Just in: Glyndebourne displays its Rosenkavalier costumes
mainThe festival has just posted a short video, explaining the reasons behind its contentious costume decisions in an opera where a blameless young singer, Tara Erraught, was derided for her size.
Octavian in a frumpy dressing-gown is not a pretty sight. That does not excuse the fat-fest, but clearly the outfit did not help.
That 1’36” vdo seems not to give any explanations for Octavian’s costumes. I don’t recall any from the Ballets Russes productions involving a dressing gown! Did I miss something?
Why did they dress Octavian as they did? What possibly could be the explanation for that horrid wig?
Glyndebourne has already jettisoned the wig and changed some of Octavian’s costumes, so what Norman not entirely fairly calls “the fat-fast” criticism of Tara Erraught – only one of my colleagues used the “f”-word – has obviously been taken to heart by the costume designers. I was there on the first night and I overheard several members of the audience commenting in a none-too-complimentary fashion on the singer’s suitability for the title role as she appeared on stage. That is not to excuse some of the language used about her appearance, but it does sort of confirm my contention that Erraught was not well-served by the costume designer. Interesting that they don’t defend the costume decisions for Octavian, isn’t it?