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Metropolitan Opera Opens - Production Team Booed off the stage

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#1

Metropolitan Opera Opens - Production Team Booed off the stage

Posted: 9/22/09 at 1:12pm

Wow - I can't wait for the Movie theatre telecast.
Did anyone see it? Was it really that bad?


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/22/met-opera-booed-richard-p_n_294341.html

It had just about everything: a new production of a beloved work, Puccini's "Tosca"; a starry cast; music director James Levine in the pit – and from the audience, the loudest and most sustained booing in memory.

The justified anger of so many of the 3,800 fans at Monday night's gala was directed not at the singers or conductor but squarely at Swiss director Luc Bondy and his production team. Their appearance on stage at the end turned what had been a standing ovation for the cast into a raucous protest, prompting the management to bring down the curtain.........



Updated On: 9/22/09 at 01:12 PM

#3

re: Metropolitan Opera Opens - Production Team Booed off the stage

Posted: 9/22/09 at 2:08pm

They were booing inside and outside on the Plaza last night. It was funny to me. Most of the auditorium booing was coming from upstairs, where it usually comes from. The self-described "true" opera fans.

Personally, I didn't like it. The staging made no sense with the story. The Act 2 set looked like it was from IKEA, not Italy 1900. There was a graphic simulated sex act and when she jumps at the end, it's a puppet that freezes in mid-air just before the blackout.

ETA- It looked like a puppet to me, but some of the articles are claiming it is actually a double. I'll have to ask around to confirm.

Updated On: 9/22/09 at 02:08 PM

#5

re: Metropolitan Opera Opens - Production Team Booed off the stage

Posted: 9/22/09 at 3:57pm

Yes.

With the MET having so much trouble filling the seats, why do they choose to produce a well-loved dramatic gem in the Euro-trash style???

(I am an admitted lover of the beautiful old Zefferelli production.)
#6

re: Metropolitan Opera Opens - Production Team Booed off the stage

Posted: 9/22/09 at 4:09pm

Unless there's a change in this production, the concluding bows are traditionally taken IN FRONT of the main curtain at the met. Hence, there would be no curtain to bring down prematurely.

(Why did they sack the elegant Zeffirelli production?)
"Long live God!" (GODSPELL)
#8

re: Metropolitan Opera Opens - Production Team Booed off the stage

Posted: 9/22/09 at 4:35pm

Dolly--Peter

Gelb is getting rid of ALL the old Zeffirelli productions because (a) they're too expensive and (b) he feels they're "old-fashioned."

Up until now, everything he's done to re-invigorate the Met has been pitch-perfect.

This will either end up as the "right" kind of stirring things up or the wrong kind.

But it's his first major faux pas since taking over.
#9

re: Metropolitan Opera Opens - Production Team Booed off the stage

Posted: 9/22/09 at 4:37pm

Dollypop, the bows were taken on the set with the curtain raised. They also looked like they had no idea what order to do the bows in, or who was supposed to bow with who and when. It looked so awkward even without the booing.
#12

re: Metropolitan Opera Opens - Production Team Booed off the stage

Posted: 9/22/09 at 6:11pm

I have to say I was really excited that the Met was doing a new production. I was never a major fan of the Zefferelli production (though I probably saw it over 50 times between 1985 and 2001). I especially hated the use of the elevator in act 3. It was unnecessary and it encouraged audience applause during one of the most beautiful orchestra passages in opera.

As for Boheme - that's the production to get rid of (though they never will). Its an overblown mess. He turned the Cafe Momus scene into a Where's Waldo drawing. Not to mention the staging is boring and stale.
#13

re: Metropolitan Opera Opens - Production Team Booed off the stage

Posted: 9/22/09 at 6:40pm

They didn't always use the elevator in Act Three. When Pavarotti hurt his leg/knee/back/whatever, and couldn't manage to come up the stairs for his execution, they eliminated the reveal of the dungeon, and some of the other tenors decided to also do without it. I seem to recall that Domingo kept it. I loved the dawn from the top of Castel Sant'Angelo, though, and will miss that.

I always liked the TOSCA, but didn't care for the Zefferelli BOHEME, first and last acts.
#15

re: Metropolitan Opera Opens - Production Team Booed off the stage

Posted: 9/22/09 at 9:04pm

I love the Zeffirelli production of Boheme and I do agree that that would be a bad move should they decide to replace it. I saw it for the first time last year and I don't think it is stale at all.

