# Modern Staging



## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

In the "In-Depth" thread about _La Traviata_, we have been debating about modern staging (especially the 'konzept' category) and its merits.

Some people find difficult to tolerate any changes to the libretto. Prefer a literal staging. In this case, a Traviata in 18th or 19th century Paris, with proper period costumes and sets.

For others, changes of period can be ok, and they can actually improve the enjoyment of the piece, but the plot must be respected. For instance, _La Traviata_ in 21st century New York.

A further step is to change also the libretto. Either the characters or the plot. Something like making Violetta a winner of "Britain's got talent" and Alfredo a paparazzi, and she just fakes her death to get rid of him and go away with an Internet billionaire.

And, finally, we can also change the music. Violetta is a transsexual and Giorgio Germont the surgeon that is going to change her sex. Alfredo is a woman trapped in the body of a man, that falls in love with Violetta while they are both in the clinic. As the second scene of the second Act don't fit well in our tale, we just suppress it.

What will be your preferance?


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## Grosse Fugue (Mar 3, 2010)

I'm open to anything except a change to the libretto or music.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

A year ago I would have said traditional only but after seeing this L'elisir d'amore in Munich & thoroughly enjoying it, I'm happy with a non-traditional staging.

Mustn't change the libretto though.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Don't change the libretto or the basic plot, but there can be changes in the period as long at it enhances or reveals something interesting about the original. Or at least doesn't take away from it. 

For example I'm watching an Agrippina which is clearly set in Napoleonic times. Claudius is dressed as Napoleon, and has generals and court ladies around him. It works beautifully in this context of everyone plotting for an imperial throne.


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## jhar26 (Jul 6, 2008)

Period staging for me. I admit that there are exceptions, but most of the time putting an opera in another (usually more recent) period doesn't work for me. If a character is referred to as a medieval king or a water goblin and he looks like the guy at the local drugstore on the corner of the street I find it hard to take it seriously. Kinda like a movie that plays 500 years bc where everyone is wearing watches, but worse. 

It often goes against the nature of the music also. Strauss puts waltszes into Der Rosenkavalier because it helps evoke the community, place and timeframe that the opera is about. If he wanted to set it in another period or location he would have composed different music. 

The way people relate to each other (woman to man, upper class to us mere mortals, etc..) has changed a lot over the years as well. If a count in the 18th century was angry with us we'd bow and shake. Today we'd kick him in the nuts. For all of these (and more) reasons changing periods more often than not is a bad idea in my opinion.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

I'm willing to entertain a pretty wide range of staging possibilities (including alterations to the libretto or music), but would prefer to know what I'm dealing with in advance. Then, like anyone else, I can decide whether I want to attend the performance (or buy the DVD). 

If a director's radical departure from the original strikes me as a failure, no problem. I can always find a more traditional production elsewhere.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

jhar26 said:


> Period staging for me. I admit that there are exceptions, but most of the time putting an opera in another (usually more recent) period doesn't work for me . . . .


Bear in mind, though, that attention to period accuracy is a fairly new occurrence in theatrical history. In the time of Shakespeare, for instance (or Baroque opera), scenes set in classical antiquity were typically staged in "modern" dress (or a ragtag mix of classical and contemporary outfits).

The obsession with realism didn't come to the fore until the Romantic era and the nineteenth century. This of course is also the period when the bulk of the current operatic repertoire was written--which may help account for some common attitudes about opera staging.



> It often goes against the nature of the music also. Strauss puts waltszes into Der Rosenkavalier because it helps evoke the community, place and timeframe that the opera is about. If he wanted to set it in another period or location he would have composed different music.


A problematic example, since Strauss's use of the waltz (and of course his entire musical language) is anachronistic in the eighteenth-century setting. It's interesting that we demand visual realism while accepting a great deal of musical license.


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

I don't object to a change in period as long as the basic plot and characters are respected. And, of course, a change in period works much better with some operas than others. We don't burn people at the stake any more (thank God), so updating the action of _Il Trovatore _or _Don Carlo _wouldn't work well. On the other hand, I wouldn't have found Calixto Bieito's recent staging of _Fidelio_ at the Bavarian State Opera to be a problem until we got to the final scene, when he decided to costume Don Fernando as the Joker and have him shoot Florestan (who apparently sustained no lasting damage from the incident).


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## jhar26 (Jul 6, 2008)

amfortas said:


> A problematic example, since Strauss's use of the waltz (and of course his entire musical language) is anachronistic in the eighteenth-century setting. It's interesting that we demand visual realism while accepting a great deal of musical license.


