Music, beauty and jugglers make for a memorable night in Met’s “Akhnaten”

Sat Nov 09, 2019 at 2:34 pm
Anthony Roth Costanzo sings the title role in Philip Glass’s Akhnaten at the Metropolitan Opera. Photo: Karen Almond

Akhnaten, the last opera in Philip Glass’s trilogy of science, politics, and religion, finally made it to the Metropolitan Opera Friday night. (The Met presented Satyagraha in 2011, and back in 1976 Glass and director Robert Wilson famously financed their own two-night production of Einstein on the Beach at the house). 

This production by Phelim McDermott, originally made for the English National Opera and LA Opera, stars countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo as the Egyptian king who tried to institute monotheism 500 years before the Axial age, and over a thousand before the Christian Era. 

The challenge that Glass’s first three operas pose is that they are dense with ideas and meaning, but light on the libretto side, with either no story (Einstein) or little in the way of sung text.

Most of the words in Akhnaten go to the king’s dead father, Amenhotep III. That role was played by Zachary James, making his Met debut. He’s a bass-baritone, which in this opera means nothing, as it’s solely a speaking part, introducing scenes and narrating parts of the story. 

Akhenaten has one solo in English (the language changes depending on the nationality of the audience), a hymn to the sun god Aten in Act II. The chorus and secondary characters sing a mix of ancient Egyptian, Akkadian, and Hebrew, but mostly everyone sings either “Ha” or “Ah.” Seat-back titles are barely used because they barely have any use.

This in no way discounts character. Rather, getting to the core of singing, the human voice and body, not only makes for visceral characterization but Friday brought out some of the most affecting singing heard at the Met. Without the distraction of what the characters might be saying, one responded to what they were doing, and from the ritual choruses to the solos and small ensembles, one felt the relationship that comes from the brain’s fundamental reaction to song; a sense of community and oneness. 

Costanzo’ s gorgeous voice could not have been more perfect. What sets him apart from other countertenors is the uncanny feminine timbre in his sound, a quality that combines the human and the otherworldly. His stage presence was tremendous. He is first seen, unwrapped from a giant cocoon, naked and hairless, but what commanded the attention was his posture, his deliberate gait, the way he held himself as he was clothed in the spectacular raiments of the god-king of Egypt.

J’Nai Bridges as Nefertiti, Anthony Roth Costanzo as Akhnaten, and 
Dísella Lárusdóttir as Queen Tye in Akhnaten. Photo: Karen Almond

The vocal blend of Costanzo’s Akhnaten with mezzo J’Nai Bridges as his wife, Nefertiti (also making her debut at the Met), and soprano Disella Lárusdóttir as his mother, Queen Tye, was sublime. Just enough alike and just enough different, they sang as individuals and spoke as one voice depending on the moment in the score.

The opera—running 3.5 hours with two intermissions—is close to nothing but music and its manifestation in physical space and time. One of the fundamental tools McDermott uses is exaggerated slow movements—fascinating in that it recalls Wilson’s technique as well, and reveals this is the most transparent, intuitive, and meaningful realization of Glass’s style. 

But then there were the jugglers. On paper, the use of what was called in the program the “Skills Ensemble” might seem bizarre. But choreographed by Sean Gandini, this group was well integrated into the music. Juggling in time in itself made a dazzling three-dimensional outline of the music, and it was the juggling that was the force Akhnaten used to force out the polytheistic High Priest of Amon (tenor Aaron Blake) in Act II. These were just two surface details of the core of the juggling, which is that it was a kind of dance using arms, hands, and objects tossed in the air. And like the singing, the dance reached into the basic perceptions of the human experience.

No one in the history of opera has thought with the scope Glass has with his trilogy, not even Wagner. The duration of the Ring cycle is enormous, but what’s inside it is an extended family drama. Glass, on the other hand, is exploring the workings of the universe itself, and inside that, of human societies. 

When Amenhotep proclaims, “Open are the double doors of the horizon / Unlocked are its bolts / Clouds darken the sky / The stars rain down / The constellations stagger…When they see this king / Dawning as a soul,” there was a rush of exhilaration, because that horizon is infinite. In lesser hands, Amenhotep’s lines would be portentous, but James was gripping, inside the character and narrative in both voice and body.

Supporting this infinity was exceptional craft and a sense of beauty. The way each act moves toward its climactic moment, and the way the long arc of the opera settles at its endpoint, is unsurpassed in the repertoire. Every moment points towards a special moment, every note moves the drama closer. Hearing and seeing that come to pass Friday was deeply thrilling in the mind and the body—one knew each note and step was another piece of the path, without necessarily knowing what was next. But it was clear there was a direction and purpose to everything, and one was led, gladly, into each new bit of the future.

Akhnaten is easily one of the finest things to ever appear at the Met. The intense beauty of the production was its own thrill. The magnificent costumes by Kevin Pollard have a few touches of ancient Egyptian iconography, but mainly mix Victorian era steampunk and touches of Edwardian fashions. In the second act, Akhenaten and Nefertiti affirm their love while wearing matching red gowns with trains dozens of feet long. As they sang, they entangled each with the other.

To end that same act, Akhenaten returned in a glowing, orange robe, and as he sang in honor of the sun god, he ascended a stairway to a giant, luminous globe. It was the sun itself, and it was beautiful and moving when he reached it, the apex of his life’s meaning.

Another notable debut was that of Chicagoan Karen Kamensek, conducting the singers and Met Orchestra. Glass has always composed within the classical tradition, but his personal idiom, even after all these decades, is still a challenge for ensembles that predominantly play music from the common period. His extended repetitions can be physically, and especially mentally, challenging.

