inserted scenes that are right out of that genre. Offenbach’s great music subsumes all these parts into a grand and thoroughly enjoyable opera and Sher takes advantage of them all on a grand scale.

Bernheimer gives an outstanding performance as the troubled, passionate Hoffman who soars vocally and suffers personally. He is lanky with tousled hair representing the romantic poet perfectly. A stunning performance.

Hoffmann has three great loves in Les Contes who are sometimes sung by one singer but) the roles are frequently shared by three as in this production. The opera starts with a Prologue that takes place in a bar and that provides the opportunity for hoopla, dancing, drinking and singing by the chorus of course. Sher takes advantage of that and provides superb entertainment in the process.

Hoffmann’s first great love is Olympia (soprano Erin Morley) a mechanical doll. Morley moves like a doll, needs to be wound up, sings the gorgeous “Les oiseaux dans la charmille” impeccably and dances. You may see elements of operetta here and marvel at  the dance routines by chronographer Dou Dou Huang. Alas, the mechanical doll will be trashed and Hoffmann allowed to see his second love. 

Erin Morley as Olympia, Benjamin Bernheim as Hoffmann, and 

Vasilisa Berzhanskaya (background) as Nicklausse. 

Photo: Karen Almond / Met Opera

Hoffmann moves from the mechanical doll to Antonia (the stupendous soprano Pretty Yende). It is a supremely ironic and tragic situation. Antonia has a marvelous voice inherited from her mother but she also has a weak heart and singing may kill her. She and Hoffmann sing a beautiful duet but the nasty Dr. Miracle convinces her to sing by magically bringing the voice of her dead mother (Eve Gigliotti). Antonia sings and dies.

From the tragic Antonia, Hofmann moves to Giulietta (mezzo soprano Clémentine Margaine), a Venetian courtesan. Courtesans do what they do but in this act, we move to the supernatural. Giulietta has stolen the shadow of her current lover Schlemil (Jeongcheol Chal) and the evil Dapertutto bribes her to steal Hoffmann’s reflection. She does and Hofmann loses his other self, kills Schlemil and is rejected by Giulietta. Margaine is dressed like a courtesan and sings robustly in the role.

Most of the singers play more than one role. I have mentioned two villains, Dr. Miracle and Dapertutto but there are in fact four with Lindorf and Coppelius. Those are juicy parts and bass-baritone Chistian Van Horn sings all of them with relish and marvelous resonance.

Tenor Aaron Blake takes on four roles, Andrés, Cochenille, Frantz and Pitichinaccio,   that are right out of operetta. Several other singers take two roles each.

Mezzo-soprano Vasilisa Berzhanskaya deserves special credit for her superb performance as Hofmann’s friend Nicklasse and as the Muse of Poetry. She is Hofmann’s companion and friend and tries to protect him. Berzhanskaya gives a steady, perfectly pitched performance that is a pleasure to watch and hear. For record keepers, note that this was her Met debut.   

For the theatricality of the production, credit goes and remains with Bartlett Sher and revival director Gina Lapinski. Set Designer Michael Yeargan, Costume Designer Catherine Zuber and Lighting Designer James F. Ingalls deserve kudos as part of the team that brought this outstanding production to life and to us.

And nothing less than a standing ovation will do for Conductor Marco Armiliato and the Met Orchestra and Chorus sine qua non.   
_______________________________
Les Contes d’Hoffman (The Tales of Hoffmann) by Jacques Offenbach was shown Live in HD from the Metropolitan Opera on October 5 , 2024. It will be reprised in encores starting from October 26, 2024, in various Cineplex theatres. For more information go to www.cineplex.com/events/
 James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture, of The Greek Press