Why the heck does Ptolemy look like John Wilkes Booth?
That's only one of the many questions I have for Sir David McVicar, the man who directed the new Met Production of G. F. Handel's Giulio Cesare, which I saw on Wednesday. It was a fun Anachronism Stew of British Imperialism, Asian-ish dancing, and sleazy bad guys who for some reason resemble notorious American traitors. American countertenor David Daniels sang the the title role of Julius Caesar. French soprano Natalie Dessay, who appeared last season in the title role of La Traviata, sang the role of the alluring Cleopatra, the last queen of Egypt. Mezzo-soprano Alice Coote, who I last saw and Hansel in Humperdink's Hansel and Gretal back in '08, sang the trouser role of Pompey's son Sextus. And contralto Patricia Bardon was Pompey's widow Cornelia. On top of all that there was Christophe Dumaux Ptolemy and baritone Guido Loconsolo as Achilla.
The story centers around Caesar and Cleopatra's encounter in 47 B.C., albeit a highly idealized version of the event. Seventeen-year-old Cleopatra seduces and wins the fifty two-year-old Julius Caesar in order to help her overthrow her brother Ptolemy, with whom she is vying for the the throne of Egypt. On top of that, Sextus and his mother Cornelia want revenge for Ptolemy's wanton killing of Pompey after Caesar defeated him.
Act 1 was all about Cleopatra's struggle with her brother Ptolemy for the throne of Egypt and her plan to seduce Caesar over to her side. Sextus and Cornelia plan their revenge on Ptolemy for killing Pompey, all the while Ptolemy is trying to take the throne and his mook Achilla wants Cornelia for himself. Cleopatra disguises herself as a handmaiden and comes to find Caesar and the two almost immediately fall in love. Ptolemy makes both Sextus and Cornelia his prisoners and separates the two, adding Cornelia to his harem.
Act 2 follows Cleopatra's continuing seduction of Caesar (he still doesn't know her identity), and Sextus and Cornelia's continuing plan for revenge. Caesar and Cleopatra are about to make love when news comes to him that his enemies are conspiring against him. Cleopatra reveals her real identity and vows to help Caesar. He says he fears nothing and runs off to battle.
Act 3 sees the downfall of Ptolemy and Cleopatra's ascent to power. Achilla, furious that Ptolemy won't let him have Cornelia, switches allegiance and is killed in battle. Caesar is believed to have died but in fact survived his encounter with the assassins. Cleopatra has been captured after summoning Caesar's army and resolves to take her own life, but is stopped just in time by Caesar's arrival. Sextus kills Ptolemy and Caesar names Cleopatra the sole ruler of Egypt.
David Daniels was stunning (both in talent and in looks) in the role of Julius Caesar. His head seemed to wobble just a bit when he sang, but then again he does that a lot. And Dessay was also great, especially in her first aria of Act 2. The way she entered for the aria was taken right from a story floating around at that time that Cleopatra rolled herself up in a rug and was thus brought to Caesar. It's a good thing she was wearing a flesh-colored tank top underneath her rhinestone bikini top, otherwise her costume would have been listed as NSFB*. What I was expecting but still found surprising was the dancing. They had six dancers, two of them were with Dessay at all times as they were doing double duty as both dancers and handmaidens. Dessay did quite a bit of dancing herself. There were at least three arias that involved her dancing with her two handmaidens.
I hadn't seen Alice Coote since I was sixteen, so I almost didn't recognize her at first. The way she portrayed Pompey's dutiful son was just amazing. And I can't forget Patricia Bardon as Cornelia. She brought out the character of the grieving widow in search of vengeance very well.
If there was one major issue in the opera, it came in Act 3 after Caesar sings his big aria from that act, the men who were lying around dead suddenly come back to life and follow him to victory (except of course or Achilla, who is obviously dead because of his wounds). That made no sense whatsoever. Were these guys pretending to be dead? Were they just drunk? Did they fall asleep after the storm? Why did they lie around looking dead and then just pop back up when Caesar resolves to go into battle? There was also an issue at the very end where everyone is rejoicing in Cleopatra's rise to the throne but they had the already dead characters of Ptolemy and Achilla come back on stage to join the final ensemble (all covered in blood of course). Are they ghosts? Are they somehow undead? Are they figments of Sextus's mind (he seemed to go into one of those "Why Did It Have To Be Done This Way?" moments after killing Ptolemy)? Why did they come back onstage after being dead? It made no sense at all.
There were three other characters that really stood out: Nirenus, Ptolemy, and Achilla. Nirenus was sung by Moroccan countertenor Rachid Ben Abdeslam, who portrayed the character of Cleopatra's spy and confidant as though he were almost a jumpy Victorian cab driver. But he was also was fun loving and took his job seriously (and wore a fez in a few scenes). Actually this was the second time I had heard of an African opera singer (the first one being South African coloratura soprano Pretty Yende in the role of the Countess Adele in Le Comte Ory this season). There aren't very many of those.
Achilla struck me as the stupidest of all the characters. Why? Because as he said as he was dying in Act 3, he counseled Ptolemy to have Pompey killed so that he (Achilla) could marry Cornelia himself. Uh, Achilla, did you even bother to think that killing Cornelia's husband was probably the dumbest way to try to win her hand? She wanted to see her husband alive. Instead you killed him. What were you thinking you stupid idiot?
And finally there's Ptolemy. As I said at the beginning, he looked like John Wilkes Booth. I don't know if Sir David McVicar did that intentionally, but that's who Ptolemy looked like. In fact, I was calling him Booth of Arabia, John in Petticoats, all sorts of Civil War/Booth related nicknames.
It was a good performance all around. Sir David McVicar did a stupendous job creating such a delightful Anachronism Stew of Bollywood, early 20th Century, and 17th style goofiness. Now I would love for him to tell us why Booth--er, Ptolemy looked the way he did, and it would also be good to to hear his explanation on why he brought back the dead in Act 3.
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* Not Safe For Brain. It means that something is pornographically squicky.
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