Seattle Opera at McCaw Hall
Through Jan 24.
When Georges Bizet agreed to compose The Pearl Fishers, it was not
for love of the project but for the money. The libretto, considered
subpar even by its authors, depicts a story loosely following the life
of Britney Spears—supposed virgin swears chastity, promptly gives
in to the temptations of “true love” (in this case, the great hunter
Nadir), and bears the consequences (a death sentence).
The Pearl Fishers is obviously an early piece, influenced in large
part by Charles Gounod, Bizet’s mentor. Bizet hadn’t developed his own
voice yet, and by the time he did—just months after he finished
his masterpiece Carmen—a heart attack did him in. It’s not that
The Pearl Fishers is not beautiful; it just doesn’t ring with the same
artistic freedom. It is introspective where Carmen is seductive,
plaintive where Carmen is playful. But still worth seeing for its
music. And for its sexual innuendo: the title, the posters (featuring a
woman who is arguably fishing for her own pearl), and the scene where
Leila succumbs to seduction, set with large pillars and burning
flames.
The not-so-wholesome Leila is played on off-nights (sadly, the only
performance I was able to attend) by Larissa Yudina, who sings in a
pristine soprano. Her voice is clear and precise, but she’s
catastrophically clumsy. (She kneels to be crowned priestess and nearly
topples over; in the few scenes where her character dances, Seattle
Opera substitutes the petite and lissome Lisa Gillespie.)
The production has some visual gems. In the first moments of the
show, music wafts from the belly of the orchestra pit and the curtain
opens. The stage appears—with the help of dappled lighting and a
scrim—to be submerged in water. A female form, suspended by
invisible wires, emerges from the upper corner of view and descends.
Traces of light speckle her body, hints of sunlight refract through the
surface of water. She uncovers a glowing pearl and returns upward to
surface with her treasure. 
You neglected to explain the bare chested Fabios looking lost in that photograph.
Opera doesn’t do ‘hot dude’ very well.
Unless you count Mario Lanza.
Goodnight.
did you actually see the whole opera?
the review sounds like you read a wiki article, glanced over someone else’s review, then went to the show and skipped out at the first intermission.
For real. Seattle misses the hell out of Nick Scholl.
For real. Seattle misses the hell out of Nick Scholl.
That’s the exact thought I had when I looked at the Pearl Fishers poster.
In other news, what more do you want in a review operafan? It sounds more like Chessen is trying not to give away too much about the opera so YOU can go see it and decide for yourself. Were you hoping that the author would give you details you could skip going to the show and still have witty one liners to drop over machiattos with your pretentious opera buddies?
Wow, I didn’t realize how good it felt to talk trash behind anonymous screen names. No wonder you chose to be so snarky, Emily. Though, you could have been more creative with a screen name. I mean, sure there are 100k other Emilys in Seattle but still.
Okay, now I’m done.