Bass-baritone Falk Struckmann is superb as the trickster Iago (here, with co-star Renée Tatum). (Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera)
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So fascinated was Giuseppe Verdi with the villain’s role in “Otello” that he toyed with renaming his 1887 opera “Iago.”
Tuesday’s performance of this tragedy at the Met suggested his instinct was right: The German bass-baritone Falk Struckmann stole the show as the schemer who goads Otello into murdering his wife, Desdemona.
The 54-year-old hurled a craggy granite voice into the second act “Credo” aria, landing a ringing high F at the climax. Whether singing or not, his Iago commanded your attention, overshadowing Renée Fleming, reprising the role that, in 1994, was her Met breakthrough.
Even now, in her final New York performances of Desdemona, her lyric soprano remains creamy, with floated high notes under exquisite control. The soft-focus sound, though, got swamped in bombastic moments like the Act 3 ensemble with the full cast and orchestra.
Never the most natural actress, Fleming swanned about like a silent film star in the love duet, but eventually settled in for a quiet, touching portrayal.
That wasn’t easy opposite Johan Botha’s inert Otello. With his shining sword of a tenor compromised by allergies — a Met representative asked for our “understanding” after intermission — he cracked high note after high note.
Worse, he communicated little of the jealous Moor’s Shakespearean passions. Obese even by opera standards, he moved in an odd, jerky way that recalled Jackie Gleason in “The Honeymooners” (“One of these days, Desdemona — bang, zoom!”).
Meanwhile, Michael Fabiano poured his gleaming tenor into the minor role of Cassio. A handsome star in the making, he’s a magnetic presence that draws the eye whatever the visual distraction. That’s a handy talent in this cluttered 1994 Elijah Moshinsky staging — all towering rooms and rich costumes without a trace of drama.
Still, the production is at worst neutral, which is more than can be said for Semyon Bychkov’s conducting. So meandering and ragged a reading would be alarming at a first rehearsal; for a first night, it was a scandal.
During curtain calls, the audience jokingly booed Struckmann’s villain. They should have saved their catcalls for the maestro.