What is it with Patricia Petibon and scathing Lulus? Remember this? We last saw the French coloratura as an underwhelming Morgana, poorly-suited to Haendel's Alcina here at La Scala in March 2009 as she was heartily booed for a flighty interpretation and a problematic voice. But when Petibon sticks to what suits her, the elegant redhead rocks our world. She's currently in Salzburg, poised to sing the lead in Berg's Lulu which opens on August 1 for the 2010 Salzburger Festspiele.
Vera Nemirova's direction calls for Lulu to be in lingerie, but this is ridic -- underwear 2 sizes too small makes her banging body look like she sits in a dark room in front of a computer and posts on an opera blog all day. Wait a sec...
NSFW photos are waiting under the cut for the assorted Puritans up in here...
Grand Théâtre de Genève's new Olivier Py production of Alban Berg's Lulu was already making news in the days before its premiere on Friday. It was rated by the theater as too daring for underage crowds, and carried a strict rating to bar those under 16 years old ("Nous déconseillons le spectacle aux personnes de moins de 16 ans."). The warning referenced an out-of-focus p0rno projection during the final scene of the opera as well as nudity and sexual pantomime. The opera debuted to a rousing success, the Swiss crowds warmed to Patricia Petibon's lead ("Petiboooo" got booed off the stage here in Milan under Scala's meanie loggione for her underwhelming Alcina).
Opera Chic has the photos, although shots of the controversial p0rno absent...they're still good! Click the link below to see!
Canadian director Robert Carsen's decade-old production of Haendel's Alcina, to celebrate the 250th anniversary to Handel's death was dusted off from Opéra National de Paris (which also traveled to Chicago Lyric Opera in the Fall of 1999 and starred Natalie Dessay as Morgana and Renee Fleming as Alcina) but should have probably been kept under lock & key, left to gather mold. OC is on the record as being an ardent Robert Carsen fan & devotee, having seen half-a-dozen Carsen productions since her three years in Milan -- his Scala Candide was brilliant but hammy-handed, his Teatro Regio Torino Salomewas earth-shattering in its emotional and artistic impact, his Wiener Staatsoper Manon Lescaut was kind of meeeh, his Scala Kát'a Kabanová was completely off-the-hook, and his Opernhaus Zürich Semele was elegance squared -- and OC's DVD of Carsen's Dialogue des Carmelites is a prized possession of a perfect -- yes, perfect -- staging, but the production we saw last night was Carsen in derivative form, action distilled to a meager slice of remembrance, static, tenuous shadows of his Semele without most of the wit or tongue-in-cheek social commentary that Carsen has perfected like a rebellious teenager. He is not Ingmar Bergman, thank goodness, and he shouldn't pretend to be -- he's usually not bashful about being an opera director.
Seen at Milan's Piermarini for the first time last night, la prima was dampened by two meager, tepid curtain calls, mercifully abbreviated to spare poor Patricia Petibon's Scala debut further scorn from the thorny logginonisti who hurled boos at her (in addition to a conflagration of booing at the end of Act I).
Heavy cuts (at least half-a-dozen arias, the chorus -- Maestro Casoni's peerless chorus -- reduced
to a much smaller role, no ballet, and Oberto chillingly mutilated) peppered this almost-4-hour (including scene changes) production. Carsen used the desaturated, ivory walls of a
palace to cage-in the action (ripped off by Claus Guth for his 2006 Nozze, with mold added here and there, and that unwritten Cupid), doors that slid open to reveal a garden -- touchingly Rousseauian in its dashing greens.
The furniture consisted of, like, four Chippendale chairs, and a wheeled dinner cart. Lights -- very beautifully designed, obviously -- can not always compensate for that kind of spareness.
Act I opened to the all-male chorus in various states of undress
slumbering on the floor (we had full-on frank n' beans -- photo above NOT from la Scala but from the same production in 2004 at Opéra Garnier)...a Spencer
Tunick opening move by chess master Carsen that made us hope for much better things to come. The director chose to make the corps literally into corpses, men-turned-zombies from Alcina's charms, the ghosts of her past, the Furies of love past, and we like to consider that a Sam Raimi/Evil Dead homage -- without putrefaction -- even if it wasn't. Although there was lots of nudity, there was no sensual, sexual energy. The production, on purpose, was cold and stripped of any eroticism by that big Canadian tease.
Petibon, whose thin voice -- with less than perfect coloratura -- is more viable in a tiny Baroque opera house environment or recording studio, and was swallowed in the crevasses of Scala despite possible ~audio enhancement~ [last night at a certain interval of the opera, there was the clear, unmistakeable high-pitched whining of classic audio feedback which was obviously amped from the Scala stage...we're dying with this one because clearly there was some sort of amplification audio system being used; we knew Berlin's Staatsoper already used electronic sound enhancement, we didn't know la Scala had followed through], struggled from the beginning of her Scala debut last night. Act II's "Ama, sospira" was a rough embark despite the ethereal violin solo, Petibon labored through the grueling aria, struggling to keep up with Maestro Antonini's speed, appearing almost as pained as she looked in her (not-so-high) heels and tight French-maid costume.
