The rise of the Roman empire
Okay, La Cieca has sifted all the evidence thus far, and she has done Pravda-style scrutiny of what was said and what was left unsaid (particularly by Peter Gelb) in the most recent New York Times analysis of the issue, and ignoring the most recent Jeremiads from Rome on account of the fact that pretty much everybody has come to the conclusion that Franco Zeffirelli is gaga. She’s added into the mix a couple of emails she’s received recently from Met insiders who will remain anonymous. And she’s come to a conclusion, so, Lady Margaret, if you would be so kind as to ask your guests please to gather in the billiards room? Thank you.
Now, before the lights suddenly go dark and a shot rings out, fatally wounding your girl detective and thus silencing her forever, La Cieca will share with you the fruits of her deductive reasoning. To wit:
When the Met makes its belated announcement of the 2010-2011 season, the repertoire will include a revival of the Zeffirelli production of Tosca, but no Bondy. The reason given will be the size and complexity of the new productions of Das Rheingold and Die Walküre, with perhaps some indication that the original notion was to revive Bondy alone or in alternation with Zeffirelli. But, financial conditions being what they are, the Met cannot afford that particular extravangance, which is of course a pity, because we remain fully committed to the Bondy production which we continue to regard as a success. And so forth.
Once the numbers are finally crunched, cool heads will prevail, deciding that the face-saving provided by a revival of the Bondy is simply too expensive a proposition.
It’s a limb, but La Cieca’s going out on it.
I doubt the board will be issuing the orders in this matter. The decision will be made at the management level and presented to the board with a supporting business case as to why the decision was made. Only if the board is outraged by the adminstrative decision will they demand a change.
But if Gelb goes to the board and says he needs to bring back the Zef sets for ANY reason, won’t that look like grotesque mis-management?
I should think the board (and the Annenberg foundation who funded the B) would be enraged, at the very idea.
NOOOOOOO!
Even if I totally hated the Bondy Tosca (which I don’t, though it’s no great success either) I would regard this as a bad decision, and I hope (with all due respect to La) that it ain’t so.
Is there any precedent for bringing back older productions after critical flops with new ones? It seems the usual approach in such cases is to revise the staging (with or without the director’s approval), and/or replace it with yet another production at the first opportunity: in other words, move forward, not back.
I’d rather live with Bondy’s production for another season or two (minus the Act II whores) and then try again with another director. Maybe Spike Jonze?
I believe after the Zambello Lucia, the old production was promptly re-enstated.
I’m pretty sure that the Zambello Lucia did make it back the next year for a few performances. Then it was another five(?) years before Lucia came back to the stage -with a new production.
Yes, the Zambello Lucia was revived the next year, with Mariella Devia (hélas, her last appearances at the Met: what a shame!!!), although muted down, as it usually happens with controversial productions.
Gelb, with Decker’s La Traviata, takes a big risk. Without Netrebko, it’s a 24-karat Eurotrash. Netrebko was smart to bow out. She’s not even sure if she can repeat herself. The original deluxe DVD edition of the Salzburg production, if you can find one, sells for $900 for a used one, and over $1000 for a new one. I could not believe it, when I saw these figures several months ago on the Internet.
My wild guess: ultimately both productions will be scrapped in favor of an entirely new production.
Zimmerman to the rescue! She can stage Tosca as the story of a new production of Tosca surrounded by an old production of Tosca both trapped inside a new production of Das Rheingold. Dessay d’Arte, Dessay d’Amore!
I would bet that the Board has pressured Prince Peter into bringing back the Zef Tosca. And rightly so. Every one of the Gelb “New” productions have been scenically deficient. The sets nowadays, are of the quality usually seen at the City Opera, not the MET. At $295 a ticket for the orchestra, I want to see something grand on a grand stage in a grand theater set in the period that matches the libretto. If they can stage direct something exciting within those constraints, all the better. Call me old fashioned, but when I spend that kind of money to go to the Opera, I want “value” and I’ll bet the true of most people. It’s all about the Box Office.
I would assume the Board has a lot to do with this. As a matter of fact, in an interview on an Italian paper Zeffirelli said that some board members called him right away, very happy to give him the good news.
“At $295 a ticket for the orchestra, I want to see something grand on a grand stage in a grand theater set in the period that matches the libretto.”
Too bad you weren’t around for Wieland Wagner’s productions then.
