It's a timeless question in opera: do we leave it in the period it was set? Or do we experiment, maybe setting Boheme in the 60s or Handel in the First World War period? People are fiercely divided on the issue. I had a conversation with Conductor Sir Gilbert Levine a few months ago, and he was adamant that (in this case) Mozart should never be messed with. "Why mess with what already works, and has worked for centuries?" he asked rhetorically.
Others would argue that today's audiences want to feel more of a personal connection to what they're seeing on stage. You could easily come back with the question, "well why would anyone feel closer to characters from 1914 than from 1754?" And you might be right... but at least it's a time in history that maybe our grandparents remember, or at least a time of stories that still get told around the Thanksgiving Day dinner table.
Tomer Zvulun did a daring thing recently. He staged Lucia di Lammmermoor, arguably Donizetti's most famous opera, in the 1930s. What's more? He sets it in the mob world of that time! We didn't have a chance to see the production, but it sure is managing to get some rave reviews, this one from ClevelandClassical.com.
Congratulations to Tomer Zvulun, the cast and crew of this wonderful production!
7 months ago
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