SFist:

sfmike

Sun, 24 Jun 2007 00:00:25 -0800

Cedric, the Canadian theatrical genius Robert Carsen has directed literally scores of operas over the last 20 years, including the great "Mefistofole" production that the San Francisco Opera has done a couple of times. He seems to be going through a minimalist period recently. My one time at La Scala about 7 years ago was seeing his production of "Dialogues of the Carmelites" by Poulenc with 200 supernumeraries hanging around the rectangular perimeter of the completely bare stage for the entire affair. It was great and very similar to the staging of "Iphigenie." And yes, I have read about the censorship of his "Candide" production at La Scala and it doesn't reflect at all well on their new General Director, Stephene Lissner. And the fact that the censorship is over the anti-clerical stuff is actually kind of funny, because Voltaire pretty much perfected the art of the anti-clerical.

cedichou

Sat, 23 Jun 2007 23:27:06 -0800

Mike, still Carsen is co-listed as lighting designer here. I guess the lightings are indistinguishable from the stage direction. I guess your comment adds the necessary elements in terms of Carsen's involvement, which I was not aware about. Talking about Candide: if you clicked through the link where I got the picture, you'll see that the Italian version was toned down from the Chatelet one, and it's the criticism of the church that ended up on the cutting room floor. Voltaire's skewering the church in Candide ends up, 300 years later, censored by the church. It's either deeply ironic, or profoundly sad.

sfmike

Sat, 23 Jun 2007 19:48:23 -0800

Dear Cedric: Agree that it was a great production, but you might want to correct the Robert Carsen reference. He directed the original version of this production (not the lighting designer) and the French dude came and re-staged it for Carsen. And the photo of the "Candide" production is also another Carsen production. He's the bomb.