Controversy is brewing over an upcoming production of Mozart's Don Giovanni for the Sydney Opera House. German director Elk Neidhardt has updated the Don, to be sung by 34-year-old Hungarian bass Gábor Bretz [pictured above], as "a playboy who parties and beds women and takes drugs". This will include a scene of Bretz exiting from an on-stage shower, wearing nothing but a flesh-colored G-string. And padding?? This opera could make you lose your virginity.
Neidhardt spoke to The Sydney Morning Herald and denied that Opera Australia asked her to censor the nudity, further reiterating, "People who expect full-frontal nudity will be disappointed. In Germany, no one would raise an eyebrow at nudity. The English National Opera featured a penis being cut off and thrown across the stage." Flying p3nix in the name of art! I <3 opera!
Here's a screen-shot of the warning carried on the SOH website: