That was one of the most anticipated operas of the season for me, and I didn’t like it. My neighbor with whom we share this subscription just returned from a two-week trip to Egypt, and even before we went, she told me that she read “horrible reviews” about this production.
I do not mind the modernization of the classic (I enjoyed Penelopiad at Goodman!), but in this production, everything except for the music and voices, was indeed horrible.
I copied several images from the Lyric website to illustrate. I do not understand why they had to invent their own hieroglyphs instead of Egyptian, and why they had to cover the whole stage set with these images. I do not understand why they had to dress the male cast in these turn-of-the-previous-century uniforms.
The voices were beautiful. The music was great. But by the middle of it I chose to enjoy it with my eyes closed 🙂 .