That's true, but nevertheless....if Der Rosenkavalier was set in the 20th century or another location he would have composed different music, and to me what the composer and librettist had in mind is more important than the 'vision' or the ego of whoever is responsible for the production.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

jhar26 said:


> That's true, but nevertheless....if Der Rosenkavalier was set in the 20th century or another location he would have composed different music, and to me what the composer and librettist had in mind is more important than the 'vision' or the ego of whoever is responsible for the production.


I'll confess that I'm not entirely consistent in my own position--there are some operas I feel far more protective towards, less open to new staging ideas, than others. Sometimes a director's vision strikes me as a welcome insight, sometimes as a crass annoyance. I've yet to find any real consistency to my reactions.

In principle, though, I try to keep an open mind--even though I often fall short of that aim.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

This is one case when the period displacement works spectacularly well.

And there have been many. However, I can count with the fingers of my right hand (and won't need all five of them) the ones changing the libretto in any significant way that I'm really happy with. In my view, it's a very dangerous move, as the risk of telling something totally divorced from the text and the music, and bewilder the audience, is inordinately high.

Of course, there are operas where staging is more important than others. It's not the same _Norma_ than _Lulu_. Not to speak of contemporary operas like _Le Grand Macabre_, that are sometimes very close to non musical theater.

I will confess too that sometimes I'm not entirely consistent with my own position. When watching an opera (in the theater or in a DVD) with a very traditional staging, sometimes I just get plain bored (unless the singing is exceptionally good).


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## jhar26 (Jul 6, 2008)

amfortas said:


> I'll confess that I'm not entirely consistent in my own position--there are some operas I feel far more protective towards, less open to new staging ideas, than others. Sometimes a director's vision strikes me as a welcome insight, sometimes as a crass annoyance. I've yet to find any real consistency to my reactions.
> 
> In principle, though, I try to keep an open mind--even though I often fall short of that aim.


I'm not consistent either. There are exceptions where I feel that an updated production worked very well. But I'm sure that these things aren't 100% black or white for anyone.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

If a production includes a singer I really like, I'm more likely to accept a non-traditional staging.


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

The answer to this question is a simple one and should be based on the principle that the staging should be subervient to the plot and music but as an integrated whole, not as a means of fulfilling the artistic ego of the stage director. I'm afraid I am not convinced the latter is never at play; in fact, I think more often than not, it is the source of motivation as far as staging is concerned with regards to opera composed further back in time, as if (s)he thinks the plot and music are too weak for us "modern sophisticated" folks and needs "dressing up".

Having said this, this does not imply traditional staging is the automatic route to take. It all depends on the music and the plot whether the the opera was composed in 1600 or 2011. You would not want to see _Nixon in China_ staged in medieval Constantinople; it wouldn't make sense. Likewise, you would not want to see _Das Rheingold_ staged around a swimming pool of a brothel. I was watching _La Calisto_ (1651) by Cavalli, and one of the trapdoors on stage had an erect p_e_n_i_s drawn on the underside of it, which showed its cheap intent when the trapdoor was opened upright from the stage floor. It served nothing but a cheap mockery and distraction of the work. A documentary clip of the production interviewed the stage director, and not surprisingly, this artistic fool justified that the opera would be "too distant" to modern audiences if a period staging was the route, implying the work was a museum piece and so needed "dressing up". It was more revealing of the artistic director's vulgarity than anything else.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I'm open to non-traditional staging/costumes etc as long as the original premise of the work isn't compromised but it can't be denied that some choices are very questionable - I still shudder at the thought of Bryn Terfel as Wotan looking more like a dishevelled nightclub bouncer than top god. Wagner's operas are those that I think are better served with traditional trimmings that evoke ancient and mystical times, reminiscent of those 19th century Rackham prints.


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## Gualtier Malde (Nov 14, 2010)

Traditional for me: I'd like to see the piece that was written by composer and librettist.
Whoever thinks the public needs something more "relevant" (to quote one of the numerous inane formulas from Directese) is very welcome to write their own operas. I'm also quite grown up now and don't need someone else to do my thinking for me, in case I want to do any (I'd also like to reserve the right to just enjoy an opera without having to worry about what social commentary is being made).


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## AmericanGesamtkunstwerk (May 9, 2011)

This poll is de-generalized too far for me to feel like I can answer... The Kupfer Ring, the Muller Tristan, are just a couple that have a kind of imagination aeons beyond time and setting, but they're not plot altering nor music altering.


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## ooopera (Jul 27, 2011)

Depending on the opera. But mostly I like challenges. So, better not traditional. And if, then singers must be perfect.


