Dvorak’s masterpiece lyric opera is about a water nymph who wants to transform herself into a human being to know the love of a prince. That formula has been used for myths of a Slavic water-sprite, Hans Christian Anderson’s Little Mermaid , Jean Giraudoux’s Ondine , Disney’s Ariel and other fairy tale heroines who have attempted brave transformation into human forms, only to be dashed and doomed into eternal disappointment. Rusalka is a wave in the water, a beam from the moon, the ultimate in romantic fantasy, a being that truly puts her whole self into a love relationship. Rusalka (Kristine Opolais) dwells in the Met’s opera Mary Zimmerman’s production in a lush fantasy world, with her Water Gnome father (Eric Owens) and her dancing sisters - green garbed sprites who sprint about along watery ponds in a deep dark dense forest. She meets the prince (Brandon Jovanovich) while he was trying to shoot a white...
Celia Sharpe Reviews the World