For Opera Lovers...
For Opera Lovers...
Dollypop
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#1For Opera Lovers...
Posted: 8/25/10 at 3:40pm
Just in case you didn't know, the Franco Zeffirelli production of LA BOHEME is being retired after this coming season. I know there are many detractors of this particular staging of Puccini's opera, however many people absolutely love it.
Speaking for myself, I plan to see it several times before it's gone.
"Long live God!" (GODSPELL)
#2For Opera Lovers...
Posted: 8/25/10 at 3:50pm
Has this been confirmed? I thought Gelb had said that he didn't plan to retire Zeffirelli's productions of Boheme and Turandot.
It's a beautiful production; however, a new production could be interesting, too. This one has certainly had quite a distinguished run.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#2For Opera Lovers...
Posted: 8/25/10 at 8:04pm
I can say I've seen the production over fifty times ... maybe even close to one hundred. I did it because of the singers ... not the production. While gorgeous to look at, Zeferrelli turned the Cafe Momus scene into a Where's Waldo drawing, you have to hunt to find the singers. In Act 4 , in order to have a rooftop dueling scene, he places the set further back from the audience. I do have to admit I love the set for Act 3 though. The staging has lost any impact, having been redirected countless times by stage managers and house directors.It's time to retire it.
I'm thrilled the Met will get a new production of this wonderful opera. It's about time.
Dollypop
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#3For Opera Lovers...
Posted: 8/25/10 at 11:05pmThe new production won't come around for a few years.
"Long live God!" (GODSPELL)
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