I too want value for my money, but seeing a 25 year old production, which I’ve seen several times before, with minimal direction is not “value” to me. My priorities – and those of many others here – are the opposite of yours. For a production, we want exciting direction, and if that happens in a “grand” period production, all the better.
Would that the Board gave a flying phuque about Hoffmann.
As a non-fan of the Zeff Tosca I most certainly won’t be jumping up and down if they bring it back. As a matter of fact, I’d be more than glad if they stopped producing Tosca altogether until there’s a soprano worthwhile hearing in the title role.
As for big production failures, the Trovatore of a few years back was criticized even by Volpe himself and was never brought back. The Macbeth with Scotto and the Lucia with Anderson come to mind as productions that survived for two seasons at most. Also the last Faust, which I didn’t like, but don’t remember it getting bad reviews. The same with a Boccanegra with Milnes in the 70′s that lasted only one season.
Tenore di Grazia:
The Graham Vick “Trovatore” was pulled apart by Volpe by the second performance – Vick removed his name from the production. There were further revivals after the first season with people like Zvetelina Vassileva and Radvanovsky, Franco Farina and Carlos Alvarez. The Peter Hall “Macbeth” had further revivals with Verrett (replacing Eva Marton) and Adelaide Negri. The disastrous Zambello “Lucia” had one revival the next season with Devia and Jerry Hadley.
The “Simon Boccanegra” that Milnes did in the 80′s was a borrowed production from Chicago or San Francisco – it was fairly straightforward and traditional. Another disaster that survived only one season was Ponnelle’s 1979 “Der Fliegende Hollander”. That was also a SFO coproduction.
I was told that in 1951 Rudolf Bing brought back an older Novak/Dufrere production of “I Pagliacci” after a new one done by Hans Busch and Horace Armistead was disastrously received.
La Cieca remembers very well the prima of that revival (restaged) of the “Hall” Macbeth. In the third act the ballet was given, a galumphing dance of rag-clad sylphs that included (if I recall correctly) a good deal of audible cackling, from the dancers I mean. When the divertissement finished, there were perhaps two hand-claps, some loud hissing, and a derisive cry of “bis!” followed by a good deal more of audible cackling, though this time originating in the auditorium. I attended the second performance of the run a few nights later, and the ballet was cut!
the peter hall macbeth returned in 84 with Scotto, and again in 88, planned for Marton, but she cancelled after the MET took the Ring telecast from her. Verrett, and Elizabeth Connell did the Lady M in that run. the Boccanegra was I believe a borrowed production and it was in 84, saw Milnes do the same role in what I believe was the same production in 1980 in chicago, his first performances of the role.
Paddypig, don’t forget Olivia Stapp, who sang five Lady Macbeths in 1988! (Shirley only did one).
I was at the ghastly 1982 prima of Hall’s staging, an unexpected eventual triumph for Scotto despite some rough moments and a rout for Hall. When that nude Hecate came out with an electric light on her head I thought I’d woken up in Vegas.
Given the scenic mass of most Zeffirelli productions in his later, extremely self-indulgent years, I fail to see how bringing that Tosca back will lessen the burden on the MET’s technical equipment and staff.
As to the thought that Bondy’s interpretation was radical and modern, it played as a straight telling of the story, and even the petite scandale of the bare-breasted Magdalene was a red herring. Here’s a Magdalene attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, not documented to him but unquestionably an authentic Renaissance painting of Mary stripped to the waist. Cut and paste:
http://veronika.kaer.dk/wp-content/uploads/MaryMagdaleneDaVinci2.jpg
OMgoddess. That’s enough boobage to make a squirrel clutch his nuts. Where is the Squirrel, BTW? Did he head south for the winter?
Indeed yes, where is my darling Squirrel? Nut gathering or, more likely,
boob-gawking?
Is the picture of D. Duck sawing off the limb with squirrels one of Cieca’s subtle touches to inform us of a rodent rupture?
Those are chipmunks, Chip and Dale, to be precise. But I agree, where is that squirrel? Off with a Moose, perhaps?
People. people, people!!!
It’s all about The RING’s monstrous set, not Bondy and Zeff. It’s such a beast even the ‘Rigoletto’ is getting trimmed to its touring production so there’ll be enough room backstage. They’ve not experienced anything like it.
So any mismanagement comes from letting Lepage have full artistic license until it’s too late to undo the Season. Face reality. Gelb has!
Skinnydip-
Get a grip!! Gelb facing reality? Where are you? He has not- that is the point.