A GERMAN DOING (WELL) THE WORK OF A ITALIAN

Singing Maurizio in Adriana, Kaufmann’s acting consisted of him doing things like holding his score up in front of him to show that his character was sneaking off stealthily from the scene.  And he did a lot of embracing of his Adriana, Angela Gheorgiu.  His evident relaxation as well as his and Gheorgiu’s commitment to the score and each other made him altogether more convincing than in the full production appurtenances, the meticulously plotted but fundamentally pointless locomotions of Faust.