Bayreuth opens with 20-minute stage glitch
mainSebastian Baumgarten’s widely-loathed production of “Tannhäuser” came to a halt twenty minutes into the first act, due to a stage malfunction. The audience were asked to leave the auditorium while the fault was repaired. the opera resumed within half an hour.
In the 138-year history of the Bayreuth Festival, this is the first time this has happened,’ said Bayreuth archvist Sven Friedrich.
The halt in realitiy had been for over 1 hour. The reason: a cage ascending from below stage appeared on stage with a big bang.
According to the Süddeutsche Zeitung of this Saturday the performance nvertheless was a remarkable succes with great singers, orchestra, conductor and stage work. In my humble opinion resulting listening to the life radio transmission: A mediocre performance on provinicial level singer and conductor wise. Perhaps the German chancelor Angela Merkel has suspected that and therefore did not participate the opening evening of the Wagner Festspiele as she did the preceding years.
For those who want to judge the radio broadcast themselves… it is on BR Klassik right now: http://mediathek-audio.br.de/index.html?playeronly=true&channelId=brk
“……Baumgarten’s widely-loathed production of “Tannhäuser” came to a halt twenty minutes into the first act, due to a stage malfunction………”
and
“The reason: a cage ascending from below stage appeared on stage with a big bang…..”
So, if there is life beyond the grave, drawing up a short-list should be easy!
Looking into the German newspapers reporting the opening evening the last days there is no comment on the performance itself but only on the failed Venus cage appearance so that the suspicion springs to mind that the persons responsible for this Wagner spectacle staged the cage accident for distracting from the not optimal artistic performance and the ridiculous direction.