Donizetti's librettist Salvadore Cammarano does a brutal job of chopping Sir Walter Scott's long novel, The Bride of Lammermoor down to a manageable two hours or so of opera. Basically he just takes the last 100 pages, chops out all the religion and politics and then rewrites what remains. The Met's new production moves the period from the late 17th to century to the Victorian era so what little political and religious context there is left makes no sense at all.
Hey ho but this is an opera, and a brilliant piece of bel canto at that so who's complaining. It stars Anna Netrebko, whom the Met audience applauds on her entrance in recognition of her superstar status. The opera features the most famous mad scene in the entire repertoire which Netrebko pulls off impressively. One thing that I have noticed about her here and in La Sonnambula and I Puritani is that she does not do barking mad in the manner of say, Natalie Dessay or Stefania Bonfadelli. The lovely Netrebko does a very demure sort of madness. There is a little bit of self-harming as she draws a dagger across her cheek but no eye-popping, carpet chewing rolling on the floor. One huge plus point about the Met's production is that they use a glass harmonica, as originally specified by Donizetti. This is rare these days and it adds that extra touch of weird beauty to the mad scene.
One other imaginative touch, which I don't think I have seen before is that we actually see the ghost that haunts Lucia's thoughts. At the end, the ghost is Lucia herself as she urges her lover Edgardo to kill himself. director Mary Zimmerman's imagination does run away with her though during the famous sextet. It is staged as a photo opportunity for a Victorian cameraman and the intricate music gets lost in all the stage business.
Lucia's evil brother Enrico is interpreted impressively by baritone Mariusz Kwiecien. As Edgardo, Piotr Beczala deputises for an indisposed Rolando Villazon. All I can say is: a star is not born.