This “Live from the Met” production of Verdi’s Macbeth was directed by Adrian Noble, formerly head of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) in England, and conducted by James Levine.

Levine and the New York Philharmonic were superb. Quick and crisp and often exciting. Noble’s work was disappointing. He had chosen to move the setting forward in time, from 11^th century Scotland to an unnamed country in our own time or close to it. We had a jeep on stage in Act 4. As usual this change of setting was often at odds with the text. No witches, just ladies in dresses and flowery hats. None of this seemed insightful or imaginative.

We were supposed to make the connection between the original setting of the story in Scotland of long ago and the tyrannies and wars of our own time. The mistake that directors like Noble make is that intelligent people can readily deduce the connections for themselves without changing the time and country of the original work. Verdi clearly wanted his 1847 audience to make the connection with events in the Italy of his time. And they had no problem at all even though the opera was set in Scotland.

The principals were adequate but not outstanding: Maria Guleghina and Zeljko Lucic. Several of the secondary roles were sung superbly –  John Relyea as Banquo and Dimitri Pittas as Macduff. Noble showed no talent for moving the chorus around or for little bits of business. We had several children drinking from the witches’ cup and then retching – close-ups added to the ugliness of it all – into a chalice. This absurd bit of action managed to be both ugly and meaningless.

In the 21^st century with all kinds of technology available to us, the director of Macbeth has nearly limitless possibilities open to him to realize Macbeth’s hallucinations. But Noble chose not to use any special effects. This is an area in which updating could truly enhance Verdi’s original conception.

This time we went to Tinseltown in Pflugerville. It is a lot closer to us than the Regal in South Austin and the facilities are comparable.

Incidentally, Noble exited the RSC in 2002 in controversy; he was blamed for almost destroying the organization.

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