Believing in Opera

Tracing the development of "radical" opera production from the innovations of Peter Brook in the 1950s to leading contemporary figures such as Peter Sellars, David Freeman and Jonathan Miller, this work also discusses the challenge of opera as a genre. It addresses the important question facing opera today, of whether it is to be the preserve of hugely-paid stars or a vehicle for genuine innovation and challenge.

The tension between opera's conservatives and innovators has gone on for years: the defenders of an established canon take issue with those who want fresh perspectives. Directors grow increasingly daring, and they often stir controversy with extreme interpretations. Tom Sutcliffe, a British opera journalist, stands firmly with the innovators. He sees opera's future health in its ability to reimagine its classics. His descriptions of the work of provocative directors in the past two decades make a persuasive case, even when some of the productions sound like misfires.

Sutcliffe locates the true effect of a performance inside the mind of the spectator. For him, "believing" in a performance--the ability to become engaged and stirred by it--is the crucial sign of its worth. It is a measure that allows the greatest latitude in interpretation. He examines the work of some aggressively imaginative directors: Patrice Chéreau's violent Ring cycle at Bayreuth, whose stabbings had audience members screaming "Enough!"; Peter Sellars's Americanized Mozart (Le Nozze di Figaro set in a New York penthouse and Don Giovanni among drug addicts in the South Bronx); Richard Jones's garish Die Fledermaus, which sought to shove bad taste down the audience's throat with sets full of dancing champagne glasses and chocolate boxes. Robert Wilson, more influential than any of these, gets strangely little mention.

Live performances are difficult to write about for those who haven't seen them. Sutcliffe fails to solve the problem with excessively minute descriptions of staging, which tend to obscure his larger points. His uninflected prose style, perhaps designed for reportorial accuracy, doesn't help. Nevertheless, his study will stimulate those who see opera as a limitless source of theatrical riches. --David Olivenbaum