NEW YORK (AP) - After speeches about music promoting peace and lifting the human spirit, the Metropolitan Opera opened its 119th season with a Verdi gala centered on assassination, strangulation and stabbing.
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani was given a standing ovation Monday night when he spoke to the crowd of 4,000, containing much of New York City's social and business elite, and he said the return of nightlife was a way "to show people we're going to go about our lives unaffected.''
Still, the aftereffects of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were evident on a night that is one of the traditional kickoffs of the New York social season. Tuxedos, tailcoats, evening gowns and flashy jewelry were left home by most of the crowd, with business attire replacing evening finery.
The post-performance dinner dance was scrapped in favor of a light supper, the huge floral arrangement that usually tops the grand stairway was absent and new security rules kept backstage off-limits to the autograph seekers who usually mob the stars.
But on stage, much was the same.
The evening, conducted by Met artistic director James Levine, marked the beginning of a 33-week season and was part of a tribute to Verdi in the year marking the 100th anniversary of his death. The gala featured Act I of "Un Ballo in Maschera,'' Act III of "Otello'' and Act III of Rigoletto.''
Placido Domingo extended his record of Met opening-night performances to 19, Daniela Barcellona made a brief-but-promising debut and Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu were no-shows.
As galas go, this was better rehearsed than most, given that many of the singers had appeared in these productions in recent years. In addition, the same program was performed Saturday night as a benefit for the victims of the terrorist attacks, raising $2.5 million. Domingo's riveting performance of the Moor remains unrivaled, even at age 60. His tenor has lost little of its power, and his expression of jealousy and rage is so deep and so nuanced that his slap of Desdemona (Veronica Villarroel) caused some to gasp.
"Otello'' was at a level far above the other two acts. Villarroel sang with sweetness and Nikolai Putilin gave a crafted portrayal of Iago, laughing in glee as the Moor collapsed and the curtain came down.
The "Ballo'' was the weakest, unable to overcome the hammy acting and worn singing of tenor Neil Shicoff as Gustav, who neither sang nor acted with any sense of nobility.
Mezzo-soprano Larissa Diadkova had some thrilling dark notes as the sorceress Ulrica, Youngok Shin did her usual standout job as Oscar and Deborah Voigt sang strongly in her 5-minute appearance as Amelia.
The husband-and-wife team of Alagna and Gheorghiu originally were cast as the Duke of Mantua and Gilda in "Rigoletto,'' but the soprano withdrew during the summer and the tenor pulled out last week, after his wife refused to travel to the United States for performances of Puccini's "La Boheme'' at the Met next month.
Roberto Aronica, Alagna's replacement, did well in the centerpiece aria "La donna e mobile'' but in the briefness of the act never had time to establish the Duke's character, which also plagued Hei-Kyung Hong's Gilda. Barcellona's mezzo-soprano was moving as Maddalena and Franz Grundheber sang a particularly nasty villian in the title role.
Opening nights usually are not known for artistic achievement, drawing a large-percentage of listeners more concerned with society than song. But the point of the evening seemed to be that life and opera goes on.
New York may be markedly different these days, but the Met remains the same.
