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.