Arts & Ammo

Verdi’s 9/11

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 Europe by satirizing victims of radical Islam. The rubble of ground zero and some 3,000 dead souls make a trendy setting for Verdi’s A Masked Ball and a great occasion for pointing out the flaws in democracy and capitalism. (It was our fault, you know, and the operatic chickens have come home to roost.)

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 New York skyscrapers . . . well, who cares? Kresnik’s production will sell tickets and insure that Kresnik himself does not sink into the lower economic echelons.

“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.

April 11th, 2008 Posted by Fitzroy | Music, Theater | one comment