Lucia di Lammermoor: A killer opera
It’ll get a little crazy “Lucia di Lammermoor” opens the new season at LA Opera by Bondo Wyszpolski Things are frenetic from the get-go in “Lucia di Lammermoor,” Gaetano Donizetti’s tale of murder, madness, and betrayal. Bolstered by Salvatore Cammarano’s smart libretto and based on Sir Walter Scott’s 1819 novel, “The Bride of Lammermoor,” the opera premiered in 1835 and is normally set in and around Ravenswood castle south of Edinburgh. Under the direction of Simon Stone, however, we’re now in a depressed suburb of the Midwest, maybe in the 1970s or ‘80s since the Ford Pinto hasn’t been manufactured for over 40 years. It’s actually one of three authentic vehicles that periodically share the stage along with cast, chorus, and more façades than Main Street in Disneyland. This is a new production of an old standard, co-produced by LA Opera and the Metropolitan Opera of New York. It opened last Saturday at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion to kick off the 2022-2023 season, and if the intention was to make a big splash then by all means it did just that. Stone, and most of his collaborators — including scenic designer Lizzie Clachan, lighting designer James Farncombe, projection designer…
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