Shakespeare called Romeo and Juliet “star-cross’d lovers” — and the Met’s performance Thursday of Gounod’s operatic version, “Roméo et Juliette,” was also plagued by hard luck.
The offstage drama started Wednesday, when leading lady Angela Gheorghiu announced she had the flu and canceled all her performances for the month.
To the rescue came Hei-Kyung Hong — at 51, hardly the teenager Shakespeare imagined, but a plausibly youthful Juliette as seen from the Met’s vast auditorium. More important, her lyric soprano remains fresh and delicate, soaring to high C’s and D’s.
Her only false step was a literal one: In a fainting scene, she accidentally tumbled off a platform to the stage floor. A pro, she stayed in character and never missed a note. (Luckily, she was so into the character of Juliette — who was supposed to faint at that moment, anyway — that the fall looked natural.)
Her Roméo, Piotr Beczala, did miss a note, cracking a high C at the close of the first half. This goof was particularly shocking since otherwise the Polish artist’s silvery tenor sounded pristine, with special beauty in the arching phrases of the love song “Ah! léve-toi, soleil!”
For all their vocal charm, though, the couple lacked passion or any sense of danger. No runaway marriage or double suicide for this prim pair — they might at most become Facebook friends!
Among an undistinguished supporting cast, veteran bass James Morris lent authority to the kindly Frére Laurent, which is more than can be said for Guy Joosten’s drab 2005 production and Plácido Domingo’s offhand conducting.
The lyrical music and simple story of “Roméo” stand in stark contrast to another Parisian work of the 1860s, Meyerbeer’s “L’africaine,” a concert version of which Opera Orchestra of New York performed Wednesday. Its violently uneven score and bizarre plot — a love triangle including historical explorer Vasco da Gama and an enslaved Indian queen — served mostly to showcase tenor Marcello Giordani’s trumpeting, tireless top register.
Nevertheless, outgoing music director Eve Queler won a stamping, cheering ovation from the crowd at Avery Fisher Hall. For her 40-year career presenting dozens of superstar singers performing more than 100 operatic rarities, she deserved every decibel.