Spiderman, Barbie und Roboter (Daniil Simkin) statt Puppe, Zinnsoldat und Bär - klingt gut, schaut aber in den zermanschten Farben der Eisernen-Vorhang-Zeit richtig grausig aus ...
Da kann Kirill Kourlaev als Drosselmeyer (hier neben Maria-Kind: Maria Tolstunova) noch sein Bestes geben ... bei dieser Choreografie-Regie hilft nichts mehr. (Fotos © Das Ballett/Wiener Staatsoper)
WIENER STAATSOPER IN SACHEN GESCHMACKLOSIGKEIT NICHT ZU TOPPEN: GYULA HARANGOZO MIT SEINEM KREATIVEN ERSTLING, DEM TSCHAIKOWSKY-KLASSIKER DER NUSSKNACKER - DR. WILD ÄRGERTE SICH DERMASSEN, DASS SEINE KRITIK INS ENGLISCHE RUTSCHTE (womit sich intimacy: art wiederum ab sofort sporadisch für internationale Leser öffnet). IN DIESEM SINNE: IRON CURTAIN CALL FOR HARANGOZO!
We expected with the beginning of the Harangozo-era (two years ago) a come back of old traditions in the Viennese ballet world. This was already something to bear, but now it even happened with a lack of quality and taste! The Nutcracker, considered worldwide a ticket office bonanza due to an established reputation as “the” Christmas time family performance, premiered last Friday, September 28th at the Staatsoper. It was the last and more tragic act of what many consider an intentional political decision to close the last Austrian classical ballet company. Gyula Harangozo´s choreography (after the old version of Wassili Wainonen) manages beyond expectations, to strip the show from the story, the fun, the lavish glamour, musicality, taste and ... dance. Bravo!
"First-class" ballet-dancers - non-logical, tasteless, embarrasing
The ballet begins (very slowly) with the Christmas party at Maria’s house where everyone is contemporarily dressed: men in suits, ladies in simple robes and pointed shoes. The "mother", the always elegant Dagmar Kronberger, wears a "virtiginous slit". After a projected amateur cartoon representing a stiff animated computer game about a royal couple molested by "Creepyman" (?!), Drosselmeyer brings Barbie, Roboter and Spiderman (falling loudly from a rope: András Lukács) to dance for the guest. The three figures replace the classical doll, tin soldier and bear of the traditional story in three solos without spark, fantasy and audience appreciation. After that the choreographer thinks that an intermission is deserved... Nobody knows why, because the second act just begins where the first one ended. Maria goes to bed and dreams of the just received Nutcracker-toy, coming alive and fighting, not the usual mouse, but clumsy dark creatures with huge leg warmers and obvious difficulty in movement called Creepies. Creepyman himself comes into the scene impressive, more for his hot pink sunglasses than for his old Russian-style body mimic. With the snow scene the show traditionally picks up whereas here the tragedy turns into comic. In her dream Maria dances as an adult (pretty classic-dancer: Aliya Tanikpaeva) with Nutcracker transformed into a prince as snow falls indoors. Outside the big glass windows, the white hills rest under a clear sky. Snowflake-girls move in a repetitive dance before they hop on one leg off the stage, off the rhythm, up, the steep white hills.
Time for a break - thank God
After this 20 minutes act, the disoriented audience has "earned" another 20 minutes intermission ... To those who courageously stay for the only third act of the Nutcracker-history, Harangozo offers a view of a grotto on a painted canvas. In front some untalented red bats - already shaky on their legs - are easily defeated by the couple on their way to the palace. The big picture opens with musical accent and bright light revealing the full cast in pose; the audience is stunned into embarrassing and shocked silence. Obviously the costume-designer has never heard of color-palettes where chosen colors are matching together. - In this show, there exists no visual concept - the widespread use of lycra reminds one of a review behind the iron curtain -, “divertissement” loses its etymological meaning, “virtuoso” is no longer an adjective but an unreached goal, “ensemble” means: every body on stage, not together nor in line! The stage lighting is sloppy with obvious mistakes and its concept misses every clue to the action. The set looks like (or is) a student essay with bits recycled productions from the remote past. The music direction of Sascha Goetzel is schizophrenic trying to follow fast and slow tempi of an illogical choreography in addition to full numbers repeated to double length (as if once wouldn´t be enough).
All in all: This dancing reminds of a bad provincial school performance where not even the (too) many entrances of kids seem to justify the poor quality. Andrian Fadeyev is a young talented Russian dancer who - with a stiff neck and personality - brings little to the prince-role. Only Kirill Kourlaev makes the best out of his Drosselmeyer-part adding verve to a sad evening. Dr. Wild
We expected with the beginning of the Harangozo-era (two years ago) a come back of old traditions in the Viennese ballet world. This was already something to bear, but now it even happened with a lack of quality and taste! The Nutcracker, considered worldwide a ticket office bonanza due to an established reputation as “the” Christmas time family performance, premiered last Friday, September 28th at the Staatsoper. It was the last and more tragic act of what many consider an intentional political decision to close the last Austrian classical ballet company. Gyula Harangozo´s choreography (after the old version of Wassili Wainonen) manages beyond expectations, to strip the show from the story, the fun, the lavish glamour, musicality, taste and ... dance. Bravo!
