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Sex 'n' violence Mozart causes ruckus
A Mozart opera modernized to feature prostitutes, full-frontal nudity, drugs and sadistic violence has created a storm in Berlin.
"The overall depiction of sex and violence is absolutely unacceptable," Matthias Kleinert, an adviser to DaimlerChrysler president and chief executive Juergen Schrempp, told the Bild daily. "When the prostitutes were massacred on stage I had to leave," he told Berlin's BZ daily. The production, from Spanish director Calixto Bieito, moves the comic opera from an 18th century Turkish palace to a brothel, full of forced prostitution, drug abuse and violence. The performance has its supporters, and the opera house has reported strong turnouts. Berlin's top culture official, Thomas Flierl, called the opera "a true reflection of social phenomena," though Komische Oper artistic director Andreas Homoki said DaimlerChrysler's stance was understandable. It is "legitimate and clear if a trustee withdraws because it can't identify with the theater any more," he told the Berliner Morgenpost. The opera house receives about $300,000 from corporate and private donations. Two years ago, Bieito's production of Verdi's "A Masked Ball" at the English National Opera was banned by British critics for its nudity, simulated gang rape and cross-dressing. Tenor Julian Gavin withdrew from the lead role before rehearsals started because of the staging. Bieito's 2001 production of Mozart's "Don Giovanni" at the ENO was booed on
opening night. In that staging, Don Giovanni had sex in the back of a car and
behind a bar, and instead of being dragged down to hell in the closing scene, he
was stabbed to death by the characters whose lives he
defiled.
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The premiere of "The Abduction from the Seraglio" at the Komische Oper
last week was met with shouts of "Scandal!" and "That's not Mozart!," and
threats by opera house sponsor DaimlerChrysler that it would pull its $24,000
annual funding.
