FROM AROUND THE WORLD: AMSTERDAM.(Review)

One of the main features in Willy Decker's production of Boris Godunov for Netherlands Opera is a gigantic chair. It looks like a simple kitchen chair covered with golden paint, but it serves Boris as throne, chariot, sedan chair, shelter and finally the cross he caries to his own Calvary. After the tsar's death (movingly depicted in this production), Decker crowns the performance with a wonderfully dramatic moment. Boris's son Fyodor is lifted on the same chair and carried away, looking like a scared little bird in a golden cage, while the shrewd Shuisky is already planning his next move.

That was the close of the most electrifying Boris Godunov I have witnessed, with a very strong cast, impressive choral scenes and colorful playing by the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra under its music director Edo de Waart. (This version omitted the Polish act.) John Macfarlane's sets and costumes transported the story to present-day Russia, and Decker's signature was recognizable from the start. A closed space, moving walls, chairs and miniature houses are elements in many of Decker's productions, but rarely are they so functional as in Macfarlane's monumental sets. The present-day setting underlined the dramas timeless character in a completely natural way, and even such a cliche as soldiers with guns felt completely appropriate. While using such images, Decker remained remarkably faithful to the story, his staging nearly traditional and never in conflict with the score. This made it possible to deepen the characters with abundant psychological details that ...