How does this experience compares with your previous Regie adventures? [no PC answer please! Working with Haenchen must be heavenly...
Genau. Hartmut ist Himmlich. And I'm not being PC!
There's nothing that bugs me more when you are trying to shop online for electronics and there's no "compare this item" link, where you can put things side by side and see how they stack up. So, to meet the challenge, I've created a "Compare the Director" chart just for Opera Cake.
Now, if I lose work over this you'll know who to blame…
I REALLY hope people have a sense of humor.
EDIT: Cut and pasted from my comment below I made a few days ago. Some (more PC people) wanted me to re-state it and make sure my feelings are clear, despite a rather irreverent jab at directors…
I hope it is clear that I greatly respect all 4 of these directors.
EDIT: Cut and pasted from my comment below I made a few days ago. Some (more PC people) wanted me to re-state it and make sure my feelings are clear, despite a rather irreverent jab at directors…
Would I work with each again? The answer is: IN A HEARTBEAT. I have actually enjoyed working with all 4 quite a bit. Gone are the waspy days when I avoid controversy and confrontation altogether. It comes down to the work, the exchange of ideas and the process of creating. I don't need BFF's. I need artistic stimulation and personal growth. If I am allowed a voice, a stake in things, and treated with even a modicum of respect than I will keep going. If my own theatrical instincts can be cultivated, not belittled, then I will see where this whacky regie road takes me.
I hope it is clear that I greatly respect all 4 of these directors.
9 comments:
"But seriously, where did Titurel GO?"
Have you checked out the python?
Jeff
This is hilarious and amazing. I feel better-informed and I can't stop giggling.
Titurel-eating pythons are the scariest ones.
"Titurel-eating pythons are the scariest ones."
I googled the following:
"A WOMAN was killed and eaten by a python
Basanti Tripura, 38, was attacked by the 10ft snake as she and a friend were collecting fruit in a forest.
By the time her companion raised the alarm and rescuers arrived on the scene she had been swallowed up to the waist.
The snake was killed so her body could be recovered, said police in Rangamati, South Eastern Bangladesh.
She is not the first victim of a python, which crushes victims around the chest before swallowing them slowly
In 1993 a 15-year-old was killed by his pet python in Colorado, USA, after it went 10 days without food. And in 1996 Grant Williams, 19, was killed by his 13ft pet in his flat."
I think the rest of the cast is safe, though. At least I assume the 200 extras are there to take the edge off if pythy gets the munchies.
Jeff
Thx for a huge laugh!
"Great. Now rub your nipples more please!" Bwahahaa
@All I had far too much fun making the chart, I admit. I was up til 5am doing it. Thankfully we have switched to evening work schedule now and could sleep in a bit.
My wife reminded me Himmelfart ended up being Himmelbutt. Most nicknames have several incarnations with my family (usually dependent on my mood, and how much complaining I do when I get home from rehearsals. The Bregenz disappointment only added to my mood). So, his ended up thusly.
The penultimate chart question was sincere. Would I work with each again? The answer is: IN A HEARTBEAT. I have actually enjoyed working with all 4 quite a bit. Gone are the waspy days when I avoid controversy and confrontation altogether. It comes down to the work, the exchange of ideas and the process of creating. I don't need BFF's. I need artistic stimulation and personal growth. If I am allowed a voice, a stake in things, and treated with even a modicum of respect than I will keep going. If my own theatrical instincts can be cultivated, not belittled, then I will see where this whacky regie road takes me.
I think you didn't understand the point. The official doctrine is that the poor singers are victims of evil-minded Regietheater directors who force them to do awful sing just to please their own ego and sadistic tendencies. If you want to please the critics, you HAVE to whine how you suffer because of them, some colleagues of yours are very good at this!
Seriously (if I can say so), that was very funny, and I envy you for working with Warlikowski and Bieito ! Too bad we in France have to bear with Joel, del Monaco and Pelly!
Your best blog yet. Love the comments also - I would check that python for sure.
The official doctrine is that the poor singers are victims of evil-minded Regietheater directors who force them to do awful sing just to please their own ego and sadistic tendencies
Actually the victims here are the audience. I HATE Eurotras with a passion. Opera is supposed to be music first, then words, the director is supposed to be the least important long after the composer, the librettist, the singers, the conductor, the musicians. So how come today the least important and least talented of the opera artistic stuff has so much power?
I don't come to opera to be shocked. I come for the music. I don't want to think what the director meant, I want to decide for myself what the music and the story means to me. I want to listen to singers. Why do the directors feel they need to shovel this stuff down my throat?
Sure, I don't have to come to Eurotrash productions. But with every year that goes by there are fewer and fewer "traditional" production, in fact traditional today would probably be considered the new avangard. Especially in Wagner operas. Name one production of Wagner today ANYWHERE that is set in time/place specified in the libretto. As to old DVDs, I like to listen to unamplified voices.
So we the audience is the victims in all that crap. If we want to listen to unamplified voices we have to pay money to watch this crap.
@Anon: DISSENT!!! I LOVE IT!
Thank you for your passionate response and welcome here. I hope you take the time to write your local opera house's General Director about your preferences. Directorial choices are complex and I have to think that your making your own voice heard will mean something to your local intendant.
From a singer's Point Of View, we LOVE audience members like you, who adamantly love the human voice, first and foremost. Just knowing there are people out there like you makes us work even harder on our craft, regardless of the regie we're given.
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