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## Dster (Oct 3, 2011)

Gualtier Malde said:


> Traditional for me: I'd like to see the piece that was written by composer and librettist.
> Whoever thinks the public needs something more "relevant" (to quote one of the numerous inane formulas from Directese) is very welcome to write their own operas. I'm also quite grown up now and don't need someone else to do my thinking for me, in case I want to do any (I'd also like to reserve the right to just enjoy an opera without having to worry about what social commentary is being made).


Well said!! Couldn't agree more :cheers:


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

I saw a production of Elektra on youtube where the character of Elektra was wearing jeans and a hoodie, Ick! Period staging for me...


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## Dins (Jun 21, 2011)

I don't find that an opera needs to be set in the correct period for me to enjoy it. But if there is changes to the story or the libretto then i get a bit annoyed. More than a bit really... So period changes is ok, but keep your hands of the story and the libretto.


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

I like to respect everything....Imagine Don Giovanni with zombies (like Pride and prejudice...).
I have Karl V on DVD (Ernst Krenek) with a school master replacing the king and some naughty students replacing the people. The version is stupid and confusing...The music is quite difficult (entirely dodecaphonic...Lulu sounds like Traviata compared to Karl V) and now, the "mise-en-scène" is so weird! I don't like this DVD very much. I prefer to listen to my CD instead. It is a pity. I also have a Lohengrin quite modern...very well conducted and great singers but...lacking of taste.



Martin


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## CameraEye (Nov 18, 2011)

I would be ready to accept a change in the period but only if it did not betray the original spirit intended by the composer .


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

I tend to prefer period staging. The composer and librettist combined efforts into creating a drama in which the music and lyrics combined to best convey a given drama. To my mind, the music and the setting/staging combine to suggest a given atmosphere. I expect my Dickens' Christmas Carol to take place in Victorian England, not in 1960's Rio, Brazil. I don't want my characters from the Ring floating about in bizarre moonsuits and fighting with light-sabers or goosestepping while dressed as Sturmtroopers, and I expect La Traviata to convey an Ingres-like sense of the French _ancient regime_ not a stripped down Hollywood-inspired Minimalism. There are exceptions that work particularly well for me... but even in these instances, I prefer to also have another "traditional" or period version.

I'm as big of an admirer of Nebrebko as the next guy... but this pales for me:






next to Zeffirelli's classic interpretation:






Even so... the production of La Traviata with Netrebko is simply too stark... too minimal... too stipped down of all that it could have been for me. Other productions are simply downright farcical... embarrassing. I think especially of this Eurotrash production of Franz Schreker's _Die Gezeichneten_. Now this is not exactly an opera that has been so over-produced that we need something new to spice it up. But what do we get with the only known full video production available?






The opera is set in Renaissance Genoa where the young nobleman, Alviano Salviago, representative of the soul of the artist... hunchbacked and deformed, has renounced the love of women. He wants to donate to the people of Genoa the island paradise called "Elysium" he has created. This production presents Salviago as some sort of transvestite dressed in a glittering disco ball gown and army boots trying out the latest line of Mary Kay cosmetics on the lunar landscape.


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## MAnna (Sep 19, 2011)

I voted for period staging only - for the hope that this will lead to the increase in new opera commissions and productions. I'd rather see new operas than see the umpteenth repeat of Marriage of Figaro. 

In any event, who would really want to see their first ever performance of Gotterdamerung set in a 1950's diner with a suicide bomber Brunnhilde?


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

While I don't know much at all about operatic staging,...I do know much about theater staging and production, in general. You have to have a fine blend of the classic (which is time honored and works) and the modern which has its place as well. One thing I can say is that being a part of a large production and being responsible for so many staging issues and lighting and cues is extremely time consuming and not easy but the reward can not be put into words: To see your work being enjoyed by others and having them applaud your efforts even if they never know who did it,...you do.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

MAnna said:


> I voted for period staging only - for the hope that this will lead to the increase in new opera commissions and productions. I'd rather see new operas than see the umpteenth repeat of Marriage of Figaro.


I'm fond of new stagings of some old favourites, the ones with universal plots. The character of Don Giovanni and his ladies, for example, lends itself to a multitude of fascinating interpretations.



> In any event, who would really want to see their first ever performance of Götterdämmerung set in a 1950's diner with a suicide bomber Brünnhilde?


Not my first ever, I agree, I reserved that for the Schenk Met production and it was fine as an introduction.

But now, 5 Rings on ...... me, I think. Anything rather than sit through the Schenk again.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Well, I don't quite agree with the opinion about _Die Gezeichneten_'s staging in the DVD. I found it rather enlightening. There are some questionable choices, like the children in the orgy scene (this was justified by the stage director, saying that he wanted to produce the same reaction in the audience, like the original one in 1918, when depicted with somewhat more mature young girls), and the constant presence of the giant statue, but all in all it was interesting enough.

