Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – The Met commences its season with a fluent adaptation of THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER & CLAY

• By drediman
• September 30, 2025
• No Comments

Earlier this month, The Metropolitan Opera kicked off its 2025/2026 season with an operatic adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize–winning novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon. Featuring a score by Mason Bates and a libretto by Gene Scheer, the Met commission continues the company’s relatively recent commitment to new works, an initiative that has seen some highs and lows (which I won’t go into here). Now comes Bates and Scheer’s bustling adaptation, which tells the story of two enterprising Jewish cousins — one a refugee from Czechoslovakia, the other a Brooklyn native — who concoct a comic series featuring an anti-fascist superhero (“The Escapist”) that captures the imagination of wartime American popular culture.

The decision to adapt The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay into an opera is fascinating one, given the layered and eventful plotting of Chabon’s book. That being said, the creators of the opera have come up with a fluent stage version that taps both into the global panorama and intimate human stories of the work. In terms of theatrical storytelling, the production actually has more in common with the efficiency of musical theater rather than opera (which casual audiences may consider plodding). Although the piece loses some momentum in the second act — particularly in the latter wartime sequences — Bates’s music is never less than evocative and accessible throughout, doing a particularly fine job of conveying the jazzy hustle and bustle of New York City, where much of the action takes place. For the scenes taking place in the comic book realm of The Escapist, the composer introduces an electronic soundscape to highlight the fantastical aspects of the imagined world. Veteran director Bartlett Sher has given the production a fast paced, visually kinetic staging that leans in on the dynamic, large-scale projections by Jenny Melville and Mark Grimmer of 59 Studio. It’s a cinematic journey, for sure.

In the pit, Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin gives a superb account of the score — as did the mighty Met chorus — bringing forward momentum and cohesion to the uncommonly eclectic score. The production is led by baritone Andrzej Filończyk and tenor Miles Mykkanen as the artist Joe Kavalier and writer Sam Clay, respectively. In his Met debut, Filończyk gives an increasingly conflicted performance that resonates in his eloquent vocal performance. Just as affecting was the bright-voiced Mykkanen, who juxtaposes optimism and vulnerability to heartbreaking effect. Rounding out the cast are soprano Lauren Snouffer and mezzo-soprano Sun-Ly Pierce — both very fine in thoughtful turns — as Joe’s sister and love interest, as well as baritone Edward Nelson, who gives an animated vocal and dramatic performance as a radio personality and Sam’s lover.

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THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER & CLAY
Opera
The Metropolitan Opera
2 hours, 50 minutes (with one intermission)
In repertory through October 11