Handel - Theodora / Christie, Upshaw, Daniels, Glyndebourne Festival Opera [VHS]
![Handel - Theodora / Christie, Upshaw, Daniels, Glyndebourne Festival Opera [VHS]](/images/Handel-Theodora-Christie-Upshaw-Daniels-Glyndebourne-Festival-Opera-VHS-0769720994-M.jpg)
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VHS Tape Cover Information Actor: David Daniels (VIII), Dawn Upshaw, Frode Olsen, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Richard Croft (II) Director: Peter Sellars Edition: VHS Tape Format: Classical, Color, NTSC Running Time: 206 minutes Release Date: 2000-03-30 Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Publisher: Kultur Video Studio: Kultur Video |
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VHS Movie Reviews of Handel - Theodora / Christie, Upshaw, Daniels, Glyndebourne Festival Opera [VHS]
Movie Review: Sellars, Upshaw, Hunt & Daniels Make Handel Relevant
Summary: 5 Stars
The Glyndborne production was an instant classic, and was revived twice after the festival to tour the UK and Europe--hardly a "controversial" production when all were in agreement that each aspect of this production, and each of Sellars' directorial choices, were perfectly balanced, bringing this rarely-performed but heartbreakingly relevant opera/oratorio to new light. (I remember there was even a rave review on the cover of the Los Angeles Times arts section, without any plan for the opera to be performed there.) Some of Sellars most successful productions have been with Handel (Giulio Cesare, Saul), and he and his usual team of designers (the design here is simple, strange and stunning) know exactly how to set these operas in modern America, utilizing all kinds of modern staging techniques (here, his trademark dance/gesture/semaphore performance mode reaches new heights of subtlety, expressivity and sublimity, totally in concert with the music and the drama), without in any way violating the integrity, meaning or complexity of the music. To the contrary, these artists take the music and it's meaning quite seriously, creating, with these incomparable singer/actors, complete characters in real situations, not contentless presentations of pretty music. Traditional "period" stagings of Handel often trivialize the material, barely tell the story, and hardly examine what the opera might actually be about (it turns out that Handel's work is intensely, relentlessly political). For example, the intensely effective simplicity of the presentation of the subculture of the "Christians" within the larger world of the "Romans" betrays a group of theater artists who know exactly what they are doing, and are putting their hearts and souls into their work--from the singing to the costuming to the lighting to the conducting.I'm not sure how the other reviewer saw Nixon in the characterization of the Roman governor (he seems to be an amalgamation of every Western leader of the last 25 years), but he seems to think that the outstanding performing has nothing to do with the "need I say more" production around the singers. In reality, every moment of every performance in every Sellars-directed opera has been carefully crafted through extensive collaboration between the director and the performers (besides the fact that he works with the same people again and again, like Upshaw and Hunt). These performances are astounding because the singers understand completely what this production of this opera is about. Great performances don't happen in a vacuum. Besides, the greatness of the singing is inextricably linked to the intensity and depth of the acting.
What's also amazing about this video adaptation of a live performance is the sensitivity of the camera work. Other video versions of Sellars-directed operas have been choppy, shaky and jumpy, but the transition here are smooth, intelligent and seem carefully planned. The viewer is able to imagine what the live performance looked and felt like, but can experience it as a well-directed video piece as well. However you look at it, opera productions don't get much better than this, and we're very lucky that we have this well-made video for all of us who didn't get to see it live. I'm able to see Handel in a totally new way now, and realize he's got a lot more to say to 21st Century America, and in this case, post-September 11th America, than I had ever imagined.