# Opera With Modern Staging



## bharbeke (Mar 4, 2013)

I love all of the cool stage effects that appear in musicals like The Lion King, Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, Mary Poppins, etc. Are there any operas that make effective use of modern theatrical techniques and spectacle? They could be newer operas or updated productions of old ones.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Patrice Chéreau decorated a stunning Ring from Wagner. Must see form modern theatre.


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## mountmccabe (May 1, 2013)

Yes, while there are some more static operatic stagings, there are also productions that have impressive stagecraft.

One that comes to mind is _Satayagraha_ as staged at the Metropolitan Opera by Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch had some spectacular happenings on stage. This video gives a taste of the production.






Though this example was from the Met, stagings in Europe tend to be more daring.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

I find it more believable with certain operas than others. ex: the basic essence of Traviata or Boheme could be believable in a modern context. The basic essence of Attila, Semiramide or Nabucco could not.


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## The Wolf (Apr 28, 2017)

Exactly, not all repertoires can be modernized, Because there are very specific scripts (Attila, Semiramide, Chenier, Gioconda, Favorite and a large etc.).

There is Werner Herzog's "Lohengrin" from Bayreuth...visually its a traditional production, with innovative light desing for the time (lasers). Was premiered in 87' and presented there until 93'. The most amazing and beautiful lohengrin made in bayreuth, in the last 30 years.

http://www.deutschegrammophon.com/es/cat/0734404

http://www.wagneroperas.com/index1987lohengrin.html

http://www.nytimes.com/1987/08/03/arts/opera-logengrin-staged-by-herzog.html


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

Ring Cycles often get the full effect-laden budget such is the recent one from the Met. Striking at times, and distracting at others.

There's less need for striking effects in opera than musicals, as the audience (IMO) would rather be wowed by the singing. Personally I just want something attractive, in keeping with the composers' vision, which allows the singers to concentrate on their job.

That being said, innovation is good, and film and back-projection can be effective and entertaining...


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## perempe (Feb 27, 2014)

I had the chance to see this production. (I did not go.)


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

perempe said:


> I had the chance to see this production. (I did not go.)


I did the same with Rigoletto staged in Las Vegas.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Director Julie Taymore, who was responsible for the magnificent costumes in_ The Lion King_, was hired by Gelb for the Met's _Die Zauberflote_ , which was a whimsical success and is still running this season on HD for anyone interested.


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## mountmccabe (May 1, 2013)

Don Fatale said:


> Ring Cycles often get the full effect-laden budget such is the recent one from the Met. Striking at times, and distracting at others.


This one at the Met was staged by Robert Lepage. The basic set was the Machine, 24 rotating planks that were raised and lowered and had video projected onto them to show the different scenes. It was often quite spectacular.






But this set, particularly, was widely loathed. It had its issues, to be sure, but they are besides the point for many people.


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## mountmccabe (May 1, 2013)

Michaels Reise um die Erde, Act 2 of _Donnerstag aus Licht_ by Karlheinz Stockhausen has been staged on its own. This production is by La fura dels Baus, a theater group from Barcelona that have done many spectacular stagings.






See also their Elektra, staged outside with giant puppets and fire


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## Granate (Jun 25, 2016)

mountmccabe said:


> This one at the Met was staged by Robert Lepage. The basic set was the Machine, 24 rotating planks that were raised and lowered and had video projected onto them to show the different scenes. It was often quite spectacular.
> 
> 
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> ...


Pretty much better than the Bloody Parsifal. Wow.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

nina foresti said:


> Director Julie Taymore, who was responsible for the magnificent costumes in_ The Lion King_, was hired by Gelb for the Met's _Die Zauberflote_ , which was a whimsical success and is still running this season on HD for anyone interested.


I am going for sure. 
( In the cinema that is)


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Normally being no regie or Eurotrash fan, I walked into the HD screening at my local cinema of the glitzy "Frank Sinatra" _Rigoletto_ with much trepidation and walked out feeling entertained by the silly but completely unobtrusive concept to the singers or the singing, which is my main barometer of whether it works or not. This one, surprisingly, did work. 
Yes there were some really stupid things that made absolutely no sense, but blessedly it didn't interfere with the music, which is paramount.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)




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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

__





Modernized Magic Flute in Oslo | Kulturkompasset







kulturkompasset.no


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

hammeredklavier said:


> __
> 
> 
> 
> ...



The photo looks like a drawing by an artificial intelligence


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

I have seen a video of a "regie-theater"-like Norma from Belgium, La Monnaie, 2021. The director satisfied his need to annoy people by completely killing "Casta diva". I absolutely couldn't look at it. Instead of the moon, there was a car hanging and rocking above Norma's head. It made me reflexively feel it will fall and crush her. It was supposed to make us think, how we got distanced from the nature. But that was all I had a problem with. The rest of the modern weirdness was sort of romantic. For instance, Norma and Adalgisa, while singing "Oh, rimembranza" positioned themselves mirror-like in a symetrically looking food chain restaurant. Or Norma, still hoping Pollione might return, was kneeling and watching intently at the crane pulling up a car wreck from the water. The finale was as moving as any, especially Norma's father made an impression on me. As scary as the description might sound, I still sometimes watch it.


