Exclusive: Met saves money on set
OperaThis is a first glimpse of the set for Salome, sneaked to us by the Met workforce and scheduled for next season.
Looks a bit … wartime economy issue.
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Looks perfect for the Dance of the Two Veils.
And instead of a beheading, John the Baptist will just get a haircut.
The Met is far from alone for its sparse and often awful sets. That level of Met bashing is indeed exclusive.
Exactly. This looks like exactly the same set I have seen in multiple European productions for over 30 years including an entire Ring. There is nothing unique about this. It’s not just the Met.
Peter Gelb is a disgrace. He has managed to turn one of the greatest opera houses into a Eurotrash HD Studio. He has the artistic instincts of a street corner hot dog vendor. He will not be satisfied until he has totally destroyed the Met. The Board is to blame for giving an absolute dilettante such power. All because someone was mean to him when he was a coffee boy many years ago. A job from which he should never have been elevated.
Put your money where your mouth is! You want lavish productions? Then send your millions to the Met. Be a part of the solution, instead of just bashing the problem.
The Met has received MORE than its fair share. No more without responsible spending. No more without adequate board supervision of management. Stop the blame game.
I go to the Met for the singing and the phenomenal orchestra, not for some over-the-top set that (sometimes) is too heavy for the stage. Save on the sets and put the money elsewhere.
As long as Asmik is singing I don’t care.
On the Met future wiki page (not always correct) it shows that the role will be shared between Elza van den Heever and Asmik Grigorian. Both singers bring something different to the role and if I were to live in New York I would likely see them both.
I may still do that.
Looks like it provides a good acoustical shell. That’s what matters- the Music.
There is a thing called “Gesamtkunstwerk”. It’s not JUST the music.
Go to Carnegie Hall then.
So much for shock and awe scenery. The audiences used to applaud the sets; no more.
Maybe many of those who used to applaud are not interested in Regietheater. I am one of them. Kind of: I only applauded musicians, but loved the old sets.
50 years ago that was the case in most opera houses. Times have changed. The money’s not there either. Not sure I can remember the last new production I saw where the sets made be ‘wow’…
I believe the Lepage Ring at the MET was very expensive. I didn’t bother to go however. Attending the Schenk/Schneider-Siemsen Ring is one of my most cherished memories. We are very lucky it has been preserved on DVD.
The Lepage RING was intended to wow…and it did. We all said “wow, what a tremendous waste of money”.
Thank goodness many of us have the Schenk RING in our memories and it was committed to video.
Name me when time you applauded the sets at a Salome. No better way to ruin the mood of that specific opera.
At the Vienna State Opera production at the Kennedy Center in 1980’s (or 1970’s)
Looks like the whole opera is set in Johannakan’s Cistern
It is unfair to pass judgement before singers or a director interpret a work. However the set looks a little BDSM-ish. Just an observation. To each his own.
Sad…the Met is doomed.
P.Gelb plays the role of a political weather vane. In a few years he killed a magnificent theater.
In all fairness, it took him more than just a few years. But it has been a steady drip, drip, drip.
I will not buy tickets.
What is the SAMSUNG inscription doing there?
Sorry, forget it: I zoomed in and I saw that this is a screenshot. I thought it was an inscription on the prompter’s box.
This Salome set is from the 2021 Moscow Bolshoi production by Claus Guth a coproduction with the Metropolitan Opera.
Asmik Grigorian took over the role from Anna Netrebko at the Bolshoi 2021.
Looks like every European production of almost any opera – including the Merry Widow – in the past 30 years. I’ll so miss the old Zeffirelli production. 😉
Oh? O.K., tell me all about this “Zeffirelli production” of Salome. Where was it shown? What was its look? Who were the opening’s stars? Is it on video? Who was its first conductor? Are there a few pictures at least? Never heard of it.
About 6 years ago in a review of a new production at Salzburg the Daily Telegraph stated the set was a design for a microwave cooker, by the photos that was flattering. Most reviewers thought the opera worked if you closed your eyes.
Is this set Gelb’s idea of a joke?
Surely that’s not why he had to raid the endowment.
It reminds me of “RENT”.
Maybe he thinks the Met is an extention of Broadway. Or a Disney production.
From what I have been told, this production will include some complex/heavy projection design, which, when done well, is a collaboration with the space and set. Feels wrong to judge the incomplete visual out of its context.
This Salome is the 2021 Moscow Bolshoi production by Claus Guth, a Met coproduction. There are many production photos online with Asmik Grigorian from 2021.
it looks to me more like someone is getting into big trouble. a leaked picture, photographed from a monitor in poor quality and reflected by lamps, with an unlit stage set – you shouldn’t form a final opinion about it! in my opinion, it’s very unprofessional to share something like that. nevertheless, i’m very excited about the work, as i found claus guth’s moscow production enchanting. don’t judge a book by its cover – and especially not if you can’t even see it properly!
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