Review of The Nose at MetOpera with Paulo Szot

Shostakovich's The Nose, now at The Metropolitan Opera, is an absurd satirical opera about Soviet bureaucracy and runaway nostrils, sounds wacky enough to simultaneously woo the oprea-adverse and annoy the opera-lover. Find out which we are and how we feel after two hours noses run in our official report.


Click Here for Video Review of The Nose

Updated On: 10/3/13 at 05:20 PM

This is the the same physical production that I saw at the Lyon Opera in France two years ago. It's very clever and I enjoyed it greatly.

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Or put in off-topic

Great show. Paulo's voice is HUGE! He never sounded better, his sound fills every single corner of the Met with resonant and beautiful sound.

I saw him in the HD of Manon, he seemed fine to me and he got fine reviews for that. Here's part of the NYTimes review that talks about his performance: "The role of Lescaut cannot be that rewarding for a baritone, but Paulo Szot made the most of it. In the novel Lescaut is Manon’s brother, who, in effect, pimps her out to an older man. The opera turns him into Manon’s swashbuckling cousin, whose biggest flaw seems to be an addiction to gambling. Mr. Szot sings the role with robust sound and vitality." http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/28/arts/music/a-striver-comes-to-an-ignoble-end.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 True, he did not finish the run of Manon. A couple of years ago he was scheduled to sing 3 Carmens at the Met, he missed the first one and sang the second two. I read an interview where he said his voice has continued to change, like it's higher now, um, can't find that now, we'll that's what I thought I read. Operas are mostly scheduled years in advance, which seems kind of nuts. Escamillo is for a bass/baritone as I understand it and is supposed to be really difficult, Teddy Tahu Rhodes cancelled all his Carmen perfomances at the Met last year coincidentally (?) right after appearing in South Pacific in Australia. Here's a youtube of Szot singing Escamillo's big aria, Votre Toast, years ago, I love that youtube! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-AuAz_gukg

Szot's scheduled to appear in Fledermaus this year too. The Met is huge, I think it may be the biggest opera house in the world?.

Updated On: 10/4/13 at 12:21 PM

I saw him perform at the NY Philharmonic Gala...at one point he said to the audience "please don't tell me how much you liked me in Manon,I was hospitalized and missed most of it" so the 'firing'story is patently untrue.