When I first heard that we were going to see the opera Turnadot in the Met Opera House my interest was slightly piqued because I had never before seen an opera, and this one was at the Met. After I read the libretto, I realized that I had heard a variation of this story before, and so I was quite excited to see how the actual opera experience would play out. Alexandra’s prep the day before the opera added to this with her description of how nothing was held back for the creation of the set. And thus, going into the Met Opera House I was full of expectations.
Even before the opera started, the opulence of the space astounded me. As the curtains opened to reveal the first set I was equally stunned. Although we were all the way back and could not see every detail, there was clearly an amazing amount of work and attention given to it. With each change of set my reaction was the same: amazement. The portrayal of the interior of the Imperial Palace was especially breathtaking. When the curtains opened and lights shone upon it, there was a huge round of applause for the elaborate design. In addition to the wonderful sets, the costumes were also quite well done. Turnadot’s dresses and the people at court’s attire in particular, stood out because of their beauty. The other costumes were also great and the attention to detail was clear in every costume, such as those of the peasants. Although they had no major role and generally had the same look, I liked how each costume varied slightly from person to person and created a sense of character for each of them while still being a part of a larger group.
Another part of the opera that I enjoyed was the music from the orchestra. I remember Alexandra saying that the music in an opera is integral to the entire thing, and this was definitely true. Throughout the opera it guided and lent to the plot. It brought us closer with the emotions of the characters and the events which were happening, allowing us to further synchronize our thoughts with those portrayed. The opera singers also took part in this immersion of emotion. Their powerful voices drew the audience in to feel what they felt, to cry with them, to laugh with them, and to hope with them. They brilliantly encapsulated the thoughts and emotions of their character and showcased them through their singing. One moment in which I thought the singing especially drew the audience in was when Liu refused to speak Calaf’s name and instead chose death. Her mournful vocals as she proclaimed her final act of devotion was heart-wrenching.
Although there were all these elements of the opera which I greatly enjoyed, one which I did not was the plot, and part of its portrayal. It seemed quite silly to me how so many princes would risk their lives for a princess’ hand just because of her beauty. Surely people who were meant to lead their people would not be that foolish. Another thing was how inhumane the princess was to want all of them to die just because of the injustice her ancestor had faced. Yet another was how her icy heart was melted simply by a kiss. It was an unreal situation in general. In addition to the unrealistic plot line, I found many of the characters’ personalities to be quite shallow or self-centered. For instance, Turnadot was a princess who simply wanted to kill off as many princes as she could because of her ancestor. Calaf, also, was willing to let his father suffer his loss of a son and all of China suffer in general to possess Turnadot. The only character I truly liked in this Opera was Liu, for she had a giving personality and pure heart. It definitely frustrated me when she confessed her love to Calaf only for him to ignore it and continue to pursue Turnadot.
Overall, the opera was made decently enjoyable for me because of the set, costumes, music, and Liu. The stage elements definitely played a large role in bringing the production to life for me and transformed a mediocre storyline into much more. On a side note, I would have liked for there to be more Asian performers because this opera was set in Peking. However, I still found it to be a fine performance despite this.
Unlike most of the class, I didn’t really do a lot of preparation before I went to see Turandot because I had to see it earlier, so I had almost no expectations when I first saw it. I read the synopsis right before the opera started, and was really startled to realize that this was set in a pseudo-China. Seeing the Chinese set and costumes made listening to the Italian singing and music a bit disconcerting at times, but I got sort of used to it. I was way too far in the back to see the features of the singers, so their features don’t really matter to me, and I get the feeling that there aren’t too many Chinese or Asian opera singers out there, at least for western opera. Chinese opera is whole other matter.
Like Eunice, I thought the plot was really trite and overly contrived, but that it was Italian opera and by Puccini at that, I didn’t really expect ‘realism’ and was less bothered by it than I was sort of amused. It probably helped that I don’t take plots in opera seriously at all. I feel like the story is more of a framework in which to allow the main centerpieces, the music and the singing, to happen. And those centerpieces really shone. I really liked the way Puccini integrated some Chinese musical themes into the music. It was woven in a way that created a really beautiful and sort of setting.
That being said, I do find the way the plot is written sort of interesting. In a way, you can see Turandot’s ploy as sort of a female power struggle of getting to choose her own husband, especially if you consider her backstory for doing so. Looking at it this way makes Calaf sort of look like a dirtbag, pardon my language. And if this was trying to portray a feminist power struggle, the ending sort of usurps it all in that Turandot ends up ‘falling in love’ at the end after all. This may be a more modern reading though.
Lastly, I though the set was absolutely amazing! Looking back, you can see the set designers cleverly used a single piece as the base for all the acts in order to efficiently use the space to create multiple sets. The palace in the second act was especially amazing. The golden lighting and water makes it definitely look heavenly and the angle that they put it at gave it an imaginary space to make it look bigger than it is. The only complaints I have about the set was that I couldn’t see the details on the back (so I couldn’t see Turandot’s first appearance and the emperor) and the fact that they reused the set in the third act was really obvious, but otherwise it was very clever, which I definitely appreciated.
-Jessica Ng