Return of "Name that Regie"
POSTED at
10:51 PM
12 November 2007
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51 Comments:
Looks like Hoffmann again to me.
It looks like Gounod's Faust to me.
Wozzeck
Parsifal.
Rheingold or Siegfried?
Looks like La Boheme to me (except Mimi is a leper).
The Wooster Group called. They want their TVs back.
My immediate thought was also Siegfried. But since that's already been said, what about From the House of the Dead?
Die Fledermaus, Act 2?
photo 1, opening chorus
Ein Souper heut uns winkt
photo 2, Orlofsky: Chacun a son gout
photo 3, Rosalinde and Eisenstadt: Dieser Anstad, so mannierlich
Siegfried, in the new Flanders Opera production? I saw Rheingold there last year, and it looks like the same demented motif.
Die Frau ohne Schatten.
Don Carlos?
I'm gonna guess Tosca a la cyberpunk.
(my first thought was Barbiere followed by Nozze but I'm going to discount those).
It has GOT to be Siegfried.
Tales of Hoffman or The Rake's Progress
Siegfried
La Boheme?
Lucia di Lammermoor?
This is CLEARLY Don Giovanni!!!
Because we have hands on the first picture
A zombi-woman on the second (clearly Donna Elvira while she sings 'L'ultima proba dell'amor mio')
And the last scene with Don Giovanni and Il Commendatore
CLEARLY, Don Giovanni is my choice.
I would guess it's a "Ring" opera - but that would be too easy, right?
The lab, the poor conditions of the woman in prison. It is clearly Faust.
I agree that Siegfried seems both likely and too obvious. Either way, the moment I saw the first picture, I thought that it must be a German opera.
But since no-one has put in a vote for it yet, I'm going to guess Suor Angelica. ;-)
There seem to be some paper lanterns hanging in the the first pic, so it must be Turandot.
Pong and Calaf in the second pic, Liu and Calaf in the third.
I would like to withdraw my guess of Fledermaus and offer instead Act 1 of Fanciulla, set at Minnie's Computer Parts Emporium.
1st pic - the frolicking of the chorus just prior to the arrival of Jake Wallace and "Che Faranno i vecchi miei."
2nd pic - Rance has found Sid cheating.
3rd pic - if not "Laggiu nel Soledad," then Johnson's "Quello che tacete..."
Siegfried. That second picture sure looks like Siegfried intimidating Mime. And in the third picture I guess Brünnhilde slept too close to the ring of fire and got a little charred.
But when are there supposed to be that many people on stage in Siegfried?
I know, I know, don't ask stupid questions ... herr professor directeur artiste knows best.
As much as I would like for this to be "L'Elisir d'Amore" or "The Merry Widow", I have to go with "Siegfried". The first picture, the forging scene, obeys the XIV Commandment of Regie that there must be persons onstage who are wholly extraneous to the action and who perform irrelevant acts that make a lot of noise when the principals are singing. Picture 2 would be Siegfried and Mime or Siegfried and the Wanderer. Picture 3, Erda and the Wanderer, or Siegfried and Brunnhilde. Das ist kein mann.
I'd say pic #2 is The Wanderer with Mime. Pic #3 shows Erda with the Wanderer.
I'm just going to keep guessing Fidelio. Sooner or later I'm going to be right.
Looks like either Fidelio or Turandot.
Wozzeck
The last picture looks like Helena Bohnam Carter in any movie she's ever made. Or at the Oscars. Or going to the market.
Sable C.
Die Zauberflöte
"Trading Spaces - the Opera"
Il Tabarro
"...the XIV Commandment of Regie that there must be persons onstage who are wholly extraneous to the action and who perform irrelevant acts that make a lot of noise when the principals are singing..."
Now, that was helpful indeed. Is there a published set of Commandments for Regie? I assume that Commandment One must be to the effect that the setting must have nothing whatsoever to do with the specifications of the libretto.
Commandment Two would be something along the lines of staging and blocking or other direction of actions on stage are to ignore musical cues thematically developed, orchestrated or otherwise emphasized or indicated in the score?
Are there other Rules for Regie? A cheat sheet would really be helpful.
MUST be Hoffman. Looks amazing too!!
Is it Helena Bohnam Carter in "Sweeney Todd?"
Seriously, is it the Vlaamse "Siegfried?"
more Regie Commandments:
Always let the performance be the dream of one of the lesser characters, but only if you can put the word "architectonics" into a program note. "Don Giovanni" is Zerlina's dream. "Rigoletto" is Sparafucile's dream.
Always do the exact opposite of what the stage directions of the libretto indicate. This includes Serban's "Puritani," at the end of which the baritone stabs the tenor in the back. Have Adalgisa commit suicide during the "Norma" finale. Let Magda in "Rondine" drown herself. Have Erik jump off the cliff right after Senta. Let Isolde get up and walk offstage hand-in-hand with King Marke, while Brangane dies.
It will end up being either Troyens or Belle Helene, but for my official guess I will concur with those who think it's Faust. There's something very French about that hand on the x-ray and the zombie "it's cold in here" look and pose.
La Cieca,
This is fun, all of these operas are a possibility. When will we know the answer?
Also, I really loved the madlib contest you did a while back. Any plans to do another one anytime soon?
Thanks.
The First and Great Commandment is "The stage director is your God; you shall have no other God before him," and the Second is like unto it, "Loathe the composer and do unto him as would unto a thing unclean and an abomination." On these two Commandments hang all the standards of production and the audiences.
Also sprach Oreste.
This is my production of Barber's Vanessa. My people will be in touch.
First picture. Manon: "N'est-ce plus ma main?" Des Grieux: "Mais non, Manon."
la cieca - per pieta! Il nome! Il nome! Or is there no winner yet?
In Peter Sellers' reinvention of L'Elisir D'Amore, Nemorino is a junkie, selling his body to Belcore for another syringe of l'elisir.
Or maybe it's Tristan?
As several of you have guessed correctly, this is Siegfried as performed at the Vlaamse Opera.
[video report]
Regie commandments:
At some point guys will appear with spotlights onstage to focus on someone and/or photographers with many flashbulbs.
There will be awkward and inexplicable dancing or "movement." Particularly during the ritornellos of a Baroque opera.
Messy stages--either the set includes lots of crap like here or the destruction of stuff onstage.
I'm kind of disppointed to have guessed this one correctly! I was hoping for something way off the mark.
I don't know how, but I just looked at that third pic and thought, "Erda."
And the second one seemed like Siegfried and Mime.
Then, as usual, I started second-guessing myself, and I thought that maybe it could be Fricka instead and the top photo could be the Nibelung's workshop ...
That's why I tossed in Rheingold as well for my guess ...
Just returned from Belgium and what do I see on Parterre .... the Vlaamse Siegfried that I saw 2 nights ago. The production is far less perverse than it may seem at first glance; Wagner's stage directions are not ignored, but they are translated into modern/technological terms.
I was kind of hoping for something way off the mark too, like Fille du Regiment, or Cosi fan tutte, or something
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