Cassio
La audaz producción de Bartlett Sher, la ganadora del premio Tony, investiga los fundamentos psicológicos del escenario dinámico de Verdi de la gran tragedia de Shakespeare. A la cabeza de esta actuación está Yannick Nézet-Séguin, quien saca a la luz todas las emociones en cascada en la turbulenta puntuación de Verdi. Aleksandrs Antonenko es Otello, el general triunfante del ejército veneciano que finalmente es derribado por las insinuaciones astutas de su amigo Iago (Željko Lučić). Sonya Yoncheva continúa ganando fans como Desdemona, la esposa fiel y duradera de Otello.
MacDuff
Macbeth, the Thane of Glamis, receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders his king and takes the throne for himself.
McDuff, Thane of Fife
Verdi’s admiration for Shakespeare led to such masterpieces as Othello and Falstaff, and if the earlier Macbeth isn’t on their exalted level it’s still a powerfully dramatic opera that hews closely to the original’s story line. The MET’s production retains the dark aura of the opera while updating it to a vaguely post-modern context. So the witches are bag ladies in various stages of decrepitude, with children in tow. The Banquet Scene features lowered chandeliers, a plethora of chairs, and a slew of extras dressed in tuxedos and party gowns. Macbeth sports a leather coat, the soldiers are in drab brown uniforms and seem to have fingers on their triggers even when they’re supposed to be in non-threatening situations. Director Adrian Noble also has Lady Macbeth do an inordinate amount of writhing around and singing from a lying-down position, adding to the feeling that a less interventionist directorial hand might have generated more impact.
