Being my first experience at an opera, I don’t have much to compare Turandot to. However, that doesn’t take away from how amazing the experience was in its entirety. Everything from the story, to the way you could hear the performers so clearly (without microphones!) just added to its quality. With a performance as long as Turandot was, however, an interesting story is essential to keeping viewers’ attention. Thankfully, thats exactly what it had. A tale resembling a Brothers’ Grimm kind of story, accompanied by lots of movement and dramatic music, kept me wanting to see it to the end.
The story is set in China, where a princess by the name of Turandot leads several men to their deaths by pursuing their dreams to marry her. A system is set in place whereas one must answer three riddles correctly in order to succeed- or else they die. Though many suitors have faced the executioner being drawn in by Turandot’s appeal, a character known as the Unknown Prince takes the challenge. And though his recently found father and companion Liu try to convince him otherwise, his will to marry the princess overcomes him- and he signals for the challenge to begin.
As Turandot reveals herself, she explains the consequences of failure- a result she has a lot of faith in. She then goes on to read the first riddle, which the Unknown Prince correctly answers. Slightly taken aback by this, Turandot continues to read the second, which the Unknown Prince also gets right. Finally, with the prince’s life at stake having everyone on the edge of their seats, she recites the third riddle. After a moment of pacing, the prince announces his answer, which turns out to be Turandot’s name, as well as correct. Clearly shaken by this, Turandot reveals her reasoning for this system and says he’d be just as those who forcibly married and tortured other past princesses or queens. Seeing her clearly distraught, the Unknown Prince offers a trial of his own.
The prince offers his life once again: he’d have himself killed if the princess could figure out his name by dawn. With a character deemed “the Unknown Prince,” this seems like it’d be a rather difficult challenge- similar to Rumpelstiltskin in this aspect. With everyone in the city commanded to search for any clue to his name, the father of the prince as well as Liu are eventually recovered. In order to prevent the elderly father from facing the lengths Turandot would go to get his name, Liu says only she knows it. Though she puts herself in danger because of this, she makes it clear that her lips are sealed and that she would keep the prince’s name to herself. At this point in the performance its more than obvious that Liu has something for the Unknown Prince. Turandot, not understanding the feeling of love, can’t comprehend why Liu wouldn’t tell her his name, or why she ends up killing herself. The scene was very emotional and clearly a pivotal point in the opera, for dawn follows soon after.
As dawn approaches, Turandot has a moment of venting mainly out of fear of what is to come. Her bad perception of men as a whole causes this, but the Unknown Prince reassures her he only wants to have her happily. He reveals his name to her, and seeing that he is willing to give up his life for her more willingly than before, she feels love towards him. In the end, they end up married and Turandot, known as the princess of frost and ice, is overcome by lovely fire.
