TV Reviews : The Met’s Gigantic ‘Ballo in Maschera’

Reportedly massive, overpopulated, busy and fussy, the new Metropolitan Opera production of Verdi’s “Un Ballo in Maschera,” introduced Oct. 25, was universally panned. Subsequently, and before the production was filmed for PBS’ “Great Performances” in January, Piero Faggioni’s complicated sets, colorful costumes and lavish staging were drastically simplified.

What is left can be heard and seen--tonight at 8 on Channel 15, and at 9 on Channel 24; Saturday at 9 p.m. on Channel 50, and Sunday at 3 p.m. on Channel 28--enjoyed, even, since the principals sing surpassingly well, and James Levine’s conducting reveals the Met’s music director in one of his more felicitous self-assignments.

The production still looks gigantic--Ulrica’s cave, for instance, resembles a large factory, or fancy brewery, the equipment dwarfing all participants--and the chorus and non-singing cast crowd the Met stage regularly, but what remains from the premiere seems conventional enough, and not often gimmicky. Putting aside unattractive costuming and primitive acting, one can revel in superior vocal performances from Aprile Millo and Luciano Pavarotti as the would-be lovers.

Millo makes the most of all of Amelia’s many vocal challenges, achieves gleaming high notes within a Verdian sense of line. Forget what she looks like, she seems to be the genuine article, a singer of temperament and achievement. Pavarotti’s voice may regularly miss its liquid quality of yore, yet his intelligence--he never was a dumb singer--and musicality still make him an artist to be cherished. And, on occasion, this occasion for one, he sings as beautifully as one remembers.

Best of the rest is Florence Quivar’s sumptuous and solidly vocalized Ulrica--though her costuming tries to make her into a tea-cozy.