8 days to the Peter Grimes premiere!

On the eve of rehearsals for the new production of Britten’s opera, Anthony Dean Griffey talked about the title character and taking on one of the most challenging tenor roles in the repertoire.

On singing Peter Grimes at the Met
This is my tenth anniversary! When I was a young artist here in the Lindemann Program ten years ago I was the second cover for Philip Langridge and went on to sing one performance of Peter Grimes. Ironically, I don’t remember a lot about that night. It happened and I think I was just caught up in the moment of making sure that I was at the right place at the right time. So it’s very exciting that now is the first time the piece has been back to the Met and I get to actually step into the shoes of Peter Grimes and sing the whole run. I’m quite excited about it.

On working with John Doyle
John and I did Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny in Los Angeles together last season. I love his style, which is a very open approach. He likes to see what an artist brings to the table and then he’s like a painter and uses different colors within the canvas. It’s great because it’s very much a give and take, an open relationship. With John it’s about removing the layers, keeping the honesty, and letting the true character shine through.

On the character of Peter Grimes
I don’t see him so much as a criminal. That’s up to the audience to decide. I believe innocent until proven guilty. Grimes has no social skills and he doesn’t know how to express himself. It’s the extreme—it’s either his outbursts of anger or he becomes very introverted and doesn’t talk. There’s very little in between. He’s definitely an outcast. That’s something I am close to because I’ve done work with homeless people. I do a fund-raiser every other Christmas with Open Door Shelter, so I’ve been around people who are outcasts and I’ve seen how they get out of touch with society. They need to be embraced and they need to feel like it’s okay to be who they are. I don’t think I know Peter Grimes has the same wants and desires that we all have. He says, “I’ll marry Ellen”—he wants the children and the picket fence and the garden in the back. But he doesn’t know how to get those things. And when the whole town gangs up on him, he loses sight of that dream and becomes very dark and introverted and retreats back into himself. Relating it to today’s society, I think that we need to reach out to people. So for me, Grimes is a role that’s close to my heart. I feel that it has a strong impact and really should make the listener in their seat a little uncomfortable.

This entry was posted by Philipp Brieler on Wednesday, February 20th, 2008 at 8:03 am and is filed under New Production Countdown. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.