My NYTimes blog archives in 2024.
Daniel P Quinn
NJ Dec. 31, 2013
When I first went to the Opera while in high school, I always looked forward to new productions as the theatre is a temporal art not always kind to time. But certain productions like Boito's MEFISTOFELE at the City Opera first with Norman Treigle,
and then various other singers resonated with me over more than 25 years there.
The Met version seemed silly by comparison. The Zeffirelli BOHEME is still moving, the TURANDOT a self-defeating example of opera at its silliest, but they endure. the stage has other echoes and perspectives from Pina Bausch, Josef Svoboda, Tadeusz Kantor, Tom O'Horgan, Frank Corsaro, Giorgio Strehler, Wieland Wagner and Tito Capobianco, whose work has had staying power. The Ballet often revives choreography and sometimes tries to recreate original sets by Picasso, Chagall, why not the Opera ? It is a most interesting question and I am no longer certain that "new" is always the answer after 40 years of attending the Opera in New York, Milan,
Lyon, and Washington, DC.
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