In her role debut, American soprano Erin Morley plays the mechanical doll Olympia in Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann at the Metropolitan Opera. Morley’s vivid ballerina outfit and all costumes were designed by Catherine Zuber. Les Contes d’Hoffmann on Great Performances at the Met airs Sunday, May 10 at 12 p.m. on PBS (check local listings).
From the Metropolitan Opera’s Synopses of Les Contes d’Hoffmann
Act I (see full synopsis)
The eccentric inventor Spalanzani has created a mechanical doll named Olympia. Hoffmann, who thinks she is Spalanzani’s daughter, has fallen in love with her. Spalanzani’s former partner Coppélius sells Hoffmann a pair of magic glasses through which he alone perceives Olympia as human. When Coppélius demands his share of the profits the two inventors expect to make from the doll, Spalanzani gives him a worthless check.
Guests arrive and Olympia captivates the crowd with the performance of a dazzling aria, which is interrupted several times in order for the doll’s mechanism to be recharged. Oblivious to this while watching her through his glasses, Hoffmann is enchanted. He declares his love and the two dance. Olympia whirls faster and faster as her mechanism spins out of control. During the melee Hoffmann’s glasses are broken. Coppélius, having discovered that the check was worthless, returns in a fury. He grabs Olympia and tears her apart as the guests mock Hoffmann for falling in love with a machine.
