Good Evening!
I'm back from The Met... Back from seeing Doctor Atomic...
Very heavy and heady subject matter, handled in a manner that was both realistic and representational - sometimes at the same time. Alas, with the way the libretto is structured - it was compiled from various sources - a more representational approach overall would have been more to my liking (like the original San Francisco Opera production). There just seemed to be too many tableaus and stretches of "static" and posing. Yes, the tension was sustained, for the most part, but a little more movement would have helped, imho.
I was not prepared for "this" John Adams' score. The pulsing ostinatos of Nixon in China and "Harmonielehre" were almost non-existent, and in its place was a series of different types and "techniques" of music. It all worked, and the production was also abetted by a very smart and effective sound design.
I'm glad I did get to see this production, but if I ever do see the opera again, I'd like to see a different production, concept.
*OH! And I really do think the true star of the evening was the conductor, Alan Gilbert - who is about to take over the Podium of the New York Philharmonic. A truly committed and perfectly-paced realization of the very difficult score.
