By Francisco Salazar
(For February 15, 2013 performance)
Wagner's final opera Parsifal is a work that can test your patience in many instances. Its music lacks the melodic abundance of such works as the Ring Cycle or Tristan und Isolde. Wagner decides to go for a few simple melodies that repeat throughout the night. The result is music that transcends the evening, one that elicits emotion and most importantly that brings drama to this sometimes long evening.
On this night the Met opened its first new production of the work since 1991. The production by Francois Girard was met by enthusiastic applause but also with a slew of boos. The Met audiences seem to have become accustomed to booing any new production even if it did not disrespect the work. Girard's production is the complete opposite of Otto Schenk's magnificent natural production which had no symbolism and which opted to show the story in richly designed sets. Girard opts for a symbolic work that strays from the pageantry and allows for the singers, the effects, and the music to do the work.
The production is set in a post apocalyptic era where the world has fallen to pieces. There is a divide in society between the sinners and the knights of the holy grail. The opening of the production shows a black curtain that reflects on the audience. According to Girard, the curtain represents our own search for spirituality and fundamental principles of compassion and temptation. The curtain then becomes translucent as the prelude is played and a number of bodies appear sitting in seats all dressed in black. One by one they begin to stand up leaving Parsifal in the middle. The men take their suit jackets off leaving them with their pure white shirts while the woman are left in the dark with their hair over their face. The men move to the right while the women move to the left. The separation in society is vivid through a crack representing a dried river. The women never cross to the other side.
