Three for the Regie
POSTED at
10:31 PM
29 January 2008
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39 Comments:
Here is my answer: WHO CARES? Who the hell is going to sit through those shitty productions? Are you kidding?
OK. I just had a mood swing. I am sure there are people who do see these productions and they are intelligent and legitimate people. So whatever your preference, enjoy. Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death. So go ahead. As for me I would rather have my teeth extracted by a cobbler than to sit through any of this...intriguing and provacative productions!!!
I am with you anonymous
Die Fliegende Hollander.
Siegfried
This is obviously Trittico. The first photo - what could that possibly be but Tabarro, with a raft overflowing with... well, riff-raff. Second photo is of course the confrontation scene from Suor Angelica, set in the gymnasium at the women's penitentiary. And the third photo is the final scene from Gianni Schicchi, depicting the shot-gun wedding of Rinuccio and Lauretta. L'attenuante!
I think the second and third photos are Die Walkuere. The second is the end of Act I; the third is Hunding about to kill Siegmund. But I can't make much sense out of the first photo.
Tosca? Although, there's not a lot of room in that church to hide in Act I. And where's she gonna jump in Act III?
Any idea I'd get from one picture would be almost completely nixed by one of the others--especially the Crimson Permanent Assurance. Trittico sounds about right, though.
Mefistofeles or Faust.
My first guess was "Cunning Little Vixen", but I think "Hollander" also works. Kind of.
i agree, i think its faust.
off topic, but was anyone else in the house today for the prima of ML? Giordani's top was certainly the star of the show. The squillo, size, and clarity were unbelievable, he must have been channeling del monaco! Karita was strange.....and underpowered....and just plain ill-fitted to the role
Have to agree with Marguerite. The second photo in particular makes me think that some oh-so-clever director thought it would be ever so droll to turn the spinning chorus into a spinning class. Plus, it seems as though Erik is about to smash the Dutchman's picture. Of course, who knows? Maybe if it looks like "Dutchman," then it must be "Pelleas."
Sicilian Vespers.
Act I, sc. 2: the revelers pass by lonely John of Procida, contemplating the solitude of political dissidence.
Act II, sc. 2: Arrigo trashes the prison rec room while Helene pleads weariness with the whole Scribe plot.
Act III (really V): John shoots Helene for fraternizing with the French invaders as she's about to marry Arrigo.
Just got home from Manon Lescaut. This is an interesting contrast. I say Wozzeck.
I guess Ernani. No, seriously. Does that count as "standard"? (Oh, I guess technically it's 4 acts. Well, I still say Ernani.)
jfmurray3: When I saw Tosca in Zurich a few years ago, there was no place from which the diva could jump, and I spent the entire 3rd act thinking, "How the hell are they going to pull this off?" Then Tosca snatched a gun from Sciarrone's belt and shot herself. Awful.
Don Giovanni, I'd say.
Lohengrin?
The clue is the English 'Great' in the first picture. Who is literally a 'Great Britain'? Benjamin Britten, of course and the boat tells us this is Peter Grimes. In the first picture Grimes hallucinates his confrontation with the village in the Court. The second shows Grimes and Ellen in the gym, which is the modern 'church', and the last is Grimes, Ellen, and Balstrode, with Ellen rather presumptuously dressed for her wedding with Grimes. The gaudy British sea-side lights give it away.
So definitely Grimes - unless it's Traviata!
I Puritani
It has to Rosenkavalier, unless it's Samson et Dalila.
Rakes Progress?? - though not sure how the GREAT or the gun fits in. Last photo looks kinda like a sitting-on-a-haystack equivalent.
My guess is FAUST-- called MARGARETHE in the Heimat of Ruth Berghaus, where audiences seemingly can't get enough of this, glib, already tired aesthetic.
I'm with the Hollaender vote.
Or could it be Traviata? But then, the last picture doesn't make any sense. Wait - what am I saying... it's REGIE! It doesn't have to!
In other but related news, we learn that the health of Christoph Schlingensief, best known for his Bayreuth Parsifal, has taken a Regie turn
Flying Dutchman presumably performed in English.
