A Lost LUCIA

It seemed like a relatively minor item among the "Date Lines" in today's San Francisco Chronicle:

The San Francisco Opera's planned production of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor," to be staged by debuting director Mary Zimmerman ("Metamorphoses"), has been given the ax. According to a statement from the company, the production - which opened at the Metropolitan Opera in September to lukewarm reviews - is too big to fit into the War Memorial Opera House without costly reworking.

Instead, the company will perform the opera in a production by director Graham Vick and designer Paul Brown - the creative forces behind this fall's new production of Wagner's "Tannhäuser" - that premiered in Florence in 1996. Performances are June 17-July 5, with soprano Natalie Dessay making her company debut in the title role as scheduled.

- Joshua Kosman

However, it was not that long ago that the Metropolitan Opera was not in the business of sharing productions with any other company; so there was bound to be some promotional value behind San Francisco Opera making one of those sharing arrangements, particularly when that arrangement included Dessay, who has been getting close to pop-star treatment since the production opened at the Met. Nevertheless, behind any story like this there is bound to be a back-story; and in that back-story the adjective "lukewarm" would probably be far too polite for describing this particular production.

Those interested in exploring this story in greater depth would probably benefit from Daniel Mendelsohn's extended account in The New York Review of Books. Unlike many of the critics in San Francisco, Mendelsohn has that excellent gift of the ability to find the positive to accentuate in just about any situation. In this case he devoted roughly half to his article to a discussion of how Lucia de Lammermoor came to be and why it came to be that way. This account was perceptive enough to persuade at least this reader that there was more to the opera than melodramatic silliness, a memorable sextet, and probably the most notorious mad scene in the operatic repertoire. Having laid this groundwork, Mendelsohn could then provide a studied account of how little justice the Met production had done to the intentions of its creators, Gaetano Donizetti and Salvatore Cammarano; and most of that account was targeted at Zimmerman and what can only be described as her failure to "get" the underlying text (music as well as words).

Needless to say Dessay does not hold up very well in this account either, although Mendelsohn does not explore whether or not she would be justified in pleading a Nuremberg Defense, since anything that happens on the stage take place, presumably "under orders" from the director. Therefore, I hope that we shall be at an advantage in getting to see her deal with another approach to this opera. Of course Zimmerman's replacement has already had to sustain critical attacks for his recent treatment of Tannhäuser; but my own reaction was that, except for the total mess of a ballet at the very beginning, this was a production that encouraged one to think more deeply about a story that seemed rather simple on the surface. Vick may be just the right person to take a potboiler chock full of frustrated love, murder, and madness and provide the audience with more than an excuse to cheer wildly at a virtuoso bel canto performance.

It is probably also worth saying a few kind words about the agility with which General Director David Gockley has been steering his "ship of state" in the first season for which he can take full responsibility. That Tannhäuser was the first new production he brought to San Francisco, and there is much to be said for his taking a first step that was so cerebral. Then there was Appomattox, which was just as cerebral, just as visceral, and apparently a bit of a cliffhanger with regard to whether it would be ready by opening night. Most recently it was necessary to abandon the plans for a Magic Flute designed by Maurice Sendak, mounting, instead, the Los Angeles production with decor by Gerald Scarfe. In each of these "incidents," the San Francisco Opera came out on top of things, making this one of the most interesting seasons they have had for several years. Three operas remain for this portion of the season, La Rondine, Macbeth, and The Rake's Progress; and it will be interesting to see if this level of interest will sustain until the Opera House is invaded by Nutcrackers!