Joan Sutherland Theatre at Sydney Opera House. Circle (Seat H16, A$206).
Story. See previous post.
Conductor - Nicolas Milton; Turandot - Anna-Louise Cole, Calaf - Diego Torre, Liu - Jennifer Black, Timor - Richard Anderson.
Note: there are cast changes in this production that I didn't copy down.
Opera Australia is making it a big deal that this is a new production of Turandot. It is certainly new, but is it something worth raving about?
In the last blog entry, I talked about appropriateness of making the production and cast look Asian/Japanese. For today, the questions are reversed.
I had a long "discussion" with Google's Gemini on the transformation that's happening in OA, and how Madama Butterfly and Turandot represent respectively the old and the new schools.
With Ann Yee as the director and choreographer, one may think OA wanted the appropriate level of cultural sensitivity in the new production. (I know such a statement is problematic for some people.) I have no idea exactly what she intended to do, but the end result - to me at least - is a production that tries to erase as much cultural reference as possible. In the Director's Notes article, Yee starts by asking the question "Why is a 100 year old opera relevant?" Since she stated that she didn't know about the opera until 2022, I guess she wasn't into operas until recently as Turandot must be one of the most popular operas. I remember seeing it recently at the Met, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and Berlin State. And in Sydney in 2012. With all due respect to her intelligence and credentials, I venture to guess she hasn't gotten all the reasons people go to operas.
For me the most important reasons are to enjoy good music and a good story, everything else is close to being irrelevant, and to elevate "secondary objectives" above those fundamental reasons is not doing the opera and the audience justice.
Let's talk about the production. One word to describe it: minimalist. We have basically four walls (well, technically three), with a "slab" in the middle on a rotating platform. The slab further articulates and forms what is close to a palace (or rather a throne). Evidently the walls symbolize oppression, but who is being oppressed? Somewhat akin to my point about Pinkerton being the victim in Butterfly, Turandot is the victim here, or so the argument goes. One benefit of such a sparse set is that sound gets reflected into the audience: the singers sounded a lot louder.
There is a large chorus, and a children's chorus. They do quite a bit of singing, and projected quite well. I was not paying attention to how fickle the populace was (from demanding a head to pleading for mercy), and I wasn't hit with it either. As to the non-period costumes the chorus members wear? My first thought was they were purchased on sale at K-mart. Yes, K-mart is still a thing in Australia. And after having thought about that some more, I still think so.
The great "innovation" in this production is the introduction of Luo-Ling, Turandot's ancestor whose horrible fate was the reason Turandot was who she was. That's part of the story is a bit of a stretch as Luo-Ling was supposed to pre-date Turandot by 2000 years. For someone unfamiliar with the story, Luo-Ling's appearance is inexplicable. For someone who knows the story, it was a couple of minutes of useless theater. She was at least dressed in period costume, so that's a plus,.
The three characters Ping, Pong, and Pang (I agree the names are a bit offensive) are also called P1, P2 and P3 in this production. They are hapless computer/coding nerds, which doesn't add anything to the story. In the original form they are at least comical (which may, again, be a problem this day and age). There is no attempt to make the principals look Asian: Turandot has blonde hair, for instance.
All that detracted from some solid singing by the cast. Liu was captivating in both "Signore, ascolta" and "Tu che di gel sei cinta." Calaf's voice could be stronger, but the rendition of "Nessun Dorma" was good, and he managed the high note effortlessly.
It's difficult to be managing an opera house nowadays (especially if the manager is incompetent). OA suffered the loss of both its CEO and Artistic Director over the last year or so. Unless the Board is strong and unified, there must be a lot of different visions being debated. Speaking selfishly, I hope the vision that led to this production of Turandot wanes. A few years ago I consider OA a strong company in the forefront of the operatic world. Recently I am more inclined to think of it's muddled direction to be similar to the of the Metropolitan Opera, but without the household-named talent.
Will I try to catch more shows next time I visit? Yes. Will I go out of my way to see them? Not so sure.
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