CONTAINS SPOILERS.
I attended opening night of NZ Opera's production of Wagner's Flying Dutchman on Saturday evening with my husband. I am slowly, carefully learning to love Wagner. I have The Ring highlights on my ipod. The Valkyries are great for jogging.
The first full-length Wagner opera I attended was Tristan and Isolde (5 hours - and hard work, not recommended for beginners) so Dutchman, at 2 hours 45 including intermission, was totally doable. That doesn't mean it's an easy show. The first act is interminably long and nothing really happens except 1. the establishing of the Dutchman's back story - captain of a ghost ship, allowed to land on shore every 7 years to search for appropriate wife, has had no luck so far; 2. Norwegian captain Daland very happy to sell his only daughter to the Dutchman, who appears to have tonnes of ghost treasure. All this takes an hour and the whole time, the poor male chorus are crammed, sleeping, in a cube (symbolising the ship's steerage quarters, steerage being a word I learnt from Titanic).
Things pick up immensely in Act 2 with a brilliant female chorus number, followed by Senta doing some yodelling (of sorts). Daland and the Dutchman show up, "found you a boyfriend!" "Thanks, Dad!" says Senta - 10 minutes of love duet. Senta (Orla Boylan) is threatening to drown out the orchestra - it's impressive. The show however, goes downhill. Senta and the Dutchman didn't get the memo that the opera was being set in the 1980s, and they look very sheepish when the chorus shows up with crimped hair and fluoro outfits. It's apparently also a pizza party and we have some shameless product placement. All of which I'm OK with. Then suddenly I feel like I'm back in Germany and watching a piece of Regietheater (see my previous post!) as the chorus begins a) throwing food, b) flashing knickers, c) mooning, d) spewing. Incidentally we've already had a blood spew in Act 1 so this is the second spew of the evening. The ghost crew are all in their flesh-coloured undies. I was grateful for the undies.
I was particularly confused as to how a fabled nautical tale could be produced on stage with zero reference to the ocean. Boylan did have an upper arm tattoo, but sadly, it was not an anchor.
However, a mixed review (which Wagner also received for the premiere in 1843), should never put you off going to the opera. This production of Flying Dutchman has the stunning NZSO down in the pit, and you can't ask for much better than that. The singing, across the board, is great; Boylan I've mentioned, and her brassed-off boyfriend Erik (Peter Auty). Worst case scenario, you can close your eyes and enjoy some bloody fantastic music. Furthermore, as with anything from a government policy to a public sculpture, people need to make up their own minds. I can see this production (well, Act 2 onwards) appealing greatly to some of my more avant garde friends, who will immediately see the "symbolism" of flesh coloured undies, who will applaud the director's "vision", who will "get" the "concept" and be satisfactorily "challenged" by the "piece."
NZ companies that are hiring NZ people need to be supported by NZers. We all went and saw The Hobbit, didn't we, which even with the best of intentions, wasn't great. We supported it because it employed, and continues to employ, tonnes of Kiwis and it's heart was in the right place. (I thought it was at least an hour too long; something people freely say about Wagner).
New Zealand gets two, maybe three fully-staged operas a year. We should never dismiss a single production because let's face it, beggars can't be choosers. Many in the audience on Saturday night got to their feet and whooped; maybe they loved the show, maybe they loved the music, maybe they were just so grateful to see Wagner being staged in a small country that tends to prefer authentic versions of Carmen (cos it's full of chart-toppers) and Turandot (there's a gong, and also that song, you know the one the guy sings, the loud one, it's on X Factor a lot).
I too, am thrilled that Dutchman sailed into town (see what I did there?) and gave me plenty to mull over: what was right about it, what wasn't quite right about it, what could have been done differently perhaps. Any opera experience is fodder for one's intellectual and emotional development, in which case, Dutchman has hit the nail on the head.
PS. Anyone else dying to know what Ian Dando thought? This guy didn't like Don Giovanni being updated - wonder how he feels about blood spew.
