Home » Discussion Forums » Blog Post Discussion » Pollyanna be damned
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| Re: Pollyanna be damned [message #46873 is a reply to message #46871 ] |
Sat, 10 December 2011 21:57   |
EMoon
Messages: 662
Registered: March 2009 |
Senior Member |
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YES!!! This!!! Self-indulgent idiots who think they should make opera post-modernly relevant!!!
My only (so far) time to see a great opera (Tosca) in a great opera house and (yes, the Met) and they had ditched their much-admired and traditional staging (they've now *handed on to someone else* the Zefferelli sets & costumes, apparently) for some Euro-moderne butt-ugly staging that the designer sneered at people for not liking. With ridiculously out of character costumes on some minor characters who oozed all over the villain to show how awful he was. I was one of those not liking it. Music great, but visually...bleh. BLEH. And a friend who was with me, who knows theater inside out, said the lighting was crappy too.
Do not want. Sympathies to you for a faux-WWII setting for Gounod....they now HAVE an opera for WWII and the Bomb (I saw it on PBS. It's about as musical as two cats with their tails tied together in a trash can full of metallic junk, but it is, of course, Significant.) They don't need to make every flippin' thing about the 20th (or 21st) century. (As I've been tempted to say to some people "Write your own @**!!! book, then" and I will say it to opera producers: "Write your own @**!!! opera, then, and don't muck up the good ones."
So: cheering on your rant. YES!
E
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| Re: Pollyanna be damned [message #46875 is a reply to message #46871 ] |
Sat, 10 December 2011 22:08 |
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I've been avoiding reading about this production because I actually like Des McAnuff's work for the most part and I love Faust and yet I sensed this was an unholy union and I didn't want to know.
I'm not a traditionalist, and up in my wee brain is my own directorial take on Faust that takes place in a college town in the US during the Vietnam war that I will impose on some community center before I die.
But the Manhattan Project???? Really??? I am so, so sorry for those three hours of your life that you cannot get back. And to kill that sublime final trio, the very illustration of musical catharsis with an ending like that? People should be locked up. You are so right, Faust does not support "Konzept". It just doesn't. It's like trying to drive a semi over a rope bridge.
I did see a "modern" production at Washington Opera a while back, and while some of the touches were jarring (seeing her chuck the baby into a massive watery landscape comes to mind) the overall effect was still tied to the story and it really, really worked, it was all about telling the story. My fave production to this day is the one I saw at ENO in 1990, so sad that they co-created this mess.
IMO when a concept sucks is when it is unconcerned with telling the story or worse, it is trying to tell a different story than the one the music tells. Ugh. Hope your brain can soon be scrubbed of this.
The only thing better than singing is more singing. - Ella Fitzgerald
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| Re: Pollyanna be damned [message #46880 is a reply to message #46871 ] |
Sun, 11 December 2011 00:11 |
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 Diane in MN
Messages: 2728
Registered: October 2008
Location: Twin Cities, MN, USA |
Senior Member |
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Well, you make me very happy that I didn't see this production, because what you describe pushes a lot of my buttons. I like Faust a LOT, and despite people who get snarky about it because it has good tunes and big numbers, it can be very powerful in a good production. The final trio raises the hair on the back of my neck every time. I thought the singing was terrific (although I have one quibble: Poplavskaya's voice sounds too mature to my ear for Marguerite, who is very young and very naive; it's hard to hear Poplavskaya as anything but a grown-up), but the introduction of the crying/silent baby didn't go over well with me. And the ending, as described by Margaret Juntwait this afternoon and you tonight, can only be called bogus.
I think that most of the excuse for ‘exciting’ new productions is SELF INDULGENCE on the part of the theatre admin.
AT LEAST. When anyone uses the words "exciting new" or "pushes the envelope" or "controversial" about a production, it usually means something pretty grim is in the works. The people who perpetrate these things aren't doing it for you and me and the rest of the ticket-buying audience, they're doing it to impress other like-minded colleagues. This kind of thing shows no respect for the work or the audience.
