I normally suggest martinis on Friday, but it’s April, the sun is shining, and beer seems more in order. Despite their occasional deficiencies in opera (see post below), some Germans are attempting to hold on to their traditions. Somebody needs to buy the tuba player a beer.
The Erfurt Opera charts new lows.
We have become painfully aware lately that you can’t poke fun at Islam, but you can still demonstrate your sophistication in 
Austrian director Johann Kresnik’s version of Verdi’s opera, complete with naked cast wearing nothing but Mickey Mouse masks, debuts tomorrow at the Erfurt Theater. The Telegraph reports:
“It will be a different, a provocative masked ball on the ruins of the World Trade Centre,” [Kresnik] told reporters before Saturday’s premiere. “The naked stand for people without means, the victims of capitalism, the underclass, who don’t have anything anymore.”
As for those who do not belong to the underclass, for instance people who fly on airplanes or work in
“One has to introduce new elements,” he said. “Otherwise it is difficult to attract new theatregoers.”
No American capitalist trampling on the less fortunate could say it better! Kresnik has apparently succeeded; the production is nearly sold out. Those “new theatergoers” will line up to see fat naked men in Mickey Mouse masks.
“It’s a very beautiful, poetic scene,” said Guy Montavon, the theatre’s general manager.
We can only hope that a few in the audience will notice the contrast between the beauty of Verdi’s music and the hideous vision of the director.
Kresnik’s critique of American society makes one relieved to be an American.
