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Reiner Torheit
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« Reply #1 on: 05:15:16, 06-09-2007 » |
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Film Directors have sometimes staged opera successfully.
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"I was, for several months, mutely in love with a coloratura soprano, who seemed to me to have wafted straight from Paradise to the stage of the Odessa Opera-House"
- Leon Trotsky, "My Life"
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harpy128
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« Reply #2 on: 09:30:28, 06-09-2007 » |
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Sure they have. Seems to me this could go either way - it sounds a bit overloaded with concepts but you can't really tell from a description. BTW in case anyone's interested and hasn't already seen it, the ENO have a multimedia interactive blog thingie with lots of video clips here: http://carmen.eno.org/ |
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harpy128
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« Reply #3 on: 15:16:22, 30-09-2007 » |
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Dying to know what this is like - don't suppose anyone was at the first night last night?
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Ruth Elleson
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« Reply #4 on: 23:45:13, 30-09-2007 » |
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I was  I don't want to give too much away as I'm currently writing it up for www.operatoday.com BUT... ...it was dreadful. Some of the singing was OK, but the production made no sense whatsoever, and the dialogue was entirely cut so it became a song-and-dance show with no dramatic thread running through it. Both of these factors meant that it was impossible to identify who anybody was, or what they were really supposed to be doing. The only bits which worked were those where singers were left to sing, without interference from the production: the Jose/Micaela duet; Micaela's aria, and the final scene. (I want my evening back... and I'm glad I was there on a free ticket.) |
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Oft hat ein Seufzer, deiner Harf' entflossen,
Ein süßer, heiliger Akkord von dir
Den Himmel beßrer Zeiten mir erschlossen,
Du holde Kunst, ich danke dir dafür!
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Reiner Torheit
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« Reply #5 on: 23:55:15, 30-09-2007 » |
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Without giving away the detail of your review, Ruth, may I ask an "informational" question.... ... you mention they didn't do any of the dialogue. Do you mean they didn't do any of the (subsequently-added) Italian-style recitative either, and they just lurched from number-to-number... or was there any of the recit left? I have seen it done tolerably successfully when shorn of both, but I can't say I think doing so improves the piece in any way. Could you post a link to your finished review once it appears?  Sadly it's in the financial nature of things for "standards" to hang around in the repertoire for ages, and I am sure ENO will have calculated on making their money back on this one over multiple seasons... along with TRAVIATA & BOHEME it's the the top seat-selling opera in the repertoire. Let's hope they hit the spot with AIDA, because whatever it's like, it's going to be in the rep for a decade at least! |
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"I was, for several months, mutely in love with a coloratura soprano, who seemed to me to have wafted straight from Paradise to the stage of the Odessa Opera-House"
- Leon Trotsky, "My Life"
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Ruth Elleson
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« Reply #6 on: 00:07:29, 01-10-2007 » |
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... you mention they didn't do any of the dialogue. Do you mean they didn't do any of the (subsequently-added) Italian-style recitative either, and they just lurched from number-to-number... Yes. |
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Oft hat ein Seufzer, deiner Harf' entflossen,
Ein süßer, heiliger Akkord von dir
Den Himmel beßrer Zeiten mir erschlossen,
Du holde Kunst, ich danke dir dafür!
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harpy128
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« Reply #7 on: 10:41:14, 01-10-2007 » |
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Thank you Ruth - I have read a few reports now ranging from extreme hatred to extreme enthusiasm so it's obviously going to be one that divides opinions sharply, although there's only been one person that really liked it so far (Dominic McHugh on www.musicalcriticism.com). One chap thought they'd included a bit of the recit. which seems an odd decision if true. |
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harpy128
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« Reply #8 on: 10:45:20, 01-10-2007 » |
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Sadly it's in the financial nature of things for "standards" to hang around in the repertoire for ages, and I am sure ENO will have calculated on making their money back on this one over multiple seasons... along with TRAVIATA & BOHEME it's the the top seat-selling opera in the repertoire. Let's hope they hit the spot with AIDA, because whatever it's like, it's going to be in the rep for a decade at least!
They have got a slightly dodgy Traviata production as well at the moment, the Irish one - wonder if they'll revive that? I think the Aida at least should be a banker because it's already been on elsewhere and was well-received. |
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Lord Byron
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« Reply #9 on: 12:19:24, 01-10-2007 » |
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I liked the traviata, i am unsure if they changed it from first night though as an opera expert friend of mine did say 'i saw it, was fine, no idea what the critics were moaning about'
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harpy128
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« Reply #10 on: 13:56:05, 01-10-2007 » |
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I just couldn't see the point of relocating La Traviata to Ireland, and the Protestant/Catholic conflict thing didn't seem to have properly thought through (she was still a woman of dubious virtue so for the epoch Germont didn't need another reason to feel that she wasn't quite the thing). The translation didn't work for me either - all that stuff about people feeling one another's pain.
It certainly looked good though and the party scenes worked better than in the current ROH production. Maybe they could revive it and quietly drop the Irish thing and revert to the previous translation.
The Carmen is getting a bit of a drubbing from the first newspaper reviews but I'm still quite curious to see it - so call me a masochist.
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Lord Byron
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« Reply #11 on: 14:37:18, 01-10-2007 » |
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the point ?
probably so they could call her a protestant
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Reiner Torheit
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« Reply #13 on: 00:13:58, 03-10-2007 » |
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Thanks for the link, Ruth |
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"I was, for several months, mutely in love with a coloratura soprano, who seemed to me to have wafted straight from Paradise to the stage of the Odessa Opera-House"
- Leon Trotsky, "My Life"
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harpy128
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« Reply #14 on: 16:57:44, 03-10-2007 » |
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Interesting review, Ruth. I'm not going for a while, but from other things I've read, including their blog, it does sound as if you may have hit the nail on the head with your last paragraph - that not being a regular opera-goer Potter didn't know enough about the current trends in opera clichés to be able to avoid them.
I might be wrong because it's a few years since I saw it but I didn't think the ENO's last Carmen production was all that "traditional"?
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