Salazar's Opera Family Circle

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Met Opera Review: McAnuff blows up "Faust"

By David Salazar (For the 12.3.2011 Performance)

Saturday night's performance of Charles Gounod's "Faust" proved a peculiar evening for numerous reasons. Usually a night at the opera is punctuated by what is going onstage and how it seems to affect the audience. However, this time it was the other way around. For those wondering, there were no boos (though I am sure some would have loved to have done that had Des McAnuff and crew shown up for curtain calls). No, the uneasy moment that reverberated throughout the night was an unknown man's battle cry of "Occupy Wall Street" that rang throughout the hall moments before the start of Act 3. The result was a mix of boos and cheers that lasted for almost 2 minutes. Safe to say this ovation/jeering lasted longer than any ovation for any of the performers for the rest of the night. From my perspective, this moment (whether it actually had any affect on the singers or was just a coincidence) emphasized a great restlessness that permeated the evening.

Politics may very well have been the presiding theme of the evening (though not modern US politics). The production represents one of Peter Gelb's latest attempts to establish his artistic voice and standing in the world of opera. He has long stated the need to evolve the art form and bring in "real " directors to get rid of the pageantry that has long "bogged down the art form (take that for what you will)." The Met needs to compete with the rest of the art forms in New York and in the US, so it is natural that from a political standpoint, "Change that We Can Believe In" has been HIS Battlecry for the 5 years of his tenure. So this "Change" sees its latest ramification in McAnuff's political (to some degree considering its inclusion of World War 1 & 2 and the atomic bomb) "Faust."

Thursday, November 24, 2011

A Preview of the new MET Eugene Onegin

As it was previously reported the MET will produce a new production of Eugene Onegin by Deborah Warner. The production is a co-production with the English National Opera where it was highly praised for its engrossing and atmospheric quality.

Here is a video and a couple of pictures