Stephen Llewellyn has been with Portland Opera for nearly four years. He has also been a barrister in Hong Kong, a professional folk singer and classically-trained tenor. He makes a mean zabaglione, and cries easily and frequently at opera performances.
This post is not a continuation of my rant last week about Regie but thoughts on the topic stemming from correspondence over the last few days. You will have seen that my previous post was met with a comment by a correspondent identifying herself only as 'grrlpup'. She made a most astute observation about Regie to which I replied. Shortly after that I received an email from her which really got me thinking. With her permission I quote it here:
"Some people think that Falco only did Rock Me Amadeus, but that is not right! I think after you see his interpretation of Titanic, you'll agree he could be the man to redeem opera regie.
And that's not even considering his 'Sound of Musik' work!"
What's this? I have been discussing Verdi and Gounod and she comes up with Falco?
Let me admit right away that my only memory of Falco was that I hated Rock Me Amadeus when it came out. In the circumstances I did not follow his career or see any of his subsequent videos. In the light of grrlpup's email I immediately went to the Youtube links she sent me and I am delighted that grrlpup has now filled in a serious lacuna in my musical background. This guy is wild! Part Brian Ferry, part Robert Palmer, part Michael Jackson and wholly strange. And yes, the look is Regie to a tee! Watch the video, compare it to the pictures I posted last week and you will see exactly what I (and grrlpup) mean. So many things made me think of the Regie Un Ballo in Maschera production - even down to the masks worn in the video. Now bear in mind that this song and video were recorded twenty-two years ago. Thus on top of everything else Regie is derivative and old hat.
I have embedded the 'Sound of Musik' video below for your edification. Warning: If you're thinking "Oh, how nice...doh, a deer, a female deer" think again.
All of this prompted me to ask myself why it is that I have such distaste for Regie but am fascinated and enthralled by Falco? Each is visually bizarre in its own way and yet one I find funny and charming the other silly and offensive. I asked that same question of grrlpup and she wondered whether what is fun for 4'30" may become most irritating over the length of an opera. I think she has something there. Perhaps it has something to so with my feeling that what is appropriate as a visual accompaniment to a pop song does not belong on an opera stage but that would be a very difficult position to hold convincingly.
Another thought which struck me is just how 'German' the Regie look is. Falco was Austrian but you know what I mean. I cannot envisage these visuals coming from anywhere else. France? Hardly. England? I think not. It's not that these countries haven't produced their own weirdnesses over the last forty years or so and continue to do so. If you need examples look no further than Björk (dark and Icelandic) or Radiohead (abstruse and English). Colin Graham and Peter Sellars have both come up with some strange looking opera productions over the years. Look at rehearsal photographs of Regie or (as I now realize) any Falco video and the first thing which comes to my mind is how the look captures a very German sensibility. I'm afraid I can't describe this very well but I am hoping you get some idea of what I mean.
Falco was killed in a road traffic accident in the Dominican Republic in 1998 so he won't be redeeming Regie any time soon but it does make one wonder had he been alive today he would have been applying his talents to Die Zauberflote. And whether I mightn't have liked it. Don't get me wrong - I still hate Regie. It's just that the reasons I hate it are becoming more complex.
And while on the subject of things that are derivative and old hat, I saw Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull. Take may advice; if you must see an Indiana Jones movie save your money and rent a DVD of Raiders of The Lost Ark.