Petibon was too sporty, too distracted, and too frivolous to be
effective -- she was following stage directions, O.K., but you need different acting skills to pull it off -- she probably couldn't. She hobbled around in kitten heels that could have been
8-inch stilettos considering the way she plodded across the stage. Opera Chic felt bad for Petibon, and we're still fans of the lovely redhead...this was simply the wrong production for her.
It was at the end of Act I after Morgana's Tornami a vagheggiar that
the Scala audience first voiced their disapproval. Roundly booed as the
curtain went down, the boos fell onto an empty stage, but there was no
doubt they were meant for Petibon, whose weak phrasing and underwhelming
interpretation were an easy target for the *serious businessman*
loggioni. Petibon's accuti were decent with her fluttering technique,
but she lacked focus.
And in Tornami we have one of the very, very few truly outstanding monents in Carsen's staging -- Morgana serving dinner to an empty jacket -- those men, aren't they just empty suits? -- and dancing a little happy dance... The problem being that Nathalie Dessay (in a production that William Christie led beautifully as always) pulled it off with humor and her sweetness and vulnerability and gusto (see video below); Petibon couldn't.
Continue reading after the jump by clicking the link below...
Thanks to a kind reader who had the presence of mind to take digital notes, Opera Chic can offer the recorded audio evidence of poor Patricia Petibon's treatment at the hands of Scala's loggione last night at curtain call for Alcina.
Opera Chic is just back from la Scala where she just witnessed the premiere of Robert Carsen's staging of Haendel's "Alcina" (the old Opéra de Paris staging) where the loggione has mercilessly booed (at the end of Act I, then massively at the end of the opera) Patricia Petibon -- an underwhelming Morgana, OK, especially in Act I, but in Opera Chic's opinion not deserving of the fury unleashed on her by the peanut gallery (she took it quite proudly, smiling all the way through her exit from the wings -- that's an A for grace, at least: her singing was indeed problematic, as Opera Chic will explain in her review tomorrow).
Very weirdly, Robert Carsen, the director, got a few boos, also -- maybe for the frequent male nudity displayed on stage? Hard to say. The staging is not Carsen's best -- not sheer explosive genius as his Salome from Teatro Regio di Torino was last year, OK, but very few stagings can achieve that kind of awesomeness -- and there were a few moments that were really too static for Carsen's standards, but seriously, it's understandable that Petibon -- whose tiny, tiny, not particularly beautiful voice doesn't sound right for a theater as big as la Scala, she's probably more at home in smaller houses or, sadly, in the recording studio -- got booed. It's really quite strange that Carsen, of all people, a director whose talent is on a level not exactly seen many times in a Scala season (he's interesting even when he badly flunks a staging, and this isn't the case anyway), had to taste some of the loggione's crankiness.
Anja Harteros, as Alcina, started out very underwhelmingly in Act I -- she had OC worried that it would be a very, very long four hours -- but then recovered in Act II and ended very impressively (and she got applauded heartily at the end by the whole theater).
In Opera Chic's view the show was almost stolen by Monica Bacelli as Ruggiero -- maybe Opera Chic is lucky, but every time she witnessed a Bacelli performance, she always, always rocked.
Teatro alla Scala unveils a new Robert Carsen production of Georg Friedrich Händel's Alcina tomorrow night, and Opera Chic will be there (you won't -- except maybe for that dude over there) to bask in the glory of the sovereign, man-eating women-folk.
Our favorite pants-lady -- Monica Bacelli in a tie with Angelika Kirchschlager -- will be singing Ruggiero much to our delight. The black-magik seductress Alcina will be shared by Anja Harteros & Inga Kalna. We're expecting great things also from French coloratura & Baroque specialist, Patricia Petibon, who will be making her Scala debut in the role of Morgana. The ethereal soprano spoke to ~io Donna~ in a small interview (photo above), where she ruminated about la Scala (she's psyched to be singing there lol), the characteristics of Morgana (she's not a bad person per se...rather motivated out of jealousy and competition with her sister), and about being a diva (c'mon...just look at her! Raawwwr!)
Giovanni Antonini conducts this secksy Carsen production (last seen at Palais Garnier, 'tho he's made a few adjustment). We're expecting lots of seduction, naked man-butts, and gyrating o' plenty, as any Carsen without secks is naught a Carsen production. We will accept no imitations...it's ok, we can haendel it.