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Title: "The center does not hold"
Review: Kariti Mattila is indeed stunning as Amelia Grimaldi. La Scola's bumbling, eager, and erratic Gabriel is thoroughly appropriate for the operatic character (and for the historical one as well). Jacopo Fiesco and Paolo Albiani are both well-played. But Paolo, a mere henchman, dwarfs Carlo Guelfi's Simon. Simon Boccanegra, in the opera as in history, was a forceful and decisive leader. Guelfi's failing voice and hesitant acting reduce the central character to a bewildered and tired old man. The costumes are dull and historically inaccurate.
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