Is There Life After Franco? And If There Is One, Is It Worth Living?

The funniest thing about last night's event at the NYPL, where Luc Bondy had to justify his life in front of a death panel of Metgoers in the audience and Peter Gelb sort of repeated that yes, the rest of the Zeffirelli productions is really on its way out after Tosca, seems to have interfered with many people's digestion. The New York Times itself seems to be unable to survive without a couple of candles in their Tosca:

 In brief, here are a few of the main objections to Mr. Bondy’s “Tosca”: After she kills her would-be rapist, Scarpia, the title character fails to put candles around his body, as Puccini stipulated. Prostitutes not in the text fawn over Scarpia. Scarpia lustily embraces a statue of the Madonna in church.

In brief, even la Scala's ultraconservative audience managed to survive a swanless Lohengrin, less than three years ago, we can do that too, I suppose. 

Not to mention, stepping carefully outside one's comfort zone -- with or without poor, conservative Luc Bondy's training wheels to support one's timidity -- has its rewards.
Just hire young Nigel Lowery to tinker with the tired story of those hipster kids and the consumptive girlfriend.

I mean, Graham Vick has already shown us that there's life after Zeffirelli's Bohème, after all, and there's wit, and, you know, there's opera.

And if you really miss Cafe Momus, here it is, back to life in Vick's Rondine:

Comments

[DS]

Did he explain why he thought that the new audiences he seeks to attract would be more attracted by the Bondy Tosca than they would be by an excitingly marketed Zef Tosca?

[Parsifal]

How great that you use the Boheme chunk from the Graham Vick-Greek National Opera production of La Boheme. The greeks loved it and the GNO repeats it every year (the last 3) for a few (always sold out) performances.

[Les Mitchell]

Thanks so much for these videos. While I still prefer traditional stagings for most operas, this "Boheme" and "Rondine" look wonderful. I also think the singers look great as well. I hate to admit it, but I really like both of these. This "Boheme" looks like it would be a real heartbreaker.

[Alejandro]

I don't know if it was a matter of candles or no candles for me. It was that a lot things just didn't make sense or were just done in poor taste:

Scarpia humping the Madonna and then the rest of the church gasping in unison just looked bad.

The diving Pirates of the Caribbean mannequin looked silly . . . as did the fake water around Castel Saint Angelo

The costumes were not flattering and poorly done (why outfit Tosca in red and make her lie on a red couch? That's just Design 101 right there.) Also, Mattila struggled with her gown throughout Act Two and the staging for Scarpia's death was clumsy and awkward at best.

I didn't understand why she picked up the knife twice during act two and then let it drop again LOUDLY. If I had been Scarpia, I would have caught on and snatched that knife away.

And why would Tosca--who thinks she has secured a safe passage for herself and Mario--want to jump out a window after killing Scarpia? It just made no sense to me.

He could have set the opera on a space station for all I cared, but I just want there to be some sort of logic to the choices and a sense of aesthetics about the whole thing. I got neither from this production, sadly (and I'm one of those people who loved Zimmerman's Sonnambula . . . at least on video. I didn't see it live).

[nick]

What people seem to forget is that there was opera BEFORE all this "stuff" and the Zef fever - and, if I may add - WHAT opera!!! It was done seriously and one did not need to be on drugs to appreciate it because itself it was a sort of a drug. I just want it to means omething. I want the stage director, whomever he/she/it may be, to make choices that fit within the framework of the music and the drama. Is that too much to ask?

[AskMeAboutOpera]

I looooove that greek Boheme.... 1day i hope i could see that... It's wonderful...

[Kate]

Of all the Zef productions they should have kept, 'Tosca' was the best of them all. 'La Boheme' is good, but old, and the rest need a shot in the arm. I could have watched his 'Tosca' a thousand times. ('Aida' and 'La Traviata' put me to sleep, I regret.)

[frufruJ]

Amen, Nick. I don't care if candles or no candles, either, but, could we please get a Puccini (or whoever) here? It can be fantasized/modernized version, but, as you say, it should keep the framework.

I hate Carsen's Rusalka, because it's not Dvořák. I hate the Salzburg Nozze (La Netre and dead birds), because it's not Mozart. I hate the Brokeback Onegin, because it's unintentionally funny. BUT I've seen a film version of DonG, shortened into an hour, half surrealistic, both the Don and Leporello sung by Hvorostovsky, but I loved it, because it *kept the spirit* of Mozart's. I've seen La Finta Giardiniera (see my blog for the review) which took place in something between a forrest and a living room, modern costumes etc, but it WORKED. The gay Onegin would have worked perfectly if treated with some decency, same for the Rusalka.

Please don't throw us all into one bag. I'm against the shock value, I'm for the artistic value, and for the cooperation of the music AND the drama.

BTW, just a question: Did Mr.Bondy not expect that reaction at all? With such a production? At the Met?? On the opening night??? Reminds me of a tenor claiming he didn't know of the booing practice at La Scala...

[Lou Ann D.]

That Rondine looks fabulous. I do have to say I'm a little frightened for Sebastien and his apparently young voice. He is very exciting to watch! I hope the Tosca lives up to its controversial press coverage in HD on the big screen.

[dolcevita]

And YOU of course know the true Puccini, Mozart, Dvorak...
Pick up your fave old DVD and let the people enjoy the creative side of theaters.

