Handel - Theodora / Christie, Upshaw, Daniels, Glyndebourne Festival Opera [VHS]
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VHS Movie Reviews of Handel - Theodora / Christie, Upshaw, Daniels, Glyndebourne Festival Opera [VHS]
Movie Review: GF Haendel ''Theodora''
Summary: 5 Stars
HELP HELP HELP
This first shipment ''theodora'' has never arrived !!!!!!!
The second shipment ''Julius Cesar'' , shipped a month later, has arrived ten days ago.
Can you have a look into the shipments , pls
I want these two DVDs urgently.
Thanks
Michael
Movie Review: from specific to general
Summary: 5 Stars
Perhaps some of the reviewers who preceded me have been too literal in their interpretations of this production. As I see it, a rather powerful (and hypocritical) group in power is persecuting a small and rather meek group, the reigning group using religion/culture as the basis of their demands for conformity. With a few adjustments it could be any set of cultures, Chinese government versus the Tibetans, for example. Sellars concept is quite powerful; where he goes wrong (whether due to ego, to poor taste, or to lack of trust in the intelligence of his audience) is in gratuitous action: all that hand-waving, e.g. The worst offense for me is in "fly-catching", i.e., the addition by the director of sounds or actions that distract the audience from the important part of the scene, in the case of Handel the glorious music and in the case of this production the gorgeous singing.
In spite of all the nit-picking complaints I have about Sellars direction, this is a very powerful piece of theatre. Sellars, by the way, has said that he loves it when he gets booed; that means (to him) that people are really thinking about the issues. OK, Mr. Sellars, have your ego-boosting explanation, but this person will boo you for so much idiotic micro-managing: slurred speech in an opera to signify drunkeness!; sopranos singing while bent double over the back of a chair; characters rolling about on the floor and crying out in fear or pain while another character is singing such beautiful music, etc. But there's just too much about this production that is splendid -- don't pass it up because of poor Peter's bad taste.
Movie Review: Absolute masterwork
Summary: 5 Stars
Probably the most daring and exciting production by Peter Sellars. Certainly one of Haendel's masterworks, while little-known. Dawn Upshaw and Lorraine Hunt at their singing and acting best. An absolute must for music lovers, theater lovers and all people fascinated by the unique gift of Sellars to create contemporary overtones around a classical piece.Movie Review: Yes, but
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm torn. I think the singing is absolutely riveting...everyone is terrific. I love the set with the huge cracked bottles. Handel's music is gorgeous, and it's gorgeously played. So a very strong yes.
But...but...it seems to me that the production has to serve the music. I don't see how it serves the music to put the men in flying suits (if that's what they are) and to pretend that this has something to do with the American president. Was Nixon, or whoever this was supposed to be, executing Christians? Or Democrats, for that matter? The concept is just so stupid and jarring, set against this wonderful music.
Would someone who knows the text better than I do please tell me if in the original Valens is referred to as "President," as he is several times here? Was the original word "Emperor" perhaps? If so, is it OK with the director of this production and his fans to change the words to fit this lame conception of what Handel was talking about? [A reviewer who knows more about the subject that I do has just told me that the word "president" is in the original libretto....]
Anyway, the production made me cringe, but the singing and playing are so beautiful that I'm giving it four stars. Bravo to Christie and the singers, boo to this lame-o production.
Movie Review: The Gospel According to St. Peter (Sellars)
Summary: 1 Stars
Handel's Oratorio celebrates the steadfast faithfulness of the Christian Theodora in the face of Roman persecution. She won't worship Caesar's gods, by Jove. In Sellars' retelling, Caesar becomes the American president and the Roman centurions become
U. S. Navy personnel in orange flight suits with American flags on their sleeves. But this is clearly not a mere updating for audiences unfamiliar with any history prior to Britney Spear's latest commitment. Despite the DVD cover's claim that the parable is "timeless," Sellars is, in fact, shamelessly subverting Handel's work to serve a very timely and political purpose-- to bash America. Bill (There's-no-easy-way-to-say-I've-sinned) Clinton was in office when this video was released (1996), so it is not just an attack on George (Mission Accomplished) Bush. It is nonpartisan in its contempt for a militaristic America.
But why would Sellars choose a work celebrating Christianity to make his point when, according to enlightened European thought, the trouble with America is that it is too religious? If the American president really did persecute Christians-- as Sellars claims on the surface-- wouldn't that be cause for Sellars and his Glyndebourne audience to celebrate? Obviously, what Handel understood as Christianity is not what Sellars has in mind. In Sellars' theology, the nominal Christians of today are death-dealing hypocrites, and the atheist-- but "spiritual"!-- enlightened folks are the "Christians." These touchy-feely "Christians" are comfortable with their bodies and often appear to be in orgasmic swoons. No doubt they eat organic vegetables and drive hybrids. And they are persecuted by diet-Coke-drinking Caesar worshippers who, to cap things off, still practice capital punishment by lethal injection.
Is this an effective co-opting of religion for radical purposes? Hardly. As a number of reviewers have noted, the transcendent beauty of Handel's music makes Sellars' trendy gimmicks irrelevant. I wonder about the singers. Is it that hard to get a gig these days that one has to sing for the likes of Sellars to put food on the table? Besides, Sellars won't get any kudos from Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion) or the other pop intellectuals who have had a belly full of people trying to reinterpret religion to salvage something of value. Dawkins, Harris, Hitchens, Dennett, and others suggest that real religion stinks and that it is time to simply dump it and move on. Sellars should listen up and employ his talents where they fit most naturally-- say in a new production of the Vagina Monologues. Leave Christianity to Handel, Bach, and, well, Christians.