"The point of books is to have way too many but to always feel you never have enough . . . " Louise Erdrich
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| Re: Pollyanna be damned [message #46890 is a reply to message #46887 ] |
Sun, 11 December 2011 09:09 |
AnguaLupin
Messages: 11
Registered: May 2011 |
Junior Member |
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...Huh. I think this is the first time my views on a Live in HD production didn't match up with yours. I (mostly) liked this Faust. Of course, that may have something to do with the fact that I actually don't normally like Gounod's Faust, so almost anything they do to it is an improvement. It's so damn Victorian. "Oh, look, our favorite morality tale ever, do hold still while we hit you over the head with the morality bat. And while we're at it, the religion bat, too. Wait, wait, you're running away! Come back! We finish the opera with a paean to Jesus!" Gah.
So with that in mind, I thought the attempt to take it into the 20th century was moderately interesting. It led to some very bizarre decisions -- the clip of the atomic bomb near the end was just random -- but in general I didn't think it detracted from the opera, and in some cases I thought it worked quite well. I thought the use of the metal staircases and walkways along the side was actually quite effective, especially when the Devil was lurking there, controlling everything below him.
And that was the really impressive thing about this production: Rene Pape was amazing. Just, overwhelmingly stupendous. Whenever he was present he absolutely lit up the stage, dragging you into the story whether you wanted to be or not. Méphistophélès's most famous aria, in the pub, was simply overwhelming with its intensity, and Pape carried that intensity through the whole production (although the opera was so dreary by the end it was hard to tell). Pape, in fact, was so intense that it took until Faust's solo aria at the beginning of the third act for me to tell that Kaufmann was even doing a good job -- I had simply been ignoring him for the majority of the opera so far, because he was always on stage with the Devil.
Although I do think that Kaufmann (who is smoking hot, damn) and Poplavskaya did quite solid jobs, if not with the same intensity as Pape. Poplavskaya certainly had more to work with than in Don Carlo last season; it is good to see she has quite the emotional range. Kaufmann was a rather insipid Siegmund -- although Siegmund is a rather insipid character, so it wasn't entirely his fault -- but he was quite the sympathetic (if, as usual, not terribly bright) Faust, and his voice is a real pleasure.
Overall, I quite enjoyed the first three acts, and felt only the usual frustration for the last two, so I count this production a success.
Now, how about this Baroque mashup Enchanted Isle? On the one hand, I love Baroque music. On the other, it's been cobbled together by a modern playwright. On the first hand again, I love Joyce DiDonato. On the second, The Tempest is probably my least favorite of Shakespeare's plays. What to do?
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| Re: Pollyanna be damned [message #46897 is a reply to message #46871 ] |
Sun, 11 December 2011 22:13 |
sixpence
Messages: 49
Registered: August 2009 |
Member |
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I just saw a performance of La Fille du Regiment. Singing was gorgeous. But I started twitching when Marie started ironing with a modern iron, and the soldiers uniforms were mid 20th century ...after the 19th century peasantry.
And the vaguely 19th century wrecked luggage carts.
Then in Act 2 we get in English interpolations about arriving in the Bentley, and references to the Olympics.
For dessert A Tank lumbers onstage.
That said poor Marie had to sing one aria lying on her side on top of an upturned bucket and another that was full of potatoes. And she did it. Well!
sixpence
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| Re: Pollyanna be damned [message #46904 is a reply to message #46900 ] |
Mon, 12 December 2011 12:28 |
sixpence
Messages: 49
Registered: August 2009 |
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'Was this the one with Natalie Dessay?'