Thanks OC. Loved this entry and Graham Vick rocks :)

BTW I read in the NYT that the Met crowd booed Gatti after la prima of Aida. WTF is that?

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/more-boos-at-the-met-this-time-at-aida/?hp

[Parsifal]

You can find a bunch of photos of the greek Boheme here

http://parsifal79.blogspot.com/2008/01/les-bohmiens-de-vick.html

The production will be repeated at the Greek National Opera between April the 17 and April the 29 of 2010

[yappy]

Thanks so much for the wonderful Bohème clip. I'd absolutely love to see it! Maybe Mr. Vick will care to export it from Greece some time?

[frufruJ]

@dolcevita: I'm not against creativity, I too get bored. I merely ask that the director keeps the author's intentions in mind. Yes, I actually do know that Dvořák did not compose an attempt at a Freudian psychological study, but a fairy tale. Neither the music nor the words support Carsen's interpretation.
As for Le Nozze, I think it (and others) very Shakespearean - the fact that there's a dramatic part doesn't mean that we should overlook the comic part, they're like a cup and a saucer, and, primarily, they're both in the story, the libretto, the music.

If what the author thought is unimportant, why stop at the direction? Let's play with the tempos, harmonies, change the librettos... That would support the director's vision. OC was recently writing about the hard life of conductors. Why don't directors do the same, studying the music?

I haven't seen the Bondy Tosca, so all I can say is that I don't care if there are candles or if Scarpia is a bit more disgusting than usually. I can't tell from what I've read and seen if the direction as a whole works. Maybe yes, maybe not. There are plenty of "modern" productions that function well. If only treated with respect.

[Jesse Kalin NY]

Do the red-purple couches + Tosca's red gown really violate Design 101? There are three points of red in the scene--the far back wall (with two narrow strips visible) in dark red-maroon (blocking her escape/exit), the couches in a darkish red-purple, and her red dress (and chiffonish shawl). The first are fixed and fill little of the actual space; she is mobile and rarely juxtaposed with the couches. This movement creates an interplay--a tension/drama (experienced subconsciously mostly)--between her and these (threatening) forms/objects (all instruments of Scarpia). The couches are both a threat and her fate--they will engulf her, as they in fact do at the end of the Act (if the couches and the gown were contrasting colors, you couldn't get this sense of defeat/danger). The wall's darker red represents the brutal regime--no exit, and the couches's red is Scarpia's desire (he sits there with the 3 women at the beginning, too). She escapes neither, and becomes, in some significant ways, now like Scarpia himself. The complaint seems to be that the red couches compete with Tosca (the Star); but this is exactly the point. [I haven't even mentioned the motif of blood throughout the scene and how it is shared by Scarpia and Tosca.]

[Elisabeth Dorman]

I just do not understand why modern day opera productions always revert to sexual themes when it is not appropriate. And, I confess, it is a pet peeve when the composer himself indicates a stage direction and the director ignores it. It seems a production is either too conservative and stiff or flamboyant and uncomfortable. Can't we just have beautiful, timeless productions?

[kitty]

"What people seem to forget is that there was opera BEFORE all this "stuff" and the Zef fever"
Exactly. It seems like some people today think there are only two choices of staging opera Zeffirelli or some heavily conceptual production where said concepts have nothing to do with what the composer or librettist intended. Also, everyone seems to sing that staging in time/place specified in the libretto where the words and characters actually make sense cannot possibly be made interesting, but moving it into some place where the words and character actions no longer make any sense whatsoever is great. But nope, a production where the director actually took time to read the libretto and not just they plot, to listen to music, to read about historical background are considered hopelessly old-fashioned, but the productions which are just "new" are considered interesting even if they don't make sense.

Who cares if in Lucia Enrico sings "when William dies will have Mary on the throne" to explain his problems in Victorian times during Victorian times or Victorian ladies and gentlemen take out swords and are ready to engage in sword fight right at a high society wedding; who cares if an Italian and very catholic chief of police makes advances toward madonna in front of people - how long do you think church powers in that time and place would've tolerated this guy? remember at that time church had a lot of power; not to mention that while Scarpia is a villain he is still likely to believe in god - how many people in that time in Italy didn't? who cares if the sacristan in a church complains about madonna's resembling a singer but is perfectly OK with her bare breast. It's all new, so it must be great; it doesn't have to make sense.

As to if we know what the composers intended - at least in case of Puccini there are detailed instructions specifying where the action took place. There is also libretto. There are emotions expressed in music and libretto. Plus, there are detailed descriptions of time period - not just in history books, but even in novels written during the same time and place. Now, some changes can make sense - if the emotions, character motivations, words are still fine. In most cases, it's difficult. La Rondine can work in times where there are still kept women and when marrying one could be damaging to one's position in a society. La Boheme may work at somewhat different time - assuming there are these young poor artists around, that people are still going hungry, that young poor women still die from TB. But in most cases, this type of changes don't work. "La traviata" set in modern times -- could you please explain to me why a 19th century French courtesan, essentially a young girl from a poor family with no prospects who choose to live a life of luxury supported by one rich gentlemen and then another (for a period of sometimes months and sometimes years) rather than be a servant is any similar to today's prostitutes instead of for example some rich guy girlfriend? And why would a brother's affair have any bearing on sister's marriage?

Besides - why are these changes necessary? Isn't it possible to make an interesting production that transposed us into a different time/place and yet makes emotions relevant? That incorporates sets from a different time period with good acting?