Boston Lyric Opera Hits Its Mark With a Dystopian 'William Tell'

By Grace Kim

Boston Lyric Opera opened its 50th-anniversary season with a new staging of Rossini's "Guillaume Tell" — and, according to OperaWire's review, it landed like the title character's arrow. The production by Vita Tzykun and David Adam Moore transfers the opera's mythical Swiss founding past into a near-future dystopia, and the review calls the result "dramaturgically cohesive without being musically coherent."

It's an ambitious bet for a company that has had, in the reviewer's words, its "ups-and-downs lately." Grand opera — the hyper-expensive subgenre demanding ballets, roughly six powerhouse soloists and a major chorus — has looked endangered amid decades of arts-funding crisis. "William Tell" argues the format still works.

What does the staging actually do?

The concept reads, the review says, like "a screenplay for Paul Verhoeven": a "Hunger Games"-style elite colonizes the Swiss, and Tell's Act three "offense" becomes his refusal to let the colonizers harvest his biometric data.

The directors cut more than 90 minutes of music. Much character development went with it, though the reviewer admits it "was not bad to be able to leave the theater before midnight." The trims weren't seamless. The opening pastorale, restaged as a forced performance for the oppressors, ignores what the review calls the "grammatical rules of musical discourse" — the boatman sings his serene "Accours dans ma nacelle" at gunpoint.

Other sins are familiar from BLO's history: cheap-looking, apparently AI-generated projections, a projector fan louder than a mezzo forte orchestra, stiff acting from the leads. The shortlist of directors who truly master video, per the reviewer: Christiane Jatahy, Barrie Kosky, Peter Sellars and Daniela Thomas.

One textual intervention stands out. In Act three the directors insert the line "only violence can fight violence" — yet the finale places a lone woman holding a photo of a lost loved one, echoing Sophia Loren in De Sica's "Sunflower." Emotionally manipulative, the review concedes, but consistent with their reading: "there is something sacred but not peaceful in the music of the final scene."

Who sang?

The chorus was the night's star, filling the Colonial Theatre with a "screamy," imposing sound while still honoring the score's dynamics — big exactly where grand opera needs it big.

George Gagnidze's Tell lacked volume from the orchestra level and drifted out of sync with the cello soloist in "Sois immobile." Konu Kim's Arnold stole the show, sustaining his climactic high C for roughly ten extra measures — tradition triumphing over the sanitized 1990s practice — until enthusiastic applause buried a slight mistuning. "Like an action movie, 'Tell' is an opera that thrives on its physical stunts," the review notes.

Brianna J. Robinson's Jemmy offered "one of the most gorgeous and rich voices" heard in a while. Anya Matanovič's Mathilde fought the orchestra and lacked chemistry with Kim. Hunter Enoch's Gessler brought consistent, baritonal tone; Nina Yoshida Nelsen's Hedwige recalled Mamma Lucia; Morgan Mastrangelo's Ruodi was expressive and charismatic.

David Angus and the BLO orchestra were fine by company standards. The famous cello prelude and the "Sois immobile" solo fell short on phrasing and intonation, but Angus managed the big choral scenes well, and the brass sounded particularly strong.

The verdict: "Tell" is "such a great opera that it can be immensely satisfying to watch even in less-than-ideal circumstances." For a mid-sized company betting on grand opera's survival, that's a template worth watching.