An Opera Staple Takes a Stark Turn at the Met

The New York Times ^ | September 22, 2009 | Anthony Tommasini

[Captain Jack Aubrey]

The Met opened its season on Monday night with a new production of Puccini’s “Tosca” by the adventurous Swiss-born director Luc Bondy. When Mr. Bondy and the production team appeared on stage during curtain calls, the audience erupted in boos. If there were cheers among the jeers, they were drowned out.

[Captain Jack Aubrey]

Such incivility. And in New York! Sounds like a health care town hall, or a meeting of Astroturf racists.

[dalebert]

people take their opera seriously

[BenLurkin]

Botching Tosca is a very serious offense. It is a wonderful opera.

[sitetest]

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[Tax-chick]

Opera audiences have been known to tear the seats up and set them on fire, when they didn’t like the staging. Wagner was attacked because he put the ballet in the first act of “Tannheuser,” while the audiences preferred it in the second act, so they could arrive late and still see the ballet.

[Tax-chick]

The review makes it sound absolutely dreadful. Perhaps the designer should have tried making a movie, like “Romeo + Juliet” with Leonardo di Caprio and Clare Danes. Then he could have used the author’s material as a showcase for his own ego without making a live audience furious.

[bboop]

I have boo’d at bastardized operas here in Los Angeles. They put folks in underpants, or minimize the staging, or add their own interpretations, even in Mozart. They set it up just right — you clap separately for the singers and then the stage director (or whatever he’s called). That’s when I booed.

My friend sings in the chorus. She said that people are HATING the ‘trendy’ stuff. But the PR folks told me ‘everybody LOVES it.’

[C19fan]

The Swiss loser deserved it for trying to make a classic staple into some avant garde statement.

[SAJ]

Another fascinating factoid ... ONLY on FR!

;^)

[Tax-chick]

I took a semester course on Wagner opera in college. Fascinating subject.

[Exit148]

Don’t mess with what works!!

I hate it when someone tries to put their spin on a classic!

[Clemenza]

DisGRAZIA!

[libh8er]

There are lots of monied people who go to operas just to feel elite and sophisticated. They have no understanding or appreciation of the music. They are the same people who clap between movements during a symphony.

[Ozone34]

Was it the same production featured in the recent James Bond movie “Quantum of Solace”? If so, I can understand...

[SAJ]

As Richard Armour once wrote, ''People have to discover things like this, in order to become assistant professors.''

Heh heh heh...

[crazydad]

Wagner was a genius. He knew how to capture the whole sound and passion of opera. But due to some little corporal Wagners name will be forever tarnished as a Nazi! Even though he lived 60+ years before Hitlers time.

[crazydad]

Two of the most awesome experiences of my life was seeing my first Wagner Opera, Lohengrin and going to Bayrueth and seeing Wagners home.. Just loved it.

[Dr. Thorne]

Modern opera directors think they are being "edgy" by dressing everyone in black, making the sets dark and unrealistic and including a lot of sex. These are the hallmarks of the no-talent. You could go right across the plaza at Lincoln Center and see the New York City Opera perform a Tosca that sounds exactly the same and has been in the repertoire for years. This Bondy's work is entirely hackneyed.

In Europe, opera directors have been doing the same thing for decades: everyone in black, stark expressionistic sets, lots of sex. Yawn. They get booed at every curtain call even by the Europeans!

[Tax-chick]

I’ve seen Bayreuth only on TV. We saw “Tannheuser” in Tulsa, and it was very enjoyable. It wasn’t the full opera (I knew from my class ;-), but we’d left a baby with a sitter, so I really didn’t mind its not being almost 4 hours!

[ml/nj]

The Met seems intent on self destruction sometimes. It would be one thing if these ridiculous new productions only lasted for a short time and then the more traditional production returned. But that's not how it works. Once a production is replaced, the old sets and costumes never return, or at least not in my 37 years of attending the Met. I keep waiting for the dreadful "modernized" Fidelio to be replaced but nothing seems to be on the horizon. (I have my ideas about what they SHOULD do, but it will probably only get worse when they do replace it.) I fear what will happen with Tales of Hoffmann later this season.

ML/NJ