Earring Magic Ben
Oh, it’s been a lot of years since La Cieca’s days in the campy cabal. How long, you ask? So long that she plumb forgot the moment where Lohengrin hands Elsa the Cockring of Remembrance.
Dies Horn soll in Gefahr ihm Hilfe schenken,
in wildem Kampf dies Schwert ihm Sieg verleiht;
doch bei dem Ringe soll er mein gedenken . . .
Hab mir geblot-
While I agree with you on Zefferelli, I can’t say I’m a huge fgan of Bob Wilson. I loved his butterfly, liked his Lohengrin (and LOVED Matilla and Devol)But his Parsifal was abismal and his ring cycle didn’t work. Furthermore, I think the worst sin a director can commit is to not serve the work, and Wilson has never shown me a production where he does.
I think Zefferelli is a genius.His shows have always been detailed and accurate period pieces. He and Visconti set quite the standard. His Don Carlo with Pavarotti and the banished maestro was a revelation. His current productions are a bit busy, perhaps to make up for the lack of real charisma from the singers. When anyone has any real charisma , the stage looks just right and full of depth and LIFE. He’s forgotten what we have yet to learn. That some of you new bee’s don’t get him is atypical for this time period we are in. Pagliacci is a fabulous production. LA boasts little else.
i agree that wilson serves more himself than the work … but for me it works. opera needs to present stagings in different ways – zeffirelli for me is museum. it has not much do with art, just reproduction, which bores me – but hey that is my opinion!
a great character on stage can survive any staging i suppose but i always prefer if the staging adds a certain dimension. that doesnt mean it needs to be modernized or updated … just clutterless.
and mattila can illuminate ANY production i guess (even zeffirelli hahaha). she just is on stage and u know she IS there. there are few people around nowadays who can do that. speaking of lohengrin, waltraud meier can as ortrud – i remember being transfixed by her from the beginning of act 1, even though she did not open her mouth to sing until the end of act 1. anja silja can as well … all u new yorkers out there, go and catch her and mattila in jenufa, sparks will be flying (oh and yes it is a mainly clutter-free, ‘modern’ prodcution)…
As i get older, I do really like those “clutter free” (Love the phrase) productions
Yeah, I second that one; lose “das Konzept” productions. [As in "Sofort, bitte!"]
ps Does anyone know if the story about Beverly Sills cutting up the costume is true?
The way I heard it, Bubbles got sick of asking for a better costume, ie one that fit properly and had some relationship to the character and one fine day, while on stage asked for the garment in question.
Without comment, she took out her own pair of scissors, cut it to shreds, and said to the Director, “Now, about that new costume!”
Is that true or an urban myth?
(& that blue toothpaste tubey costume would be prime fodder for one thing.)
Yes indeed ariadne it’s true. I heard it fom La Sills’s own lips on a Carson show.
oh that sills story is hilarious! even though i like a strong directors point in an opera i agree that sometimes it can loose ‘the plot’ (so to speak). speaking of anekdotes … there was the famous luisa miller incident in munich a couple of years back. frittoli was luisa and admittedly found the directors concept rather underwhelming so after a lot of discussions she quit the production (still in rehearsal period but things were heating up) and left. now the tenor (i honestly dont remember who it was but he was not a nobody) followed her suit. in came lorin maazel as conductor (i think) who had in his contract the agreement to conduct the opera with frittoli singing – so he resigned as well!
finding themselves without the scheduled leading lady nor leading man nor conductor the opera house fired the director and did the scheduled luisas as concert performances. touche!
Now that’s “being up sh.. creek without a paddle!
Bubbles wrote about the costume story in her autobiography. it happened at her debut with Marilyn Horne at La Scala. here it is, in it’s authoritative glory:
‘the woman [costume lady] had cut and sewn a gold costume for Renata [Scotto, whom Bubbles was replacing], but because of my hair color, i didn’t go for the gold. i thought silver would be a far better color for me. costume and set designer Nicola Benois agreed, so i asked the wardrobe lady please to redo the dress in silver. even though she told me not to worry, she did nothing about it. i tried to explain to the woman that Renata and i had talked, that we were friends, and that i was a happy occasion for both of us. the costume lady remained resentful. and the gown remained gold.
‘on the day of our first dress rehearsal, i carried the costume onstage and had the wardrobe lady meet me there. in front of the cast and the chorus, i asked her quite loudly: “did i not tell you four or five times to make this costume in silver?” yes, that was true, she conceded. i borrowed the pair of scissors she wore like a pendant and cut the gown in half. i told her to make it in silver, at which point the chorus broke into applause and began cheering. italians love their pasta al dente and their divas temperamental.’