Karita Mattila in Salome at the Met

Salome was an hour and forty minutes of lush and intense musical drama. Karita Mattila's voice was incredible last night and I was amazed at the strength and volume of it over the very large Met Orchestra and an incredible score. In a word, she was fierce! She's one of those performers who has no fear - either in voice or presence. She did the splits again and her dance of the seven veils provocative and erotic. I enjoyed the entire cast, especially Juha Uusitalo as Jokanaan (John the Baptist) - he looked and sounded the way I thought John should sound and look. The modern dress was interesting and the set was imagined as Casablanca, so Santo Loquasto told Noah (Santo is also set director on A Man for All Seasons). The sand dunes on the set were perfect and reminded me of where I grew up but I wasn't quite as keen on the art deco terrace. Either way, this production is overshadowed by the voices and the music. It's simply gorgeous.