No. Marie was sung by Nino Machaidze and Tonio was Lawrence Brownlee. Both were excellent. The Duchess was Kiri Te Kanawa. Her final shriek of frustration was extraordinary. (She did seem to be having fun with the part)
sixpence
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| Re: Pollyanna be damned [message #46905 is a reply to message #46904 ] |
Mon, 12 December 2011 12:31 |
sixpence
Messages: 49
Registered: August 2009 |
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I realise that I did not mention that there was a significant gap between the bucket and the potato container, just to add to the challenge of the part. I'm amazed that the singer wasn't homicidal.
sixpence
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| Re: Pollyanna be damned [message #46921 is a reply to message #46914 ] |
Tue, 13 December 2011 13:32 |
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shalea
Messages: 779
Registered: October 2008
Location: Raleigh, North Carolina, ... |
Senior Member |
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| Stardancer wrote on Mon, 12 December 2011 21:50 |
| Diane in MN wrote on Sun, 11 December 2011 00:11 |
I think that most of the excuse for ‘exciting’ new productions is SELF INDULGENCE on the part of the theatre admin.
AT LEAST. When anyone uses the words "exciting new" or "pushes the envelope" or "controversial" about a production, it usually means something pretty grim is in the works. The people who perpetrate these things aren't doing it for you and me and the rest of the ticket-buying audience, they're doing it to impress other like-minded colleagues. This kind of thing shows no respect for the work or the audience.
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I have the same feeling about "pushes the envelope" and "edgy," not just in plays but also in things like Literature. I find that mostly I want a story, and the trappings of "daring" often confuse or irritate me.
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Yes, this.
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| Re: Pollyanna be damned [message #46959 is a reply to message #46921 ] |
Thu, 15 December 2011 07:37 |
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L.R.K.
Messages: 1079
Registered: October 2008
Location: Sweden |
Senior Member |
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| shalea wrote on Tue, 13 December 2011 19:32 |
| Stardancer wrote on Mon, 12 December 2011 21:50 |
| Diane in MN wrote on Sun, 11 December 2011 00:11 |
I think that most of the excuse for ‘exciting’ new productions is SELF INDULGENCE on the part of the theatre admin.
AT LEAST. When anyone uses the words "exciting new" or "pushes the envelope" or "controversial" about a production, it usually means something pretty grim is in the works. The people who perpetrate these things aren't doing it for you and me and the rest of the ticket-buying audience, they're doing it to impress other like-minded colleagues. This kind of thing shows no respect for the work or the audience.
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I have the same feeling about "pushes the envelope" and "edgy," not just in plays but also in things like Literature. I find that mostly I want a story, and the trappings of "daring" often confuse or irritate me.
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Yes, this.
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A word that worries me - especially in connection with a drama adaptation of a classic novel - is "visceral"... In fact, "worry" might be a mild word - I think I may even go so far as to say that it "scares" me... And I'm filled with a desire to keep as well away from it as possible...
Why, I feel all thin, sort of stretched, if you know what I mean, like butter that has been scraped over too much bread.
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| Re: Pollyanna be damned [message #47018 is a reply to message #46871 ] |
Fri, 16 December 2011 21:25 |
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elzebrook
Messages: 35
Registered: September 2010 |
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| Quote: |
I have no time for people who want to talk about opera as drama with singing. Very very frelling few operas are well-made plays under all the twiddly bits. You go to an opera, you park your intellect—not all your brain, but the logical part—at the door.
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I'm assuming you've read Terry Pratchett's Maskerade, but if you haven't (and all opera lovers ought to, so do read it), here's the most relevant bit.
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Andre looked down at the score in his hand.
"Well, I'm not much good at the language, but I suppose the opening could be sung something like this"
This damn door sticks
This damn door sticks
It sticks no matter what the hell I do.
It's marked Pull and indeed I am pulling
Perhaps it should be marked Push?
Agnes blinked. "That's it? [..] I thought it was supposed to be very moving and romantic!"
"It is," said Andre. "It was. This isn't real life this is opera. It doesn't matter what the words mean."
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