Peter Grimes: Bayerische Staatsoper - 6 March 2022

I just finished Stefan Herheim's production of PEER GRIMES for Bayerische Staatsoper. Britten's opera is one of those that, as many times as I've seen it, I don't think I can recall ever sitting through a production that didn't work - at least on some level.  Most have actually been excellent, and I'll even stand up for the mostly deplored Doyle production for the Met that still sets tongues wagging at its mere mention (and won't be surprised if it's derided here).  Herheim's however, worked on a dozen different levels, unfolding the drama like a sort of operatic equivalent of a Wes Anderson movie (most specifically, I found myself thinking of MOONRISE KINGDOM).  

Set in an auditorium that was either in a high school, or, as I saw it, a municipal auditorium once often found in small villages.  At least, living in a fishing town in New England, that's how I saw it.  

The tragedy of Grimes was both witnessed  and acted out, by the citizens of the Borough  its participants retelling a tale at once familiar yet being told and lived anew by its participants. While much of the story took place on the auditorium floor, each time the curtains parted we found ourselves on a different level of theatre filled with spectacle, violent waves, oceans filled with fish, an ancient "budget wave" with attached boat, etc.  We seemed to be evenly split between the reality of "now," and the uncertain ritualized memory of "then."  

PETER GRIMES is one of those operas that allows a community to be made up of as many characters as there are choristers., allowing a rich individuality not frequently employed in most operas and, quite frankly, not needed in most operas.  GRIMES is a different beast.

The chorus pulled out all the stops vocally and theatrically creating a town of like-minded individuals, moralistic and superior on the surface, but cruel, petty, and ugly underneath.  

The named cast could hardly be improved upon, starting with Stuart Skelton, recognized as one of the leading interpreters of the title fisherman in the world today.  He is all the things I want in a Grimes: nervous, mildly belligerent when pushed, hard on the surface, but loving beneath it and tired of being misunderstood, never heard or seen as anything other than the ultimate outsider  . . societal outcast. His Peter is sung with bright, peeling tones, beautiful when need be, but never afraid to reveal the cracking frustration as his story moves forward.  In this production he seems mildly removed from Ellen, which I found odd and bothered me initially.  As it went on, however, I tended to see Grimes as one already gone, more apparition than living being.  This was confirmed in my eyes (and maybe mine alone) by his physical relationship to his apprentice, John.  There was more father/son in this pair than I've ever encountered before, and, indeed, in Herheim's hands John was more of a presence than I ever recall elsewhere.  The pair of them felt like ghosts, haunting the auditorium.  

Rachel Willis-Sørensen was a perfect match to Skelton's antihero.  Noble, touching, a genuinely warm and very human woman.  Her Embroidery aria seguing into her scene with Balstrude wsa lovely, but much more than that.  We could hear her own escape from a world of cruelty that she wanted to change, making the scenes between her, Peter and John feel more connected and familial.  Her final "No!" was shouted where generally it feels more like a quiet gasp.  Again,  this made her actions feel more remembered and embellished.  She appears ready willing and able to plunge to her death in the sea, but is prevented.  Very powerful image there. 

Balstrude, Auntie, Ned, Mrs. Sedley, Auntie and the Nieces were all well thought by Herheim and executed nicely by Iain Peterson, Claudia Mahnke, Brindley Sherratt, Jennifer Johnson, Lindsay Ohse, and Emily Pogorelc.

In the pit, Edward Gardner led a richly nuanced account of the score, wide of dynamics and well balanced, while coaxing a dramatic sense of foreboding, doom and hope during the famous sea interludes.

Today's prima should be available already on the BSO TV website.  I highly recommend it.  .