*Moby-Dick,* Mar 25, 2025

Stephanie and I saw *Moby-Dick* at the Met on Mar 25, 2025.

It's an opera with music by Jake Heggie and a libretto by Gene Scheer, it was premiered in Dallas in 2010. It arrived at the Met this season. The production was the same as the original production, directed by Leonard Foglia. You certainly couldn't have asked for a better production of this opera - - it was one of the most inventive, integrated shows I've seen at the Met.

Seeing the opera made me eager to read the book! Stephanie encouraged me big time, said it's brilliant. The opera started with an orchestra prelude - - Stephanie said, "He's so good at instrumentation, this music is so evocative, it really draws you in." She also noticed moments in the score where a group of men on the left were singing one thing, the men on the right were singing a counterpoint to that, and the orchestra was doing something completely unrelated. It was complex but always tangible, always engaging and expressive.

Ahab was sung by tenor Brandon Jovanovich, who I've heard many times at the Met, most recently as the boyfriend in *Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk.* This was a great role for him and he sang and acted it beautifully. I enjoyed how Scheer and Heggie set up his entrance, a Sarah Bernhardt-style star entrance, where the character is talked about by other people and then arrives with maximum impact. It seemed to me that Heggie was inspired by *Otello* in Ahab's first utterances, they had a similar message of, "I'm the lead tenor, I'm the star of this show, and I'm gonna sing high and loud." Arresting!

Bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green played Queequeg and sang with a lot of heart. His duet with Greenhorn early in the second act was the highlight of the score, for me, very touching, very tender. Green has done quite a few new operas at the Met - - he's been singing a bit of Wagner in other houses, I imagine he'll bring that to New York in the next seasons.

Janai Brugger was the one woman onstage - - Stephanie thought it was a great idea to have the role of the cabin boy Pip played by a high soprano, it gave an extra layer of vulnerability to the character. Plus it was a treat to hear her voice in the all-male ensemble, she added a shimmer on top of that rather burly sound. Heggie wrote skillfully for her high voice and she sang like a dream.

The role of Starbuck was meant to have been sung by the amazing Swedish baritone Peter Mattei but we had an unscheduled replacement in that role, Thomas Glass. He has a handsome voice and well embodied the conflicted mensch vibe of the character. I'm a big fan of Mattei and imagine him giving us a deeper experience of the role. His voice and persona are loaded with major charisma coupled with intense musicality.

My favorite performance of the evening was by tenor Dominick Chenes in the second lead, the role of Greenhorn (known as Ishmael in the book). His was another unscheduled performance, but unlike Glass, it was his Met debut! He has a firm, secure voice, always a relief in a tenor. He seemed entirely grounded and at ease. The voice isn’t particularly beautiful or distinctive but he knew what he was doing - - he knew how to soar into the apex of a phrase and wring the juice out of it in a way that was idiomatic but never cheap. And come to think of it, the singer he replaced, Stephen Costello? His voice isn’t particularly beautiful or distinctive either, and he’s singing leading roles all around the world.

I looked up Chenes on Operabase to see what else he's doing and was alarmed to see he's playing Pollione in *Norma* and Cavaradossi in *Tosca* at other companies. Beware, honey! These are Big Boy parts, don't make them your bread and butter. The most important word for a young singer to know: No. He's closing in on 40 but the voice doesn't sound inherently muscular to me, it has presence but maybe a little too delicate for these parts. The Duke in *Rigoletto* and Rodolfo in *La Bohème* yes, by all means. But Pollione and Cavaradossi, not just yet.

The orchestra and conductor Karen Kamensek were heartily applauded by the audience. I hope the orchestra is enjoying the rich score, it sounds like they are.

It was wildly ambitious of Heggie to do an opera of *Moby-Dick* and what he wrote was damn impressive. If I may quibble I feel like it could be tightened up a little here and there, there were two or three scenes that felt a little repetitive and draggy. But that's splitting hairs, it was a huge success. I'm about to go on for a bit about the brilliant production and as important as that is, an opera lives or dies by its music. A litmus test is to ask if it would work on the radio, or listening to a CD at home. To put it another way, is the music the vehicle for the story? Heggie gets a resounding Yes on these questions.

The production was one of the most dazzling, impressive shows I've seen at the Met. The use of video projections was off the hook genius, it made such a big impact on the storytelling. Sometimes at the Met you get the feeling that they're using video to give you something to look at. I'm thinking of the prelude to the current production of *Tristan und Isolde,* where you see a ship surrounded by waves on the sea. All I could think of was, "The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed." NOT what Wagner had in mind.

Director Leonard Foglia, set designer Robert Brill, lighting designer Gavan Swift, and projection designer Elaine J. McCarthy had a unified vision that beautifully set the tone and gave an epic sweep that was essential to the story. They also created moments where I had no idea how they achieved what I was looking at, that's always a thrill. They were all making their Met debuts with this show with the exception of the set designer (who did *Faust* in 2011) - - I hope they'll all be back, soon and often.