38%
Tonight’s Hoffmann at the Met is conducted by John Keenan, but it’s not a(nother) James Levine cancellation. Of the nine performances of the Offenbach opera this season, Maestro Jimmy was always scheduled to do only six; the other were “TBA” until the season began. With his cancellation of of the December 16 performance, of course, he is down to five nights to Keenan’s four — assuming a return as scheduled for the final Hoffmann on January 2.
Warning: there’s math after the jump.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. According to La Cieca’s calculations, Levine was announced for 13 Met performances between opening night and last Saturday’s HD simulcast/broadcast. Of those dates he fulfilled five. So his attendance rate for the season thus far is 38%.
Since HOFFMANN takes place during a performance of DON GIOVANNI, this new one looks like a winner. I can’t wait for the full telecast, but
I wonder how the wardrobe department in Munich remembers which underwear goes with which production, or do the singers have to bring their own?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJXmWcbl8AE
oops:
Stephan Kimmig:
http://www.goethe.de/KUE/the/reg/reg/hl/kim/por/enindex.htm
GARBAGE !
Entertaining garbage …. on YouTube …. I must admit … ‘wonder what ticket prices are in Munich … if more than 2 Euros @ …. the public was screwed!
Was this clip supposed to represent Mozart’s Damnation of Opera……Sorry Berlioz for twisting your title around a bit. Imagine any artist being asked , let alone be willing, to go through the motions and even rehearse such crap. It gives ‘musical whoring and slumming- down the dark back lanes of retarded sensibility’ a new meaning.
I can just see the females involved, being asked:
” Was it easy to sing, being … in such an interesting production?” by some supercilious twit.
We know the answer back : ” Yes , my voice seemed to stand up… but my tits from all the mauling are twisted; as well as being bruised, black and blue”
Have you ever seen such production filth ever (excuse me, correct that- shit!) for exaggerated ham acting, on a stage, ever. The director needs to be hang drawn and quartered like his plastic carcasses in the shipping containers. This extreme European belligerent ‘end of the road’ punk stuff denotes something terribly sick at work, just below the surface. Hope we don’t start reading about Opera’s own versions of ‘Sid’s & Nancy’s’
Since it was ‘regie -outrage’, why didn’t he push further for the real thing? Then start spraying obnoxious purification fragrances out into the auditorium for added effect. Unrefrigerated and under the stage lights, real carcasses would start to highly smell. Smell-o-rama Mozart, anybody?!
It would appears the Germans love to be sadistically insulted by such gross and amateur egotistical indulgent displays..
EUROTRASH: Now we really know the full meaning of the word..
You think that’s amateur? It takes big bucks and dedication from the entire compay to make something look like that. Only the buyer for the underwear had it easy!
harry, cool down. drink some tylenol. honestly man, 2 days worth of angry comments from you isn’t good for your health.
but i love your passion though.
It’s even more horrible when you realize that the euro trash productions seem to be copying one another–they are becoming cliche. The Geneva production of “Salome” had hanging slabs of meat this past season as well—I think it’s been done many times.
Long time lurker, first time poster.
Speaking of eurotrash productions, what do you guys say about this one? For some reason, it always shocks me when I was unmoved by most Calixto Bieitos.
So true and that old dude reminds me of the dude watching from the top in Netrebko-Villazon Salzburg Traviata.
Both versions of the Bieto Don Giovanni have already been discussed and illustrated at length on these auguste pages. Many believe it’s a masterpiece.
Maybe you would rather see your singers looking like this?
httpv://www.youtube.com/user/primobaritono#p/u/63/MY_9c-1V6K4
A TV production, probably Voice of Firestone? Merrill and Peters just sing straight out as they would have done on stage, but the action in the tavern is far more animated. Rïse knows exactly how to use the camera and that she has a dramatic action to perform while Tucker at least shows that he enjoys being felt up.
It would be difficult to be doing a scene opposite Rïse Stevens and NOT be pulled into the the action. She always gave not only to the audience but to her colleagues on stage as well. Were she performing today with her brains, acting ability and beauty, she’d be perfect for the current staging aesthetic and her voice would tower over most of the competition. I thought of her during the recent Hoffmann–Giulietta was one of her roles.