Macbeth: Full of Sound and Fury

Seattlest learned a very important lesson Saturday night: always look at your press pack before the end of the second intermission. If you wait until then, you may miss out on intermissing in the press room.

Ah well. More important than any press room gathering was the reason we were at McCaw Hall in the first place: Macbeth, Verdi’s 9th opera and 1st Shakespearean remake. The opera preserves the play’s drama, but seems to streamline it a little. It is almost as if Verdi relied on the audience to know the story, so that he could focus on the emotional lives of the characters.

In Verdi’s telling, it is Lady Macbeth who comes to the forefront, while Macbeth seems to lose some of his autonomy; his actions seem dependent on Lady Macbeth’s. It is only toward the end of the opera that we get any sort of indication of his personal will. But we know from the first time Lady Macbeth steps on stage exactly what she is aiming for, and exactly what she’d be willing to do to get it.

Andrea Gruber was very convincing as Lady Macbeth; Ms. Gruber made the character very easy to dislike. Her voice troubled us at first, as it seemed to have a very aggressive edge, almost nasal in quality. As the opera went on, however, her voice opened up and got considerably warmer, and by the sleep-walking scene we were blown away.

As Macbeth, Gordon Hawkins was wonderful. His voice was creamy and smooth in all registers, and his portrayal of Macbeth as a man swayed by forces more powerful than himself was compelling.

Robert Israel’s design was also marvelous. The set was as streamlined as the opera, acting at times as Macbeth’s castle, and at times as the scene of battle. Two gauzy curtains made it more flexible; when the witches were toiling and troubling, the curtains added an other-worldly air. Most memorable, though, was what happened to the walls during Lady Macbeth’s sleep-walking scene: they started bleeding. It was beyond creepy (not to mention effective).

Rounding out the cast were Joseph Calleja as Macduff, Burak Bilgili as Banquo, and Leodigario Del Rosario as Malcolm. All three men did very solid jobs, with both singing and acting.

Italian maestro Nicola Luisotti drew powerful and lyrical performances from the singers, the ensemble and the orchestra. His conducting showed a great understanding of and appreciation for Verdi’s melodic lines.

Macbeth is one of the best productions we’ve seen at Seattle Opera in awhile. There are six performances left. You can buy tickets here.

For another perspective, Seattlest foodie Ronald Holden has a post over at www.cornichon.org: "Double Toil, Double Trouble"