They are all from the same production of Utter Crap, The Musical.
It's a crossover piece. Not shown in these photos is future Met Star Kristen Chenoweth.
Let's try this: show a "traditional" production with lots of velvet robes and fat people. You couldn't guess the opera then either--indeed you'd have even less of a chance. So maybe the fact that these Regie quizzes get people thinking about the actual content of a work says something important--say, that Regietheater at its best takes us to the core of a work much better than an anonymous overload of velvet, spears, and hamstrung acting?
I haven't BEEN to the opera, much less 'near the core if the works' ever since the Regietheater disease became the norm.
As for the fat people and the lots of plush, (1) they are not necessarily the opposite of the Regie disease (you can have a good modern production WITHOUT plush and WITHOUT Regie), and (2), yes, show me a picture and I will tell you not only the work, but also the year and the performers, maybe even the conductor (not on the picture).
I think it would be interesting for the performers who participate in such things to be identified as well. If they are getting paid to bring such things to life, they should not have any problem being pointed out in the photos.
Looks like Freischuetz to me. Max is on the doghouse cause he missed the boat in Act I. He visits Wolf Crag's Gym to get in shape in Act II. And Act III is pretty much like the libretto!
"So maybe the fact that these Regie quizzes get people thinking about the actual content of a work..."
Actually, they usually get me wondering what drug(s) the Herr Direktor Artiste was taking, and is he willing to share any of it with the rest of us.
"Regietheater at its best takes us to the core of a work much better than an anonymous overload of velvet, spears, and hamstrung acting?"
Even accepting this statement for the sake of argument, one is faced with the unpleasant truth that regietheater at its best represents an insignificant amount of actual regietheather. Which far too often, rather than take the audience to the core of the work, distracts with irrelevant nonsense (see Voice from Heaven maskarading as a karaoke singer).
It is the famous gym scene from Falstaff.
In order to stop feeding the incredible amounts of ridiculous comments regarding regietheater, i´ll throw in a guess: Rigoletto.
Actually I can´t help my self. Need to say something:
People get over it. Regietheater is here, its queer, and you better get used to it. HAHAHA Or restrain to your favorite Joan Sutherland recording and stay home.
Andy: Tosca shooting herself sounds like a very interesting option when it comes to staging. And not that far fetched.
You would have a stroke if you see Suor Angelica cutting her wrists, wouldn´t you? (its on youtube, go check it...and do us all a favour and REALLY have a stroke)
"You would have a stroke if you see Suor Angelica cutting her wrists, wouldn´t you? (its on youtube)"
I have seen that clip of Gallardo-Domas from the Hamburg production, if that's the one you are referring to. The problem I had with it isn't so much that she slashes her wrists instead of taking poison; that's a minor detail, IMO. It's what the director does afterwards that is so wrong-headed:
He has all the other nuns come running out of their convent cells, in fits of hysteria, fainting, crossing themselves, rushing about in panic, apparently screaming and going bloody mad. Nobody goes to help Angelica. The Mother Superior paces back and forth looking quite worried and upset, while Gallardo-Domas presumably bleeds to death in front of them. All this to the music of the Miracle Scene, which is clearly supposed to convey something profoundly religious and mystical (whether it succeeds or not is another matter, but it's obvious that was Puccini's intent).
If someone can explain to me how that staging - which looks like the crazy afflicted girls from the Salem Witchcraft trials - goes with Puccini's music and orchestration, I'd sure like to hear it.
Now, i am no saying that i liked this particular production, specially considering that i only saw the mentioned clip. BUT if you need an explantion, you will find it in the TEXT of what suor angelica is saying: Nuns think awfully bad about a person commiting suicide. It´s a mortal sin, and a one-way ticket straight to hell. And let me tell you this, i can perfectly well imagine nuns acting in such an awful oblivious way.
I mean, that IS what nuns do.
hope it helped.
ta-ta
So the last scene is really about the other sisters' judgment and condemnation of their fellow sister? Funny, I always thought (at least from listening to the music) that it was about the miracle of Angelica's redemption.
Sometimes I wish we could ask these directors, have they listened to the score?
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