I'm not a big Wagner fan but I'm a fan of the opera and anything medieval. Ergo, upon hearing about a new modernist interpretation of Wagner’s “Tannhäuser”, I got interested. And while a sound measure of skepticism tends to accompany my interpretation and experience of most modernist adaptations of medieval narratives, the new spin on “Tannhäuser” sounds worthy of a check-out.
Plus, if the production is shorter than 9 hours, of course I'd be game.
"The opera unfolds at Wahnfried, Wagner’s home there, with the prompter’s box turned into the composer’s grave and site of the Holy Grail. A bed, placed center stage, where Parsifal’s mother dies and Kundry fails to seduce our boyish hero, is the locus of more comings and goings than a bedroom in a French farce, and it’s the obvious symbol of birth and death. Gone are the long Wagnerian stretches of inaction. Sets and singers are in constant motion."
More here.
graph per ny times
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3 comments:
Hm. I wondered how you'd take this as it is a medieval narrative, after all.
So I guess you need to get a ticket two years prior to production, you know in typical Bayreuth fashion... :)
I'm sure this would be one of those experiences that needs to be had but afterwards I'd first say: "dude! what was that?!"
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