On Tuesday, January 26, at 20:30 (C.E.T.), Arte TV will show "Werther", live from Opéra Bastille (ONP).
There are at least two reasons why programming "Werther" this year in ONP was... how should I put it?... was not a very clever thing to do:
1. Opéra Bastille hosted a BSO-Munich production of "Werther" in February and March 2009, which in spite of a starry cast -including R.Villazon, S.Graham, L.Tézier, A.Kucerova- was not a success [after only 3-4 shows (out of 10!) there were loads of free seats even though the most expensive tics were drastically slashed - by like 70%, 1 hour before each show]. There's no reason to believe that the audience will embrace "Werther" less than a year after its unmemorable run [ONP is already advertising 30-50% discount on seats in the 1st category]
2. This is not a new production! It is a revival of the Jacquot's "Werther", produced and run at Royal Opera House in 2005. To me it seems that the new intendant [Nicolas Joel] insisted on inserting this opera in the program 2009-2010, to emphasize the difference between him and his predecessor [Gerard Mortier]. The top national theater and one of the richest in the world deserves better than that...
Pic from The Guardian with Alvarez & Donose in Jacquot's Werther - ROH, 2005
HOWEVER, the cast will be very good:
Jonas Kaufmann Werther
Ludovic Tézier Albert
Sophie Koch Charlotte
Anne-Catherine Gillet Sophie
so I guess you should check out the Arte website on January 26, at 20:30 (C.E.T.). Cheers!
No comments:
Post a Comment