Massacre at the opera? (Or just another Wagner Ring)
OperaLa Monnaie in Brussels has posted the image below to advertise the start of its new Wagner cycle next week.
Appropriate in light of recent events?
Insensitive?
Or just self-absorbed.
Comments
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and I hope they are all wearing good deodorant…like everywhere
I was just thinking the same thing.
If this were a French production, you’d really have to worry on the latter count!
Or maybe just planned long ahead of current events the way most marketing programmes are.
Since Chereau emphasized the critique on capitalism in his Bayreuth Ring, it’s fairly commonplace that a director make the audience aware of the material sacrifices that were made to build Valhalla. I’ll be curious what Altinoglu, one of the best MD’s of a European opera house, and Castellucci will bring to the table.
Castellucci will bring a bag of pretentious vomit to the dubious table, as is his wont.
Disgusting – one should retreat to konzertante Oper (would save a lot of money and stop a lot of nonsense)!
Did you actually see the production already to be able to describe it as “Disgusting” and “nonsense”?
Hilarious that my question receives “disagree” downvotes. Those people obviously feel seen for being called out as pretentious and prejudiced, and for having their inner dog well and truly whistled. Grow up and live in the modern world rather than in your imagined past. When you have actually seen the whole four-evening production feel free to make an evidenced comment about it, but before then it would be best to keep your negativity to yourselves.
As long as there is a lot of nudity and a silly attempt at political provocation, it’s business as usual
And with an advertisement below for a t-shirt with the words on it that say: I lick, swallow, and suck (with tiny letters between that say salt, tequila, and lime.) Hey, one’s gotta make a living.
Anyway, classical sculptural reliefs looking over a massacre might represent the sense of white supremacy that has defined most of our wars since WWII–some millions of brown people dead. Though I would say that message might be more appreciated in the French rather than the Anglophone world.
Guest, Do you prefer the war between Ukraine and Russia with thousands of white people dead?
This is just an old tradition at De Munt (that’s the original Dutch name of the place). I remember a Tannhäuser permanently in the company of 8 fully nude women, 7 or 8 months pregnant. There was a naked man as well and the women tried to stimulate him, with succes
Flemish, not Dutch…
How can anyone form an opinion about the production based on one photo?
Wagner’s music has enduring, and will endure, because of his music. Not becuse of nutty stage directors (who are probably totally incapable of composing an opera).
The image is extraordinary. Let Monnaie take this new step. Be generous and give them a chance. De Caluwe cut his teeth on the Audi/Haenchen ring, which remains a marvel. And after the Monnaie Parsifal he has made the only logical choice for a Ring. Il faut cultiver notre jardin.
Romeo Castellucci is an ‘enfant terrible’ sometimos he succedes and other times his productions are boring (failures)
The production team of the Monnaie, not being psychic, can hardly be blamed for the coincidence of their Ring Cycle starting just as the Middle East explodes – again. Personally I will not be attending the Ring Cycle, my first opera there will be The Tale of Tsar Saltan in December. Also, if you look closely, it seems the bodies are wearing flesh-coloured underwear.
Exactly which point in the Ring (or other Wagner opera) is this photo supposed to represent?
Aargh! the teeth-grindingly trite remarks that invariably appear in this comments section after the publication of words/images of any operatic production that is anything other than a Zeffirelli-style production are really tedious. And before anyone jumps down my throat, I’ve seen a number of magnificent productions by him, including his classic ROH Tosca (Domingo debut) which was my first experience of live opera. I am going to this Rheingold (and also to the Walkure later in the season) and expect at the very least to have a stimulating evening in the theatre. Its not worth commenting on any one particular comment, although the remark by Harry Collier is more than usually thoughtless (‘directors incapable of composing and opera’… *rolls eyes*