Manuela Hoelterhoff has a revealing interview with Sheila Nadler, who played Mrs Klinghoffer in the first production of John Adams’s broadcast-banned opera. Read what she says here.
‘ I don’t think I ever told you this, but I met … the real Mrs. Klinghoffer, on Amsterdam Avenue before I sang in the opera….’
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Oh, Manuela is wonderful … !
“The anti-Klinghoffer campaign wore out Met general manager Peter Gelb, who canceled the HD transmission into movie theaters around the world, noting the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe, while also saying the opera isn’t anti-Semitic. He somehow managed this exercise in twisting paradox and conflict management without getting his eyeballs stuck way back.”
Priceless!
Some amusing and baffling passages in this article. Why do they refer to the Jewish Defense League instead of the Anti-Defamation League which was behind the cancellation? As Wiki notes, the JDL is a far-right religious-political militant organization whose stated goal is to “protect Jews from anti-Semitism by whatever means necessary”. It was classified as “a right-wing terrorist group” by the FBI in 2001. According to the FBI, the JDL has been involved in plotting and executing acts of terrorism within the United States. So what’s the author trying to do by mentioning the JDL?
Is there a form of chauvinism when Sheila Nadler speaks about “just another example of small-minded viciousness festering among Muslim thugs…”?
This passage is especially amusing: ‘‘Peter had a lot of history books for us to look at so that we would understand that the Palestinians had been mistreated. That Palestinians singing about their land is the best music in the opera.’’ Oh my, that explains a lot…
And this is a curious remark: “I guess it was meant to invoke a timeless setting, but actually this issue only dates back to 1948.” Apparently no sense of the metaphorical meanings of Isaac and Ishmael from which we all might learn about ourselves…
The best arguments against the opera are the points about making a public figure out of a murder victim and the effects this has on his family.
Please reread the article. The quote about “Muslim thugs” is from a review Manuela wrote about the premiere in 1991.
I’m a nice Jewish girl,not a Chauvinist !!!!
JDL was a typo mistake. Its was corrected.
Yes,the Klinghoffer family is still devastated,as are millions of victims of senseless and ugly terrorism. I met the daughters recently.
My apologies. I misread that.
Thank you for rereading it !
I am very impressed by what you wrote,also.
Sheila Nadler eats BEAGLES??!!
No, she was just petting her bagel…
The article merely demonstrates the primitive ideas behind both the work and the production, attempting to fill the musical void of the score.
Can you provide us with documentation to show that you have even seen it?