Kamensek is experienced in Glass’s operas, and under her the orchestra sounded right at home. There was an excellent balance of instrumental colors—and with the singers—and the playing had focus and equipoise, the kind of warmth one can feel, and it flowed and built a profoundly affecting momentum while always held with a light and certain grip. One has never heard Glass’s music sound better than in the big house Friday night.

Akhnaten runs through December 7. metopera.org

Photo: Karen Almond

10 Responses to “Music, beauty and jugglers make for a memorable night in Met’s “Akhnaten””

  1. Posted Nov 13, 2019 at 12:53 am by John Thorn

    I am heading out from Jackson Hole, WY for Friday’s performance. Opera is a whole new experience for me and reading this review helps me all the better understand my companion’s passion for the Met…. and that is a very good thing.

    Thanks for such an engaging review. I am excited to be there!

  2. Posted Nov 13, 2019 at 5:13 pm by Pierce Brennan

    An astonishingly original, beautiful, moving and memorable evening I shall surely remember my entire life.

  3. Posted Nov 15, 2019 at 12:29 am by ron gallard

    I saw this production in London earlier this year. At the end the woman behind declared “I can breathe now”, her companion asked what did she mean “it was breathtakingly beautiful” . Indeed it was. Now making my to New York to see it again.

  4. Posted Nov 15, 2019 at 3:17 pm by Erik Anderson

    I saw this in Los Angeles … twice!! It was indeed BREATHTAKING. A physically, mentally and emotionally as well as aurally and visually vibrant and brilliant experience of TRUE ART …. I have tickets to a local theatre to see the live broadcast from the MET … I can’t wait to experience it yet again!!!!!!!!

  5. Posted Nov 23, 2019 at 8:33 pm by Estelle Lebert

    Just saw Akhnaten in Portland via the live HD simulcast of the Met production. Spectacular, thrilling, and memorable. Don’t miss it if you love Glass.

  6. Posted Nov 24, 2019 at 2:56 am by Tom Crane

    I saw the Met’s Akhnaten today, and I must say first that I love Phillip Glass and his music. Also I have been fascinated since I was a kid with ancient Egypt and the Amarna period. The music was great, the singing excellent, and the orchestra wonderful.

    But the presentation was not what I wanted. The piece added a crew of many jugglers who juggled throughout most of the performance. You were just waiting for them to drop the balls – and they did! The costumes of the jugglers were a cross between the old Flash Gordon series Clay People, and pangolins. What the hell that had to do with ancient Egypt, I don’t know.

    Then the costume for Ahknaten and others was strange, not much Egyptian about it, but baby-faces embeded in it like something from the movie “Alien” and what looked like costume jewelry worn around the neck with a corset underneath like those old antebellum dresses.

    The “behind the scenes” interviews between acts disrupted the whole flow of the work, and I certainly didn’t need to know that the person playing Akhnaten’s father, Amenhotep, had once acted in the role as “Lurch” from the Addams Family.

  7. Posted Nov 24, 2019 at 2:09 pm by Robert

    Excellent review in all respects.

    I am not a “Glass-head” as a member of the audience proudly declared himself to me, but I was intrigued by the previews that I saw during the intermission for Turnadot, which I saw in HD a few weeks ago. So, off to the Met in New York I went on November 12th for my first Glass experience.

    At the end of the first act our group was spellbound and speechless. This is an experience, a meditation that gets you to slow down, clear your mind, and just imbibe the richness of the music and stunning visuals – costume, sets, lighting, movements. We were so moved by this performance that we saw it in HD at a theater on November 23rd and had the same reaction and the extra treat of seeing everything close up, which allows one to take in the costume details and facial expressions of the cast, which is remarkable.

    The juggling is fascinating and fits perfectly with the music. In the live performance that I saw not a single ball or pin was dropped, unlike the HD broadcast, but no matter. If I were juggling for an audience of 350,000 in over forty countries I think I might drop a ball or two.

    If you have any inclination to see this do not hesitate. It was one of the best opera/theatre experiences in my 71 years.

  8. Posted Nov 24, 2019 at 3:36 pm by Andrea KH

    I also saw the broadcast yesterday, and it was stunning. Of course the music was excellent, and in particular Akhnaten, Neferiti and Tye were perfect in their roles.

    I partly agree with Tom Crane though. The juggling was a nice idea but too much. And many of the costumes were overloaded, with the exception of the beautifully simple garments in the second act.
    I loved the stage settings though.The weighing of the heart and the red sun are images that I won’t forget.

  9. Posted Dec 05, 2019 at 11:35 am by Rosalie

    Having just read the above reviews, I must add my thoughts: I am a former professional symphony orchestra violinist, only moderately familiar with the work of Philip Glass. The HD broadcast was a revelation to me, and the juggling was a key reason why: the blending of choreography and staging with the music created an experience so mystically beautiful that I, too, was literally rendered breathless. The artists were utterly superb, but I do not think that the production would have achieved this pinnacle of excellence without them.

  10. Posted Dec 08, 2019 at 12:40 pm by Victoria Shorr

    Despite loving Philip Glass’s music I found the production close to unbearable. The sets were generic-dark, and the costumes both random and stock. Was the Met economizing? Fine, butham-handed references to the Empire. Okay, we get it. The jugglers provided some visual distraction at least, but of course one could have gone to the circus for that.

    And then there were the reviews, all falling over themselves in praise of the very elements I found so flat and predictable. But as Coleridge said, life is shipwreck and I felt very much alone on a desert island at the Met yesterday afternoon.

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