CommentMarch06 - Page: 1 of 1

A wealthy patron of the New York Met was quoted recently as saying she hoped GM Peter Gelb’s interest in livening things up at the Met didn’t signal that the venerable Met, under his leadership, was going to veer too far off course and edge toward the “flaky”.

The comment drew a chuckle here.

We can only guess that she was referring to things like Peter Sellers’ “Dr. Atomic” and Mr. Gelb’s interest in commissioning new pieces that might attempt to push the edges of the envelope, so to speak. This same patron went on to say that she hoped the Met wouldn’t fall into the trap of European companies that seem to reward directors who thrive on boosting their notoriety by shocking audiences with either cryptic modern productions whose settings often indulge the sadistic and masochistic crowd, confuse a regular opera audience, or titillate and exploit singers and actors by requiring that they appear in scenes depicting sexual depravity.

In one of our earlier Commentaries, we noted the shock of German audiences when they attended a performance of Calixto Bieito production of Mozart’s “‘Abduction from the Seraglio”’ at the Komische Oper in June of 2004 and witnessed simulated rape, masturbation, mutilations, urine drinking, drug abuse, violence and other tasteless acts instead of the usual fare. At the time, OperaOnline.us also noted a New York Times piece that addressed the shenanigans that went on at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden where Verdi’s “Don Carlo” was performed. The Times chronicled naked, bound and quivering bodies on stage, the simulated dousing of captives with gasoline as their executioners tried to spark lighters beneath their heads.

The Times noted that “the quest for this kind of spectacle cannot last, if only because scandal is not a renewable resource. Whatever remaining taboos exist in the opera house can be broken only so many times before this approach becomes a parody of itself.”

Okay, that’s then; do we really expect this from the Met today? No, we don’t. But we can and probably will see more and more of the European influence from hauteur directors who hope to sell a Met audience that this is the wave of the future, which is probably what spooked the patron above when she read of Gelb’s interest in commissioning new works, bringing modern works to the Met and of his interest in soliciting innovative directors.

Frankly, we think the renewed interest in commissioning new works is encouraging – so long as a mindset doesn’t set in and “new” doesn’t become inextricably intertwined with challenging but obtuse and, frankly, awful music, that is revered by so many critics, but a dud musically, as in Leon Janacek’s “Kata Kabanova”, Andre Previn’s “Streetcar Named Desire” or Sir Richard Rodney Bennett’s “Mines of Sulfur”, to name a few.
Only time will tell what “new” means to Mr. Gelb.

It’s when pondering weighty things such as this that we tend to muse and hope a little tongue-in-cheek that things don’t get too “flaky”, as in Bieito flaky. We trust they won’t.

Not that anybody asked, but this month we write about the northeast tour of Carlisle Floyd’s contemporary piece, “Susannah” and, well, if it isn’t obvious, we mention more than once the importance of the nude scene. The scene is central to the story and a director who plays it safe, may be missing an opportunity to give this worthy opera the extra legs it deserves. This may be one occasion when nudity is not only proper, but essential, even in opera.

Yes, there are times when a little controversy is actually beneficial, and especially so when the music is pretty good as it is here, but the story just doesn’t quite seem to ignite audiences as it might otherwise do.

In brief: the story revolves around a young and innocent “Susannah” Polk who is seen bathing nude in a stream that flows past her home in New Hope Valley, Tennessee, circa early 1940s. That she lives in a religious community where sex outside marriage is highly discouraged and gossip about a young girl bathing nude inflames church elders and sparks all sorts of wild speculation, can be pretty explosive stuff in theater – if the nude scene is done right, actually done in the nude -- or in a partial body stocking. Are we attaching too much importance to this scene and the affect it can have on ticket sales?

A smart marketing person would almost insist that a director take this into account.

We took a glance at the graphics used by Virginia Opera for its November production of “Susannah”, for a reality check to see what they promote and, sure enough, the nude scene is what the person who designed the poster saw and emphasizes in the promotional art. Smart, move!

As we note in our accompanying review of the CD, which we thoroughly enjoyed, “Susannah” succeeds on the strength of its music. But music is only half an opera when performed in a theater before an audience. There is gold in the hills of a sensual story that may be lost in the valleys of caution, especially for an English-singing opera that suffers because it isn’t sung in Italian and hesitates to fully exploit a story that is bursting with sensuality.

“Susannah” is not a spectacle, as “Aida”, nor does it hold the romantic allure of a “La Boheme” or “Madama Butterfly”, nor can it boast the drama of a “Don Carlo”. It has an interesting story and some pretty good music that grows on you the more you listen to it. But like, Strauss’ “Salome” it has something else – something that is universal in its appeal – and the “that” which is of particular interest here is its strong sexual theme, even if repressed.

Susannah’s nudity and seduction, which is based on a Biblical account of “Susannah and the Elders”, and which has been the subject of various Baroque artists has the juice to generate the kind of buzz that sells tickets. Why not use it? It’s both appropriate and, if done well, could generate the kind of interest that greeted Karita Matilla when she went “buffo” in the Met’s 2004 sizzling “Salome”. Unlike the Europeans, however, who use sex out of context and employ it to offend audiences, here it can be integrated nicely because it is part of the story, and would be a pretty sure bet to draw those who might otherwise stay home.

There’s a saying in the selling profession: a smart salesman doesn’t sell the steak he sells the sizzle. There’s something to be said for smart marketing.