An eagerly awaited production of Mozart’s masterpiece “Don Giovanni — staged by Tony winner Michael Grandage (“Red”) — limped into the Met Thursday dead on arrival.
The only thrill of the night came from Peter Mattei, who bounded into the title role with barely a day’s rehearsal after the original Don, Mariusz Kwiecien, injured his back at dress rehearsal. (Kwiecien is set to return on Oct. 25.)
Mattei’s bright baritone, familiar from Met “Giovanni” performances since 2003, wasn’t just a save, but a solid success. Given the tight rehearsal time, his acting was generic, but the rest of the cast had no such excuse for phoning it in.
Maybe they were demoralized by Grandage’s production, an unimaginative slab of faux-finish walls and limp period costumes in tones of taupe and dun. The stage action recycled so much antique shtick you’d think it was a revival — except that word implies something that was actually once alive.
Those who came for music weren’t so disappointed. Fabio Luisi, the company’s new principal conductor, returned to the work’s comic opera roots with a bubbling reading that skated between “fleet” and “frantic.”
Accompanying the recitatives himself from the harpsichord, Luisi freshened the score by encouraging the singers to add spontaneous-sounding vocal riffs. He should put his foot down, though, about the hideous miking of the Commendatore (Stefan Kocán) in the graveyard scene, which sounded like a middle-school public address system.
Mattei paired well with Luca Pisaroni as the Don’s cynical sidekick, Leporello, who expertly recalibrated his lithe bass-baritone to mimic his master’s voice in the second act’s disguise scene. The biggest ovation of the night went to Ramón Vargas for his ringing high notes and elegantly spun coloratura in Don Ottavio’s solo “Il mio tesoro.”
The Don’s women were less stellar. Mojca Erdmann, making her debut as peasant bride Zerlina, turned shrill when audible, while another newcomer, Marina Rebeka, parlayed her steely voice into fluent performances of Donna Anna’s two virtuoso arias. Best was the veteran Barbara Frittoli as desperate Donna Elvira, the wear and tear on her soprano negated by masterful phrasing and command of the text.
There’s the paradox of today’s Met: With James Levine out on disability, musical values remain rock-solid; meanwhile, a healthy, hands-on Peter Gelb delivers dreck like this “Don Giovanni.”