I watched the opera live in Amsterdam, with a staging by Kusej:










and there have been recent performances in Los Angeles:










you can't identify early 16th century Genoa either.


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## NightHawk (Nov 3, 2011)

I think to modernize or not to modernize the staging depends on the opera. If basic questions/situations of life that can occur at any time are the stuff of the plot then why not stage any way you see fit? If the opera is clearly based on the structure of an ancient society then I think it's more risky. I think that Wagner benefits by modernization as I like to think of dragons, flying horse manure, and giants as being symbolic rather than literal, but I think Wagner would disagree, but I don't give a flying rat's ***.


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## NightHawk (Nov 3, 2011)

I would!!!!!!!!!



MAnna said:


> I voted for period staging only - for the hope that this will lead to the increase in new opera commissions and productions. I'd rather see new operas than see the umpteenth repeat of Marriage of Figaro.
> 
> In any event, who would really want to see their first ever performance of Gotterdamerung set in a 1950's diner with a suicide bomber Brunnhilde?


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## TrazomGangflow (Sep 9, 2011)

I like traditional simply because I want to see it the way the composer intended but I have no problem with modernizing or changing an opera. I think that's interesting too.


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## Festat (Oct 25, 2011)

As long as it makes sense and keeps the whole think interesting, I'm alright with any staging.


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## Sieglinde (Oct 25, 2009)

I'm only open to modern if it's logically built up, doesn't change the plot (changing death method is ok, changing the genre is not), and has rich, detailed set. I HATE minimalism. Good modern sets have a lot of little details and are realictic, like the Copenhagen Ring or the Frankfurt BB. 

And I'm more into modern if it's the Ring but I prefer my Verdi and Puccini traditional. I won't be having with Bohemes on drugs!


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## Gualtier Malde (Nov 14, 2010)

NightHawk said:


> If the opera is clearly based on the structure of an ancient society then I think it's more risky. I think that Wagner benefits by modernization.


Probably to no one's surprise, I disagree with the second part, for exactly the reason you mentioned (among others): Wagner's whole universe doesn't make the slightest bit of sense if taken out of the world of the middle ages. The issues Tannhaeuser (for example) faces seem quite different from the moral problems most people are confronted with today.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Gualtier Malde said:


> Probably to no one's surprise, I disagree with the second part, for exactly the reason you mentioned (among others): Wagner's whole universe doesn't make the slightest bit of sense if taken out of the world of the middle ages. The issues Tannhaeuser (for example) faces seem quite different from the moral problems most people are confronted with today.


On the other hand the issued Wotan faces - in terms of power and its limitations, or the struggle between the desire for power and the desire to live lovingly with your fellow humans - are universal.

The Copenhagen Tannhäuser posited Tannhäuser as married to Elisabeth, with Venus was his Muse, driving him on to work at he expense of his family life. It might not be medieval but it sure was interesting.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

mamascarlatti said:


> On the other hand the issued Wotan faces - in terms of power and its limitations, or the struggle between the desire for power and the desire to live lovingly with your fellow humans - are universal.


And of course this was intentional on Wagner's part, since he was a political revolutionary and meant the mythological events of the Ring to reflect issues of his own time (many of which are still with us today).


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

I'm not against modern productions _per se_, it's just that most of these stage directors and especially costume designers involved in modernist productions are completely ridiculous and utterly talentless.


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## Yashin (Jul 22, 2011)

I guess i prefer an updating of the opera. However, it depends on the directors concept - i mean a period costume version of Cosi or Le Nozze works fine. What does not work fine is over-bloated stand versions where the singers are given little direction and just stand like planks of wood. If they had super voices i would not mind so much -see the new DVD of Aida from the Met and you will see how dreadful it can be!


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## prettyhippo (Apr 19, 2011)

Personally, I prefer traditional staging. And I believe that the libretto and music should be respected, if you want to change it, write your own opera. But I admit that some modern productions are good, as long as their realistic and not over the top. Like, I think that the stage should look like a real place.


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## vasysm (Oct 27, 2011)

The Salzburg "Cosi fan tutte" (Persson/Leonard/Petibon) showed what can be done with an intelligent take on modernizing a classic opera.

Too bad there are a lot of bizarre stagings. But time will sort them out.


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

Zerbinetta at Likely Impossibilities wrote a very good and enlightening post about modern stagings and Konzept and stagings in general, and I advice you all to read it.

Clicky


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