Thursday, November 02, 2006

Robert Wilson's Scandal

"Well, you'd be wrong, because the video is directed by the only man in the world who could make Brad Pitt in wet underpants look boring." - La Cieca, Parterre Box.

Apparently, the reigning emperor of minimalist, stylized opera (and theater), Robert Wilson, has gotten himself in a spot of trouble. Vanity Fair apparently used a still from Wilson's video-portrait of Pitt for the cover. The subject was, shall we say, less than pleased with Vanity Fair's editorial decision.

La Cieca weighs in, with usual wit. I found the "avant-garde impresario" bit amusing myself. Wilson hasn't been avant-garde for twenty years. Harry Kupfer's Berlin Parsifal and Bayreuth Ring were, whatever else they were, avant-garde. Wilson's works have been, at best, third-pressing Kabuki, and - at worst - tedious. He lets the music do the staging, but even Wagner wanted something pretty on stage. His sets for the ur-Parsifal were opulent. Wilson's: just mind-numbingly tedious.

It's good to see that he's stirring the pot. Just the wrong pot.

2 Comments:

At 9:14 AM, Blogger Karl Henning said...

Some pots are best left unstirred?

 
At 12:59 PM, Blogger Patrick J. Smith said...

Especially the wrong ones.

 

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