Greer Grimsley on the deck of his red-sailed ghost ship. Seattle Opera photos © by Rosarii Lynch
On a weekend when Blue Angels were literally drenching Seattle skies with violent peals of thunder, Seattle Opera's new production of Flying Dutchman saturated McCaw Hall with vibrant voices and reverberant horns.
Dutchman is Wagner's first major work, with roots squarely in the tradition of German romanticism (Beethoven musically, Heine philosophically). He was still years away from composing his interminable, mystical Ring (which, like Seafair, has become a touchstone of Seattle's civic religion). In Dutchman, Wagner just gets on with it: an accursed sea captain (Greer Grimsley) is doomed to sail forever unless redeemed by the love of a good woman. Senta (Jane Eaglen) volunteers, but when her former boyfriend shows up, the Dutchman sets sail. Wait! she cries, jumps into the sea, and, in the opera's closing moments of transfiguration, reunites with the Dutchman in the afterlife.
Handsomely designed, the production benefits from Asher Fisch in the pit; no one else manages to coax such depth of music from the orchestra. Fluently sung, its principals are supported by a rich, lively, 78-voice chorus.
And yet the production doesn't quite soar. Though Eaglen sings like a righteous angel, she's badly served by a potato-sack of a costume that only draws attention to her girth. The vaunted "ghost crew" never appears, and what was supposed to be never-before-seen stagecraft at the climactic scene fizzles like an electric short-circuit.
What a shame, because there's a reassuring message for all of us in this timeless tale of damnation (through youthful arrogance) and redemption (through true love): a vision of the natural world as dangerous and of the human spirit as divine.
The Flying Dutchman at McCaw Hall through Aug. 25. Tickets online or 206-389-7676
Jane Eaglen sings "Senta's Ballad" to the women of her remote fishing village.
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