"First-class" ballet-dancers - non-logical, tasteless, embarrasing
The ballet begins (very slowly) with the Christmas party at Maria’s house where everyone is contemporarily dressed: men in suits, ladies in simple robes and pointed shoes. The "mother", the always elegant Dagmar Kronberger, wears a "virtiginous slit". After a projected amateur cartoon representing a stiff animated computer game about a royal couple molested by "Creepyman" (?!), Drosselmeyer brings Barbie, Roboter and Spiderman (falling loudly from a rope: András Lukács) to dance for the guest. The three figures replace the classical doll, tin soldier and bear of the traditional story in three solos without spark, fantasy and audience appreciation. After that the choreographer thinks that an intermission is deserved... Nobody knows why, because the second act just begins where the first one ended. Maria goes to bed and dreams of the just received Nutcracker-toy, coming alive and fighting, not the usual mouse, but clumsy dark creatures with huge leg warmers and obvious difficulty in movement called Creepies. Creepyman himself comes into the scene impressive, more for his hot pink sunglasses than for his old Russian-style body mimic. With the snow scene the show traditionally picks up whereas here the tragedy turns into comic. In her dream Maria dances as an adult (pretty classic-dancer: Aliya Tanikpaeva) with Nutcracker transformed into a prince as snow falls indoors. Outside the big glass windows, the white hills rest under a clear sky. Snowflake-girls move in a repetitive dance before they hop on one leg off the stage, off the rhythm, up, the steep white hills.
Time for a break - thank God
After this 20 minutes act, the disoriented audience has "earned" another 20 minutes intermission ... To those who courageously stay for the only third act of the Nutcracker-history, Harangozo offers a view of a grotto on a painted canvas. In front some untalented red bats - already shaky on their legs - are easily defeated by the couple on their way to the palace. The big picture opens with musical accent and bright light revealing the full cast in pose; the audience is stunned into embarrassing and shocked silence. Obviously the costume-designer has never heard of color-palettes where chosen colors are matching together. - In this show, there exists no visual concept - the widespread use of lycra reminds one of a review behind the iron curtain -, “divertissement” loses its etymological meaning, “virtuoso” is no longer an adjective but an unreached goal, “ensemble” means: every body on stage, not together nor in line! The stage lighting is sloppy with obvious mistakes and its concept misses every clue to the action. The set looks like (or is) a student essay with bits recycled productions from the remote past. The music direction of Sascha Goetzel is schizophrenic trying to follow fast and slow tempi of an illogical choreography in addition to full numbers repeated to double length (as if once wouldn´t be enough).
All in all: This dancing reminds of a bad provincial school performance where not even the (too) many entrances of kids seem to justify the poor quality. Andrian Fadeyev is a young talented Russian dancer who - with a stiff neck and personality - brings little to the prince-role. Only Kirill Kourlaev makes the best out of his Drosselmeyer-part adding verve to a sad evening. Dr. Wild
DAS URTEIL ARG: DIE TOURISTEN AN DEN STEHPLÄTZEN (AUS DEN USA UND ASIEN) VERLIESSEN DIE VORSTELLUNG IN DER ERSTEN PAUSE. ANDERE HARRTEN WEGEN DER TEUREN KARTEN AUS: IHRE BUHS FÜR GYULA HARANGOZO UND SEINE ERSTE CHOREOGRAFIE SCHAFFTEN IHNEN IMMERHIN ERLEICHTERUNG. ABER MEHR AUS PEINLICHKEIT ALS AUS SKANDALEMPFINDEN.
BALLETT Der Nussknacker * Von: Tschaikowski/Marius Petipa * Regie und Choreographie: Gyula Harangozó frei nach Wassili Wainonen * Bühne: Dorin Gal * Dirigat: Sascha Goetzel * Mit: Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper * Mit: Ballett der Wiener Saatsoper und Volksoper: Aliya Tanikpaeva, Andrian Fadeyev, Kirill Kourlaev, András Lukács, Dagmar Kronberger, u.a. + Studierende der Ballettschule der Wiener Staatsoper * Ort: Wiener Staatsoper * Zeit: 18., 28., 30.12.2007 + 3.,7., 9., 13., 15.1.2008
BALLETT Der Nussknacker * Von: Tschaikowski/Marius Petipa * Regie und Choreographie: Gyula Harangozó frei nach Wassili Wainonen * Bühne: Dorin Gal * Dirigat: Sascha Goetzel * Mit: Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper * Mit: Ballett der Wiener Saatsoper und Volksoper: Aliya Tanikpaeva, Andrian Fadeyev, Kirill Kourlaev, András Lukács, Dagmar Kronberger, u.a. + Studierende der Ballettschule der Wiener Staatsoper * Ort: Wiener Staatsoper * Zeit: 18., 28., 30.12.2007 + 3.,7., 9., 13., 15.1.2008
1 comment:
Excellent article. I will be going through many of these issues as well.
.
Here is my homepage :: simply click the up coming site
Post a Comment