No I haven't stopped watching operas! Don't be absurd! It's just the demands of the season &c.
I wanted to see another version of this, and the highest-rated one seemed to be this, with a production by Christof Loy. I'd previously only seen David McVicar's excellent Glyndebourne version. As I have mentioned, I'm still slightly on the fence about Loy, but this had all good amazon reviews; it seemed like if there were anything egregiously Regietheater-ish, someone would've mentioned it.
Right, so: both McVicar and Loy choose to face head-on what could be considered the opera's problematic aspects, re depictions of Christian versus Muslim cultures (in addition, they both include the spoken text uncut or nearly so, which I am told is unusual). From my perspective, this isn't super-necessary, but there's nothing wrong with it. In his basically traditional production, McVicar does this mostly by emphasizing the Muslim social life and in particular the Pasha's family--his wives and children. The message is, this may or may not be a culture you actually want to live in, but you have to admit that it has its appeal, and people involved in it, men or women, aren't automatically abusers or victims.
Loy's minimalistic, modern-dress work takes a rather different approach. Have you noticed that the title seems slightly odd, what with this abduction? "Entführung" does indeed directly translate as abduction, kidnapping, or hijacking, and, whether or not it was the librettist's intent, that does seem to suggest that this thing might not be an unmixed blessing. So basically, Loy runs with that: the idea that, in fact, the Muslim men aren't so bad, and the captured women might in fact like them as much or more as their would-be rescuers. This actually works quite well; the drab-looking surroundings fade into the background as you get involved with the drama. The idea that Konstanze would have feelings for the Pasha is very easy to read into the text. McVicar does it also, to an extent, and it seems perfectly in line with the spirit of the thing. I have no problems with that, and this production does it well. Christoph Quest, as a bald, Yul-Brynner-esque Pasha, is very good, and, credit where due, Diana Damrau is pretty all right as Konstanze. She only does her goofy-acting thing a few times.
Possibly better than that, really, is the way Osmin is depicted. It seems like this would be the hardest dude to humanize, since he's such a broad, cartoony villain, but this does so much more effectively than I would have thought possible. Here, we get the impression that his bloodthirstiness is part performative, part bluster. I doubt he would actually torture anyone as he enumerates. It feels like it shouldn't work, but it sure does.
So this is all good, but there's one in my opinion very critical error: it's fine to the women kind of be into their captors, but it is, I think, less fine to suggest that they don't actually like their rescuers all that much. Blonde and Pedrillo are a border case, but it's really, hugely prominent with Konstanze and Belmonte. They're almost always far apart on the stage; when they first meet and Belmonte starts singing about his great love, she just backs off and looks conflicted, only embracing him gingerly and without any passion. Now, granted, Belmonte IS kind of gormless, but still, this simply will not do. It makes him look unfairly dumb, and this passionate music cannot be supported by such halfhearted dithering. The only time they seem to have any connection is when they're embracing after they've been condemned to death; I still think it wouldn't be ideal, but if the idea was that Konstanze's initial uncertainty gradually disappeared until she rediscovered her passion, I'd say, okay, that kinda works. But then after they learn they won't be killed, their persistence does not seem to last, so hell if I know. It is not a wholly satisfactory ending.
I mean, it's not terrible. It's not even bad, really, and as I noted, it had some really successes. And the main point is, Mozart's music would be enough to redeem quite a lot, anyway. I keep thinking that this is the least-known of his seven "mature" operas, but maybe that's just because it's the only one that--inexplicably--has never been on Met in HD. Regardless, it's totally rad; I would easily call it my third-favorite from the composer (just LISTEN to the opening of the overture! How is it not more iconic?). And yet, if you're just going to see one production, I'd have to go with McVicar. I'm more positive towards Loy than I've been in the past, but still--I've got my eye on you! No funny moves!
No comments:
Post a Comment