Wonderful performances and voices, especially Joyce DiDonato as Sycorax (the swells from pianissimo in her first aria!), Danielle de Niese as Ariel (her naturally puckish personality winning even when she over-mugs), Luca Pisaroni as Caliban (his acting as superb as his voice — and he could have been a superlative mime too) and Placido Domingo as Neptune (his still-powerful tenor/baritone voice and tone — if not his diction — surprisingly well adapted to the neo-Handel, and very moving). The arias were mostly Handel, the instrumentals and dance Rameau and some Vivaldi. The story was a Midsummer Tempest pastische, and suitably silly, with the right quota of touching moments (with the help of the magnificent music), such as an anachronistic but apt ecological lament for the sea. Most of the ornamentation was out of character, but not off-puttingly so, because the singers were otherwise so good, and probably also because of the brilliantly versatile Met orchestra’s para-baroque compromise (especially the bassoon!) always in the background, setting the context. The combination of advanced video and shoestring period props was a success too. The only downer was the faux-period text by Jeremy Sams (allegedly grounded in Dryden and Pope, but often coming out more like contemporary soap-opera corn), as flat-footed verbally as it was uninspired poetically or theatrically (“Forgive me, Please forgive me,” whines Prospero at the end, without the slightest hint why.) But even that could not spoil an enchanting experience.
Stevan Harnad