Since Wednesday, after reading the story about how Maestro Placido Domingo was gratuitously booed during his conducting of the NYC MET's Tuesday, December 5, 2006 production of Giacomo Puccini's La Bohème, I've wanted to express my aversion of the event, but was too busy preparing myself for the carousings of Festa di Sant'Ambrogio and La Prima at Teatro alla Scala.
However, let's get back to the matter at hand, shall we??!! An excerpt from The New York Sun article states:
"So why the booing during such a wonderful effort? Mr. Domingo's conducting had been the weakest link in the initial performance, and this evening brought his faults to the fore. [...] In order to fully realize her [Netrebko's] artistic vision, she allowed each phrase to develop organically, unhurriedly, employing tasteful rubato and holding high notes expertly and impressively. But Mr. Domingo trudged along inattentively at metronomic speed, running noticeably ahead of his diva." [...]
[...] "And thus the booing. When Mr. Domingo came out for his bow at the beginning of Act Three, the lusty response from the upper reaches of the house was raucously negative. Visibly shaken, he turned to give his first downbeat."
Soooo, what does Opera Chic think of booing i maestri? Non si fa! Booing to me is fictionalized behavior. I mean, children raised by wolves know that you don’t even do that. Damn...even the wolves know not to do it.
Booing at the opera reminds me of that old Saturday Night Live skit from the 90s, “The Sarcastic Clapping Family of Southhampton”, ("Quite a performance, Jeffrey. Oh...quite a performance, indeed"). It was hilarious because it was a skit glorying behavior that was so incredibly self-loathing and snarky, that it didn't even have context in reality, or any bearing on the way that normal people carried themselves.
As for those that booed Domingo on Tuesday night, the majority of Tuesday night attendees at the NYC MET are the seasoned aficionados. Monday and Tuesday performances are habitually the nights that we NYC opera-fiends reserve so we don't have to bump shoulders with Mr. & Mrs. Suburbs McSuburban who blindly applaud between Violetta's, "Croce e delizia al cor!", and, "Follie! follie delirio vano e' questo!" We also know that Domingo is still struggling to carve his niche as a conductor, without much experience under his belt. We know that as a conductor, he is a novice, somewhat mediocre, and is still learning control and leadership. Those in the audience that were able to hear Domingo's lapses in tempi, were surely familiar with Domingo’s conducting flaws. I mean, it's not a secret that he's unpredictable and sort of sucks as a conductor. Therefore, I find it inexcusable to leer like juvenile delinquents. Either sit patiently on you hands in a vacuum of applause, or exit before the curtain-call if you are really that indignant.
I'm just happy that tonight’s Saturday night evening performance of La Bohème is normally filled with tourist-ridden, novice-heavy, opera-ignorant ticket-buyers, who will surely be unaware of any aberrations of the score, and shower our deserving Maestro Domingo with applause.
Now that I got that out-of-the-way, please enjoy a picture of Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón in the NYC MET's current production of La Bohème. But if any of you readers are guilty guilty GUILTY of booing poor Domingo on Tuesday night: GET OUT! ;p
(Also, you can go to the Opera Chic flickr page here to view five more pictures of Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón, as well as pictures of Villazón with that "other" Mimi, Chilean soprano Angela Marambio.)