The Met's 'Tristan und Isolde' comes to Philly theaters

Triumph and disaster walked a fine line last week when the Metropolitan Opera's production of Tristan und Isolde was unveiled.

As the situation now stands, Met-simulcast audiences will walk into six Philadelphia area movie theaters at noon Saturday - check locations at metopera.org/Season/In-Cinemas/Theater-Finder/ - expecting a challenging, provocative production of Wagner's five-hour opera. They may not like every aspect of the stark, black-and-white imagery in Mariusz Trelinski's new production - or conductor Simon Rattle's distinctive musical viewpoint of the massive score - but will, hopefully, approach it with the open mind that comes with advance critical acclaim.

Any production that transfers this medieval legend from antiquity to a sea-weary mid-20th-century ship isn't eager to please the masses. With sonar and periscope images so prevalent, you might wonder whether you've walked into some World War II movie.

In this story of a perfect love that cannot withstand the glare of the real world, the famous Act II love duet unfurls in the dingy engine room - at first. As the music swells to an orgasmic climax, a scrim descends, taking the opera to a different place: a giant sun in eclipse. If you can roll with that kind of interruptive effect, it's mesmerizing.

From the orchestra pit, Rattle's opening-night performance Monday never let you forget that Wagner's characters aren't everyday people, but rulers (Tristan and King Marke) and healers (Isolde). Inner turning points have seismic amplitude. Physical separation is a big part of Wagner's retelling of the legend, so when Tristan and Isolde converge, the orchestra went nuts.

Neither Nina Stemme nor tenor Stuart Skelton eclipses more articulate predecessors in the title roles. But by no means are they disappointing. Stemme's rich, darkly colored voice blends so well with Katerina Gubanova's (who sings the servant Brangane) that the two characters seem like alter egos. When King Marke is betrayed, Rene Pape makes his long, sorrowful monologue one of the opera's centerpieces. Only three or four singers in the world can credibly handle these roles, so this cast is unquestionably the best one could hope for.

Noon Saturday, various venues, prices vary, 212-362-6000, metopera.org.