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Met will stop blacking up Otello

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norman lebrecht

August 05, 2015

Peter Gelb has told the Hyperallergic website:

‘We recently came to the conclusion that it would make sense, that this production should not employ any makeup. I realize it’s a sensitive issue. We feel that it’s the appropriate direction for this production and we’re happy with that decision. Quite frankly, [director Bartlett Sher] and I have talked about this for some time, how [Otello] should look in this production, so it’s a decision that has evolved over time.’

2015 production photo of Latvian tenor Aleksandrs Antonenko

Gelb added: ‘The [poster] look that was achieved was mostly through shadowy lighting. It was meant to be very moody and atmospheric. It wasn’t meant to launch a controversy or represent the actual production.’

h/t: NPR

UPDATE: Chicago got there first, as usual:

John von Rhein’s Chicago Tribune review of Lyric’s Otello that opened our 2013/14 season with general director Anthony Freud:

October 6, 2013:

It’s worth noting that, at Freud’s behest, Botha eschewed the blackface makeup that remains a shameful part of “Otello” performance tradition in most opera houses, even though the spoken theater has long since banished its use in performances of the original Shakespeare “Othello.”