Will Liverman has a voice of great depth, that has booming intensity in the angry moments and a gentler tender quality when more intimate, and his performance is the complete embodiment of a tortured soul done with great nuanced complexity. Cannot fault the performances either, an emotionally devastating Latonia Moore (whose rich voice embodies every emotion required) taking the top honours in the most difficult role. Yannick Nezget-Seguin continues to impress with his authoritative and nuanced conducting and the chorus demonstrate beautifully balanced singing and a huge improvement in acting over the years (more individual personalities coming out). The orchestra bring out every nuance out of an intense, truly moving and nuance-filled score that is one of the few recent masterpieces of musical storytelling in a beautifully balanced, intensely searing in fire and emotionally rich account of it.
Musically, the production of 'Fire Shut Up in My Bones' is a triumph. The opening up was a truly poignant and inspiring scene, while the Act 3 dance sequence was a masterpiece of choreography that apparently got an overwhelming standing ovation in one performance and no wonder. Not just the events themselves but also how it affects the character(s) going through it and the characters around them. Just a gut wrenching, hard hitting story that uncompromisingly but sensitively tackles tough themes that is brave to tackle anywhere let alone in an opera (subject matter-wise this is pretty ground-breaking). There are no distracting, senseless gimmicks, no gratuitous distasteful interpolations that potentially confuse the story or distorts characters and themes and no overblown over-ambitious spectacle that swamps the drama. This is also one of the few productions in recent memory where this reviewer had no faults with the staging.
Many of the characters are symbolic, but it is not done in too overtly heavy handed a way. The use of mirrors was also clever and in perfect keeping with the doubling and mirroring structure and also the character psychology. Using projections have the dangers of bogging down the momentum of the drama (especially in scene changes) or swamping it, but neither danger remarkably is fallen into and instead they are seamlessly transitioned and visually striking. It looks great visually, with the best use of projections this reviewer has seen in any stage production of opera, ballet, play etc. Watching this production is an experience that shall never be forgotten by this viewer in a long time, one of the Met's finest and boldest achievements in recent years and one of the best opera productions seen in years. The opera dramatically is incredibly powerful, and the music is of the kind that never is discordant with what goes on but actually enhances and is fully immersed in it. It is such a tough and harrowing subject and it was very bold to set music to a story revolving around something so traumatic physically and mentally. 'Fire Shut Up in My Bones' however is a strong contender for the best new opera that the Met have ever premiered. The Metropolitan Opera have premiered a number of new operas as part of their fascinating if inconsistent Live in HD series, and it has more often than not a case of finding plenty to admire about the production but not being completely sold on the opera ('The Exterminating Angel' and 'Marnie' being examples of this). My general feelings on contemporary opera are that of high appreciation rather than love, unless it's from a composer who has never been to my taste.
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