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In Reply to: RE: Big B and I (and our wives) are off to LA tomorrow. . . posted by Chris from Lafayette on May 24, 2012 at 15:49:31
Complain all you want about so called "Eurotrash elements," but at least they're taking risks.
The biggest problem with the Met, best exemplified by the new Ring, is that they are completely scared to do anything but uber conventional productions. They try to do something different, such as with "Tosca," everyone revolts, and then these same people wonder why the new Ring is so painfully conventional and straightforward -- pretty much every critic and regular patron agrees it was a total wasted opportunity. If audiences didn't push the Met into being so risk adverse there would have been a much greater chance of getting something original and bold.
And it's also nicely coincidental that this post is about "Don Giovanni." This season's new "Don Giovanni" was so boringly standard that it doesn't make sense why they bothered to put together a new production -- do we really need yet another period production with a 100% literal interpretation of the libretto?
I rather have opera take risks and fail from time to time than keep doing the same thing over, and over again.
Follow Ups:
somehow is an argument.
The Valencia DVD is exciting, much as the opera itself was when first it appeared. Opera combines many art forms; to expect it to exist in amber would be to attract only second-rate artists comfortable with mimicry.
I see that the term "Eurotrash" hits a bit uncomfortably close to the truth for you! By all means, enjoy your Valencia Ring DVD - I enjoy my Valencia "Götterdämmerung" blu-ray - especially when I remember to turn off the video! ;-) In your heart, you know I'm right!
No one expects opera to exist as mimicry in amber (in any case, a false characterization on your part) - but I do expect for producers to have a modicum of respect for the original creators, who are orders of magnitude more significant artists than the little worm Eurotrash producers of today!
(BTW, Next time, you'll want to say, "hear hear!" - which originated in the British parliament in the 18th century as a contraction of 'hear him, hear him'.)
p.s.: I'm hoping my wife can finish her review of the Dudamel/LA "Don Giovanni" by tomorrow night - I may provide my own commentary to her review too. Her post will be fair game for others here too! ;-)
artists justifiably cringe when they're expected to be predictable. Myself, I'd find an extravagant flop far more interesting than a safe success. The amber analogy is a perfect one, you protest too much.
You ever notice how many of today's Eurotrash productions use the same kind of "raincoat" costumes? Talk about predictable!
Hi, Seth - The situation on DVD and Blu-Ray is just the opposite of what you describe at the Met. As far as I know, the only traditional production of the Ring available on DVD (or DVD AND Blu-ray for that matter) is the Levine Met production, dating from more than 20 years ago! So, in the case of the Ring Cycle, the video companies are pandering not to first-time listeners, but to listeners such as yourself! ;-)
That's because every other opera house is more ambitious. My only objection to the Otto Schenk production is that it stuck around for 20 years. There of course have been misfires by other many houses and stage directors when it comes to the Ring, but they helped pave the way for the Valencia Ring which brings us closer to Wagner's idea of "Total Artwork" (and productions like the Valencia Ring clearly pushed the Met's new Ring to feature multimedia, but they had no real understanding of how to utilize it).
It's a safe guess that at least 80% of each nite's audience (at the Met, Covent Garden, LaScala, you name it) are seeing an opera production for the first time, or maybe the second. At $200+ per seat, they don't feel jaded quite yet and expect a reasonable facsimile of the composer's intentions. This is particularly true of, and important with Wagner, whose stage directions must be followed explicitly, or the story and music don't fit together and the evening makes no sense.
A recent SFSO Rheingold had Fafner kill Fasolt with a sword (while the music clearly describes heavy blows from a cudgel). Later, the Gods pass into Valhalla through what appears to be a wedding portal. That's right, no Rainbow Bridge. One of the greatet moments in opera becomes pointless puzzlement.
Bayreuth has been an expensive travesty for decades now. Having a backdrop of flashing red LED's stand in for the fiery end of the Gods and overflow of the Rhein? Just for the sake of what, novelty?
We shall see how adaptable Mozart staging can be with this new LA production. I hope I won't feel shortchanged like so many operagoers nowadays.