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

It's funny how no one has any objections to movies set in ancient times, say from the middle ages to ancient Egypt etc , and audiences flock to see them . But today, it takes a lot of courage for any director or designer to stage familiar operas in their actual place and time . 
This is now verboten in. Germany , especially Bayreuth . We must have Lohengrin with the chorus dressed as rats , with Lohengrin dressed as an electrician and defeating Telramund in the first act by zapping him with electricity , Tannhauser is now dressed as a clown and. has a companion who is a drag queen ! , part of the Ring in Bayreuth set in the Turkish speaking Muslim republic of Azerbaijan in the Caucasus , formerly of the defunct Soviet Union , Tannhauser set in the future in a waste treatment facility , and on and on and on . 
When will the insanity end ? What does all of this have to doo with. Wagner's immortal creations ?


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I can't remember his name but there was a famous director who did Rigoletto set in 60's Las Vegas and I thought it was genius as well as his modern adaptation of Cosi Fan Tutti. On the negative side, I spent $175 for Die Walkure in The American Ring in DC and walked out before the great Act 3 because having it set in American Appalachia was like spraying graffiti on a Roman ruin.


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

superhorn said:


> But today, it takes a lot of courage for any director or designer to stage familiar operas in their actual place and time .
> This is now verboten in. Germany , especially Bayreuth .


That is the wost thing. I can tollerate, even appreciate several modern stagings. But the idea of the traditional ones being completely inacessible makes me bitter and paranoid. And I know there are regions, where it is so.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

I abhor them all.


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## Otis B. Driftwood (4 mo ago)

MAS said:


> I abhor them all.


Same. I'm a stickler for traditional stagings.

I think Bayreuth's newest Ring has reached a new low...


https://bachtrack.com/review-opera-das-rheingold-wagner-bayreuth-august-2022




https://bachtrack.com/review-opera-die-walkure-davidsen-vogt-bayreuth-august-2022




https://bachtrack.com/review-siegfried-schwarz-meister-schager-kohler-bezuyen-bayreuth-august-2022




https://bachtrack.com/review-gotterdammerung-schwarz-meister-gould-theorin-dohmen-bayreuth-august-2022


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

MAS said:


> I abhor them all.


Try this kuteness
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT62KLvzGZU&t=16m
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT62KLvzGZU&t=25m30s


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## ColdGenius (9 mo ago)

I like period dramas with appropriate production design, they are rare enough. The perfect example is "Topsy Turvy" by Mike Leigh about Gilbert and Sullivan. There are also some very attractive examples where the director and the designer move away a little from a depicted epoch, adding some features of other periods. The result can be amusing, like Buz Luhrman's works (he is married to his production designer).
In opera I would prefer a historically-matching production to almost any ultra-actual, current agenda-oriented one.
But there are some points.
1. If we look at religious or mythological painting since early Renaissance and further, we'll see mostly clothes and furnishings of the time, with occasional fantasy additions. The reasons may be different, lack of historical data, requirements of church and donators in general, necessity of a dramatic impact on viewers. But this "modernization" remained influential until almost XIX century. All the historical and mythological plays were presented in contemporary dress or based on it. Talma was first who began playing antique characters in tunicas and togas. And the interest to historical paintings came later. So, in Shakespeare's and baroque theater suits were contemporary.
2. Not all the modern productions are ugly. There are delicate and sophisticated ones. New-look dresses look pretty nice in opera. I always remember Falstaff from Last Scala about 2013 (I think the same production was in Met). In comedies change of epoch works better in average than in dramas.
Another example is Glück. I can't imagine his operas with lace and wigs. I've seen three of them live, one was wonderful, another was okay, third I try to forget. In videos (I can remember 9-10) ratio is the same.
But when I see something like latest pictures from Bayreuth, I feel a kind of vital anguish.
P. S. I'm agree about plots, mentioned above, which are more believable in modern context than others. But it was La Traviata, which being modernized looked like boring TV-series, and Semiramide staged in relatively modern unnamed Mid-East country looked unexpectedly convincing.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

ColdGenius said:


> Another example is Glück. I can't imagine his operas with lace and wigs.


look at


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

What is the "reward" for a traditional staging and how could the stake holders be motivated to choose one ? 

I know the answer- less subsidizing of the opera theaters be the governments of EU and more reliance on the customers money might do the trick. But how to earn a critical acclaim ?

What I mean is - after Calixto Bieito had the sultan (or whoever that powerful figure is) cut the nipples of a prostitute in Die Entführung aus den Serail, he received a lot of publicity. Even I remember his name. That's what they want. 

What about the traditional staging ? The name I remember was Hugo de Ana. I saw the video of his La Sonnambula. The opera is very static and he played with that. He arranged the chorus in the motion-less position, dressed beautifully, it looks like the old pictures. Maybe this is the way to earn fame, but there are not many options.


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## Otis B. Driftwood (4 mo ago)

BBSVK said:


> What is the "reward" for a traditional staging and how could the stake holders be motivated to choose one ?


Well for a long time the MetOpera was conservative with its staging, and people were happy. Now their productions divide opinion, and attendance is down.


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

Otis B. Driftwood said:


> Well for a long time the MetOpera was conservative with its staging, and people were happy. Now their productions divide opinion, and attendance is down.


Is there much of that in MET ? Lucia was talked about a lot. Are there others ?


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## ColdGenius (9 mo ago)

I always remember "To Rome with love" when the subject is regietheater. "I directed Tosca set in a phone booth and Rigoletto with all the performers dressed as white mice".


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

ColdGenius said:


> I always remember "To Rome with love" when the subject is regietheater. "I directed Tosca set in a phone booth and Rigoletto with all the performers dressed as white mice".


Just read the plot on Wikipedia, LOL !


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)




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## Denerah Bathory (6 mo ago)

BBSVK said:


> The photo looks like a drawing by an artificial intelligence


The magic Chewbacca


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