Luckily for me, my first production at The Met this season is Taymore's production of The Magic Flute tomorrow night. One that has proven itself to be successful and a crowd pleaser regardless of if it is in it's abridged state or full three hour production. in case anyone was wondering they are going with the full three hour run time this season.
"If you try to shag my husband while I am still alive, I will shove the art of motorcycle maintenance up your rancid little Cu**. That's a good dear" Tom Stoppard's Rock N Roll
#17

re: Metropolitan Opera Opens - Production Team Booed off the stage

Posted: 9/22/09 at 9:35pm

In general, I think minimalist opera is a mistake at the Met. It usually works better in European opera houses, which are historically more intimate.

For whatever reasons, good and bad, I'm usually more satisfied at the Met by a healthy combination of spectacle and star-power.

That said, John Dexter's Dialogue of the Carmelites with Jessye Norman was one of the most powerful theatrical experiences I have ever had, on any stage, opera or theater.

I don't know if a giant raked crucifix counts as minimalistic...

Updated On: 9/22/09 at 09:35 PM

#18

re: Metropolitan Opera Opens - Production Team Booed off the stage

Posted: 9/22/09 at 9:39pm

wonkit, I know I will enjoy this production of The Magic Flute. I had seen it the year before last when it was the first time they were presenting it in its full length rather then the abridged version which debuted the year before.
"If you try to shag my husband while I am still alive, I will shove the art of motorcycle maintenance up your rancid little Cu**. That's a good dear" Tom Stoppard's Rock N Roll
#20

re: Metropolitan Opera Opens - Production Team Booed off the stage

Posted: 9/23/09 at 1:32pm

Replacing the Zeffirelli production of LA BOHEME is a call for mutiny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have seen it at least 70 times.

Well...yes. Exactly. Anyone who's wanted to see it has had at least 70 chances, and apparently not enough people are seeing it. I don't see what's so awful about changing a production after so many years. Live performance is about change.

Then again, I'm not a frequent opera-goer, so I'm probably missing out on a lot of cultural subtext here. Still, the classics are supposed to be strong enough for multiple interpretations, so I don't see why only one interpretation should stay in place forever.
#22

re: Metropolitan Opera Opens - Production Team Booed off the stage

Posted: 9/23/09 at 2:38pm

Did anyone find it odd that they had two articles in the Arts section of the NYT today? First there was a review, heavily mentioning the booing and the reasons for it, then another just about the booing. It was strange!
"Carson has combined his passion for helping children with his love for one of Cincinnati's favorite past times - cornhole - to create a unique and exciting event perfect for a corporate outing, entertaining clients or family fun."

"In Oz, the verb is douchifizzation." PRS

#23

re: Metropolitan Opera Opens - Production Team Booed off the stage

Posted: 9/23/09 at 4:07pm

I don't object to an alternate take on TOSCA. I remember hearing about a recent production set in Fascist Italy (sorry...don't know where ...but what a great idea!). But the Bondy production is a prime example of a designer substituting cluttered purile novelty for sensitivity for musical and dramatic structure. It's a box-office disaster and deserves to be.

A particularly delicious review is Manuela Holteroff for Bloomberg.:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=azo59v487p.w

But the most interesting review is by Martin Bernheimer in the FINANCIAL TIMES, proving that one doesn't have to be a fan of the Zeferelli production to loathe Bondy's version:

For 24 years, I have loathed Franco Zeffirelli?s popular, super-ornate, hyper-literal production of Tosca at the Met. To open the new season on Monday, the company came up at last with a contemporary alternative, a sparse, minimalist-revisionist staging by Luc Bondy. Loathed it too.



Bad Timing - Bad Ideas
"Hurry up and get into your conga clothes - we've got to do something to save this show!"
#24

re: Metropolitan Opera Opens - Production Team Booed off the stage

Posted: 9/25/09 at 11:53am

George Gagnidze pulls a Lena Lamont! re: Metropolitan Opera Opens - Production Team Booed off the stage

**************************************
NEW YORK ? The Metropolitan Opera's new staging of Puccini's "Tosca" has run into more bumps.

Spokesman Peter Clark says baritone George Gagnidze sang Scarpia in the first act Thursday night but was feeling congested and acted the second while Carlo Guelfi sang from the side of the stage. Gagnidze sang Monday's opener of Luc Bondy's production after the Met said Juha Uusitalo withdrew because of illness.
Clark says music director James Levine missed Thursday's performance because of a back ailment and Joseph Colaneri replaced him.
Ooops!
"Hurry up and get into your conga clothes - we've got to do something to save this show!"

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