The Passion of Opera

Last night I watched the Met's DVD of Il tabarro (based on Didier Gold's play La houppelande ). While it has been a trend to perform Puccini's entire Il trittico of Il tabarro , Suor angelica , and Gianni schicchi together, this DVD pairs Pagliacci and Il tabarro , so I can only review the one. You work with what you've got, eh? This particular recording of Il tabarro features Juan Pons as Michele, Teresa Stratas as Giorgetta, and Plácido Domingo as Luigi. The supporting roles are sung by members unlisted except on the DVD and I have no access to them. However, this is okay, as I will explain. Overall, the production seems a bit stagnant. I could hope for a little more life, a little more imagination, and a bit more liveliness. I think part of this suffers from either Puccini's writing of the piece, or from the fact that had I seen all three pieces of Il trittico together, as intended, I might feel differently. The set is fairly simplistic, and built