Naked dancers, fine. Naked actors, maybe. Naked opera singers — so wrong.
The Mahablog
Politics. Society. Group Therapy.
Naked dancers, fine. Naked actors, maybe. Naked opera singers — so wrong.
Maha:
“Rehearsals suggest that Mr Kresnik’s anti-capitalist staging is unlikely to be celebrated for its subtlety.”
“The staging deliberately toys with images that are extremely sensitive both in the US and Germany.”
I’ve never been much of a theatre person (Northwest Indiana) but I’m not offended by the playwright’s artful concoction. I just think it sucks that our society is compared with that of WWII Germany. Do we deserve such delineation? Maybe, I’d like to think not, but maybe our leaders do, and after all we hired them.
A presidential candidate visited my hometown today for the first time since Bobby Kennedy, pretty cool.
See Here!
Holy Jeebus, that Mickey Mouse pic gave me the creepy feeling I was watching a Bush Cabinet meeting setting forth to screw up another day.
unclead,
WE, the People, didn’t hire THEM!
Their voting machines and the people his Daddy put on the SCOTUS did.
And, as to comparing our society to Nazi Germany? At least their Fuhrer had the balls to actually serve in a war – unlike our Quisling coward.
Nekked people at the Opera? Maybe this will be the final stroke for Darth Dick Cheney. One hopes not. It would cheat the Hague! Not that that’ll ever happen…
It’s the Mickey Mouse masks that worry me, actually. These poor souls not only have to cavort around on a stage naked, they also have to sing through a mask that must also restrict their vision. I have some experience with being in the chorus of an opera. Compared with being in the chorus of, say, an oratorio, the tricky part of being in an opera is that while you are moving around the stage, singing, you have to keep one eye on the conductor to stay in sync with the orchestra and the other singers. The masks can’t be making that easier.
Also, the biggest perk about being in an opera chorus (other than singing) is getting to wear pretty costumes. Un ballo in maschera is set in the late 18th century, so usually it has a lot of Marie Antoinette-era costumes. These guys must be wondering if this is what they auditioned for.
Maha,
The naked people wearing the Mickey Mouse masks are extras–they don’t sing.
That reminds me of my one experience as a professional opera singer (I studied six years–which I don’t regret–just didn’t work out). I was singing in the chorus of Aida and there was a whackload of extras for the crowd scenes. One of the many groups was led by an older lady. At the rehearsal just before the dress rehearsal, we also got to see the acrobats, who were almost naked. As she led out her group of extras, the older lady, dressed in a powder blue pants suit and carrying her purse, was staring, her jaw dropping to the floor, as the (almost) naked acrobats did backflips in front of her.
Canadian — that’s a relief about the singers, but if there’s no excuse with the extras.
I was in an Aida chorus once, too. Great music. Trying to make Celtic little me look Egyptian was futile, though, black wig and brown makeup notwithstanding. I ended up looking like an extra in some 1950s B-movie with a title like “Revenge of the Jungle Women.”
My best part was as a Cigarette Girl in Carmen. After that I “retired” and went back to oratorio. It’s easier.
Maha,
What’s your favourite oratorio? Being a nice Jewish girl (with a definite Buddhist bent), mine’s the Messiah.
Canadian — by some coincidence the chorale I sing with is rehearsing Handel’s Israel in Egypt, which we’re going to perform in a synagogue on May 4 with some cantors as soloists. So this nice Buddhist girl is going to be singing a Jewish oratorio by the Messiah’s Christian composer. It’s an awesome oratorio; I think I like it as well as Messiah.