here's a great show to discuss conventional stagings or transposed.
Debate
it is time to have, in fact, with the arrival of Nicolas Joel in the direction of the Paris Opera, the days of the German Regietheater are counted in our beautiful capital. Perhaps also the days of staging, as staged by Nicolas Joel itself are planned, and frankly, between staged by Nicolas Joel and no staging, the difference is not always obvious ... But that's another debate.
With this staging of Dmitri Tcherniakov, we are facing another problem: that of staging very detailed but incomprehensible. It
the second time I see a staging of this Russian. He presented a Eugene Onegin Tchaikovsky's classic but very slightly transposed in September, with a direction of actors bluffing.
In this Macbeth, too, the direction of actors is impressive. Nothing is left to chance, every gesture is thought and meaning. The concern is that when I say that, I mean, it is clear that every gesture is thought and makes sense. The concern is that we do not understand what the director has thought and what direction he wanted to give.
Scotland No, no witches, no forest advance. Not even kilts or halberds. A microcosm philistine that we follow from Google Earth, history told us that it could be anywhere (though it seems that it is in Russia), anytime: the costumes, elegant, are strange point of view, they are "bourgeois XX" without precise time.
Otherwise, it is an urban guerrilla warfare followed through Google Earth.
Macbeth is a notable local poor. The awareness of his mediocrity mixed with his lust for power, aided by his wife, makes him believe that he became king of Scotland, basically. Ensuing few murders and a revolt not as clear his wife is trying to save face.
Nothing is easy to follow.
Witches have been replaced by a chorus. Why? What is the supernatural so scary for a director of the XXI century? Frankly, I have no idea. I see it as a kind of conformism of intellectuals who equate any aspect of this subculture. Actually, I do not know.
The viewer of this Verdi is constantly faced with two problems:
- follow the staging. It is difficult, many things are suggested and characters described are quite complex.
- follow the original. This is necessary because it is the text that is sung.
The alternative would be: totally stop reading the surtitles and simply follow the stage action. Or does that read the surtitles and do not watch.
Or do like me, trying to keep both, but perilous fiscal stimulus to the brain (the Paris Opera and could help people
affected by Alzheimer's disease: test your skills and abilities of abstraction to follow two stories at the same time with no link). Another
question I ask myself sometimes why such director does not he write, rather than rewriting the parts of others? A lack of courage, the choice of the facility? Because in this case, it is doubtful the slightest interest in the plot of Verdi or Shakespeare. Finally, I do not know either ...
Another thing bothers me: it's become very fashionable to sing behind a veil. Here, as projections of Google Earth are made on the entire surface of the stage, there is a transparent veil which shields the film, but it does mean that the singers sing continuously behind the veil, even behind this veil and curtains when in addition there is a curtain on stage. Given the acoustics of the Opera Bastille, which tends to stifle the voices, it's pure stupidity.
Anyway I had a good time, it's good theater Tcherniakov fact, you never get bored for a moment to follow what happens on stage. It is very elegant without being decoration, definitely something resonates among its staging and the world in which we live. He makes Regietheater strictly a staged dialectic, which questions the work. Onegin and September shows that this is not a fan of gratuitous provocation nor the technological trendy.
The direction of the Chief Teodor Currentzis is very funny. He is young, fired, hand in all directions. It is both fashionable and angry. It is far from the norm of the conductor seriously (Richard Strauss said he ran with one hand in his waistcoat pocket and that if he was using it to run is that there was a big worry). Currentzis is onomatopoeia, breath, waving his arms windmilling, pointing in odd directions, is in itself almost an annex to the staging. Nevertheless, it offers a very dramatic version of the score, not the bluster is its way of being and result is interesting and lively. I do not know how it will evolve towards more sober or not, but a leader who emerges something nice.
Originally, Carlos Alvarez, who was to provide the title role. Verdi-baritone has been a chaotic season and was replaced by Dmitri Tiliakos, excellent. It embodies a Macbeth overtaken by events, the song is subtle touching, but his voice is perhaps not sufficiently planned for the huge room of Bastille. Nevertheless, there have been air of great beauty (the final aria from Macbeth, in particular).
Violetta Urmana is much more involved than what you may read here and there, even if it does not identify with Lady Macbeth raging. The stamp is not beautiful in itself, it suffers a bit in the treble, but rather it is an impressive command. This is the song without added sugar, simple and powerful. It is not a bad actress either, contrary to my fears. Stefano Secco
MacDuff is a luxury in a singing lesson with a Verdi tenor, which I find more impressive every time I hear it, and Ferruccio Furlanetto was always her voice with its enormous impact.
All these elements make this interesting Macbeth production, even if not necessarily perfect or fully polished (I think I'm getting better mastery of the art of phrase that means nothing ...)
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