Very good article. Opera is that strange beast where people want tradition and the same thing over and over. I appreciate the honest improving approach that some directors take. They want to help the narrative not get in its way. Changing the time period is fine with me as long as it makes sense. Changing for shock value only works the first time.
I agree, trying to "shock" the audience without really paying attention to what the work is actually about is meaningless. I think the other side of that coin is staging something traditionally just because "that's the way it's done" and is equally ignorant. I have not seen either of the productions mentioned in this article (Met's new Tosca and LA Opera's Ring cycle) but it seems with both the question of "how can we show the season ticket holder's we are cutting edge?" might have gotten in the way of the more important questions: "what is the point of this story? What is the most effective way to convey that?"
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