It's a safe guess that at least 80% of each nite's audience (at the Met, Covent Garden, LaScala, you name it) are seeing an opera production for the first time, or maybe the second.I highly doubt it's that many, and challenge you to find that statistic. In fact, data has recently released indicates it's more like only 10% or 20% of the Met's audience is seeing an opera production for the first time on any given night.
With the whole Opera Guild snafu the other day, the NYTimes reported that the magazine has a circulation of 100,000, and more than half of those people receive the magazine as a result of being a Met Opera donor. It seems likely that almost everyone who donates money to the Met is seeing at least one opera a year (and I bet most of those donors are either subscribers or seeing several operas because being a donor allows you to get preferential ticketing treatment). And of course, this doesn't count people who go but do not donate.
The Met has an annual attendance of 800,000. Like I said before, those 50k+ donors are likely all going to at least 1 opera. Let's say the average donor goes to an average of 4 opera performances a year (the main subscription packages are for 6 to 8 operas, and the mini packages are mostly 4, but sometimes 3 and 5), and each one of those donors represents a couple. So that's 2 x 50k x 4 = 400,000. So half of the Met attendance is likely made up of people seeing multiple operas a year. And remember, that does not include people who have seen opera at other houses but are going to the Met for the first time, or go to the Met less than once a year.
But despite all of this math, to remain the #1 opera house in the world, you cannot design your productions for first time opera goers -- that's pandering. Each production should strive for artistic excellence and to challenge audiences. The beauty of being a non-profit performing arts is that you can take risks -- because you're highly subsidized by donations you don't have to worry about selling every seat at every show like Broadway has to.
Edits: 05/24/12
Let's see: I've seen productions in Munich (many), Salzburg, Vienna, Berlin, Covent Garden, Rome, LaScala, the Met (twice), L.A. and San Francisco. Everyone in the ticket line, or seated near me, whom I bothered to ask had never seen that nite's opera before.
I know no one other than critics and a few extremely bored operaphiles who spend big money just because they have to see some new production. Like most people I want great conducting, fine orchestral playing, and above all, great singing. Productions are unimportant unless they interfere with getting the story across, as happens so often now with Wagner (you really want the Dutchman to be gay, Sachs a pedophile, or similar outlandish stuff? Be my guest.)
Let's see: I've seen productions in Munich (many), Salzburg, Vienna, Berlin, Covent Garden, Rome, LaScala, the Met (twice), L.A. and San Francisco. Everyone in the ticket line, or seated near me, whom I bothered to ask had never seen that nite's opera before.I'm sorry, but observational data is meaningless. I've been a subscriber to the Met Opera for 6 years; compared to the people who sit around me, I'm a virgin -- I've met countless people who've have subscriptions since the early 1980s. But I'm not going to claim that's representative of the house on all nights.
We have hard data with the Met -- an accurate estimate of their number of donors -- and in the performing arts field, the only individuals who give you money are the people who attend your shows (as someone who works in the performing arts, I can speak with some authority on this).
I know no one other than critics and a few extremely bored operaphiles who spend big money just because they have to see some new production.
What does that have to do with anything? Many, many people spend more on sports tickets than opera tickets. My Met tickets are $180/seat. Sounds like a lot, but my father's Eagles tickets are only slightly less, there are more home games in a season than shows in a Met subscription, and when the team is playing the Giants or the Cowboys, he has no problem getting 2 to 3 times face value for the tickets (and for Monday night games, the sky is the limit).
Productions are unimportant
If productions are unimportant then people would dispense with them and just do in-concert opera.
Edits: 05/24/12
If a production is counter to the composer's explicit directions, does not convey story content, or presents a perverse, contrived, or mostly incomplete version of the work's message, it should never be staged in the first place, nor is it likely to endure.
I think this is what Chris means by "Eurotrash" direction, a waste of everyone's time and money.
won't be "disappointed" by anything resembling novelty, imagination, or innovation.
"Say Mr. Picasso, could you just paint me one of those pink ones, please?"
...that the novelty, imagination and innovation is executed at the expense of tradition and historical accuracy. Instead of mucking with classic art, the contemporary productions should start with NEW music and NEW operas -- expand the art form, rather than taking the lazy route and doing half the job. Let's deface the Mona Lisa and call it postmodernism. That way, we can call a crime art.
nt
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