Posted by Georgia Jamieson Emms
I attended opening night of NZ Opera's production of Wagner's Flying Dutchman on Saturday evening with my husband. I am slowly, carefully learning to love Wagner. I have The Ring highlights on my ipod. The Valkyries are great for jogging.
The first full-length Wagner opera I attended was Tristan and Isolde (5 hours - and hard work, not recommended for beginners) so Dutchman, at 2 hours 45 including intermission, was totally doable. That doesn't mean it's an easy show. The first act is interminably long and nothing really happens except 1. the establishing of the Dutchman's back story - captain of a ghost ship, allowed to land on shore every 7 years to search for appropriate wife, has had no luck so far; 2. Norwegian captain Daland very happy to sell his only daughter to the Dutchman, who appears to have tonnes of ghost treasure. All this takes an hour and the whole time, the poor male chorus are crammed, sleeping, in a cube (symbolising the ship's steerage quarters, steerage being a word I learnt from Titanic).
Things pick up immensely in Act 2 with a brilliant female chorus number, followed by Senta doing some yodelling (of sorts). Daland and the Dutchman show up, "found you a boyfriend!" "Thanks, Dad!" says Senta - 10 minutes of love duet. Senta (Orla Boylan) is threatening to drown out the orchestra - it's impressive. The show however, goes downhill. Senta and the Dutchman didn't get the memo that the opera was being set in the 1980s, and they look very sheepish when the chorus shows up with crimped hair and fluoro outfits. It's apparently also a pizza party and we have some shameless product placement. All of which I'm OK with. Then suddenly I feel like I'm back in Germany and watching a piece of Regietheater (see my previous post!) as the chorus begins a) throwing food, b) flashing knickers, c) mooning, d) spewing. Incidentally we've already had a blood spew in Act 1 so this is the second spew of the evening. The ghost crew are all in their flesh-coloured undies. I was grateful for the undies.
I was particularly confused as to how a fabled nautical tale could be produced on stage with zero reference to the ocean. Boylan did have an upper arm tattoo, but sadly, it was not an anchor.
However, a mixed review (which Wagner also received for the premiere in 1843), should never put you off going to the opera. This production of Flying Dutchman has the stunning NZSO down in the pit, and you can't ask for much better than that. The singing, across the board, is great; Boylan I've mentioned, and her brassed-off boyfriend Erik (Peter Auty). Worst case scenario, you can close your eyes and enjoy some bloody fantastic music. Furthermore, as with anything from a government policy to a public sculpture, people need to make up their own minds. I can see this production (well, Act 2 onwards) appealing greatly to some of my more avant garde friends, who will immediately see the "symbolism" of flesh coloured undies, who will applaud the director's "vision", who will "get" the "concept" and be satisfactorily "challenged" by the "piece."
NZ companies that are hiring NZ people need to be supported by NZers. We all went and saw The Hobbit, didn't we, which even with the best of intentions, wasn't great. We supported it because it employed, and continues to employ, tonnes of Kiwis and it's heart was in the right place. (I thought it was at least an hour too long; something people freely say about Wagner).
New Zealand gets two, maybe three fully-staged operas a year. We should never dismiss a single production because let's face it, beggars can't be choosers. Many in the audience on Saturday night got to their feet and whooped; maybe they loved the show, maybe they loved the music, maybe they were just so grateful to see Wagner being staged in a small country that tends to prefer authentic versions of Carmen (cos it's full of chart-toppers) and Turandot (there's a gong, and also that song, you know the one the guy sings, the loud one, it's on X Factor a lot).
I too, am thrilled that Dutchman sailed into town (see what I did there?) and gave me plenty to mull over: what was right about it, what wasn't quite right about it, what could have been done differently perhaps. Any opera experience is fodder for one's intellectual and emotional development, in which case, Dutchman has hit the nail on the head.
PS. Anyone else dying to know what Ian Dando thought? This guy didn't like Don Giovanni being updated - wonder how he feels about blood spew.
Posted by Georgia Jamieson Emms