Opera Chic

Prokofiev's The Gambler @ La Scala: Maybe They Should Have Had That Strike Afterall...

When OC decided to ditch la prima of The Gambler at la Scala, she knew she wasn't going to miss it, but really, reading the reviews in today's papers was kind of shocking. The production that debuted in March at Berlin's Staatsoper Unter Den Linden, directed by Dmitri Tcherniakov and conducted by Daniel Barenboim has been copied-and-pasted at the Milanese opera house.

"Dostoyevsky In Montecatini, What A Mistake", is the headline of Milan's august Corriere della Sera, where the reviewer rips apart the staging by mocking the choice of moving the action to a petit bourgeois resort that reminds the reviewer of the quite lame Montecatini resort in Italy.

And Il Giornale pummels even harder. The headline: "To Follow The Gambler Is An Enormous Burden", and then the reviewer goes for the kill, explaining that, since 12 years ago la Scala had staged the superior production of the same opera directed by Tsypin and conducted by Gergiev, "it's not surprising that the priority is to help rescue Berlin's Staatsoper, in agreement with Daniel Barenboim, with co-productions".

ZING!

Back on the Scene, Crispy and (un)Clean

ok, let's set a few things down, and don't you dare start with me tonight i'm still jet lagged and a little bit cranky because OC is back in NYC from a much warmer Milan (wtf NYC? Winter much?) and celebrated her arrival with The Metropolitan Opera's la prima of Sergei Prokofiev's The Gambler.

Temur Chkheidze's production for the Met was dusted from the storage racks circa 2001, and the familar sets of green astroturf were laid. Since no opera production is complete without blinding fireworks and flaming horse statues rocketed up to the heavens, this production was, um, yeah. Maestro Valery Gergiev flayed the Met orchestra and gave it all his liquid energy rocket fuel, but the dynamic, brash, lively essence of Prokofiev's composition was a little too distilled. But more on that tomorrow (also with pictures!!).

Before I eat it (my bed, not my Flintstones vitamins), I wanted to share the MET's last pimping of their Wagner <3fest of Tristan und Isolde. Drink the hypeshake. I mean, the poor Gambler got pushed aside like the middle child between Debbie V and Ben Hepp. Gergiev who? I am a sinner! I have abandoned my Gergiev!

Tonight's program for The Gambler had an insert written in 14-point TNR font that said:

"Special notice! Tomorrow night's performance of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, starring Deborah Voigt and Ben Heppner, will be streamed live at metopera.org, starting at 7 P.M."

It's like the second coming of Juice Newton and Eddie Rabbitt. Go here for the Met newsflash.

OC will be back at the Metropolitan Opera on Saturday for Bohème with Gheorghiu and the Fargster. Two words: 1) drama 2) llama. There's also a planned tribute on Saturday to MVP Frengo, from today's NY Post. All you need is a quarter and a 4rd-grade reading level.