Unrestricted Arias
Leather daddies? Gangsters? Closed-circuit cameras? Opera director Dmitri Bertman knows how to get noticed By John Keillor
Like the Russian spawn of Robert Lepage and Roman Polanski, hot shot director Dmitri Bertman is famous for his eye-popping takes on sacred cows. Since founding Moscow’s Helikon Opera at the age of 23, he’s amassed fans and foes in equal numbers. Bertman’s new production of Dvorák’s Rusalka—an unsentimental interpretation of The Little Mermaid that dresses up the tale’s black magic, infidelity and martyrdom with hulking set pieces and Bauhausian lily ponds—marks his fourth outing in a series of controversial collaborations with the COC. A road map for the uninitiated.
La Traviata
(1999, 2007)
The production: Roving blocks shift to form raucous leather bars, a frothy 19th-century dreamscape and a white-walled asylum as Parisian courtesan Violetta loses her lover, her reputation and her mind.
The verdict: The Globe and Mail decries the mad-as-a-hatter 1999 version, applauding the “few well-deserved boos” and urging patrons to beg for a refund.
All is forgiven by ’07—the run is sold out.
Dido and Aeneas (2003)
The production: Dreary servitude is for suckers. The naive Dido’s devoted courtiers are tricked-out gangsters and wicked accountants who have no problem capitalizing on their broken-hearted African queen’s liquidation.
The verdict: Critics dismiss the fedora-heavy costume design and contrived set details—like a giant puddle representing the divide between Carthage and Troy—as over the top.
From the House of the Dead (2008)
The production: Drab prisoners in a Siberian gulag crawl around
in cages and reminisce about murders they deny
committing while silent guards Big Brother them
on closed-circuit cameras.
The verdict: The pundits and the public fall hard. Who knew a rarely
produced opera with no real narrative, a lack of standout characters and a serious dearth of eye candy would be such
a crowd-pleaser?
Rusalka runs Jan. 31 to Feb. 23 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. $60–$290. 145 Queen St. W., 416-363-8231.
Related:
• Fine Tuned: Move over, Measha. Soprano Adrianne Pieczonka is taking centre stage
• Chase Divas: Four bargains to satisfy an opera craving
• The Cult of Measha: How Toronto went gaga for Measha Brueggergosman
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