Staging
The big thing in Bayreuth is stage machinery. Every production does some technical thing, ifonly one thing, amazingly well andno doubt at great expense. It is worth going there to see these devices in action, even if they arenot always used well.
In"Dutchman" it was a staircase that had no visible supportbut heldalmost the entire chorus, about 100 singers (see photo below); this production also used videovery cleverly. When the opera opens, for example, the storm at sea is In "Tannhäuser" the big thing, used only once, alas, was an elevator that whisked theVenusberg scene up and back silently and swiftly. Venus was sitting or standing on the platformon which she and the hero argued,and when he finally rejected her the whole thing just vanished from sight, a brilliant effect,cinematic (one has to say it). Unfortunately the reappearance of Venus in Act 3 is accompanied byred light only, cheap. In "Lohengrin" there two devices in control of the production. King Henry and his knights,usually on stage when the prodution begins, were here lowered by means of a vast elevator thatreached from one end of the stage to another. When it was used again, in act 2, the two rows ofgold-clad knights were accompanied by rows above them of dummy knights wearing the samegear, a powerful evocation ofchurch architecture, e.g., an altarpiece. When Teleramund is killed (as George scornfully notesbelow) the stage platform tilts at a sharp angle and spills water into the hole the hero will laterroll into. (Versions of the tilting platform and the elevator were both used in previous "Ring"productions.) "Tannhäuser" "Lohengrin" George's summary: Overture: Act I: Act II: For the procession to the minster, the highway segmentbecomes a tilted platform with little pull-out trays on each side whereindividual cast members can stand at key moments. Elsa is flat out on theplatform, encircled by a spiralling white train, as the lights come up. [AJF: She has obviouslysleptthrough her alarm on her wedding day, a pretty ditsy touch in a "Frauenmacht" production likethis one.] A drawbridge descends stage right,permitting access to the platform where Elsa is lying. A double row ofbridesmaids walks up the sloping bridge to Elsa, who now stands, and theyhold her long train over their heads. Ortrud, disguised in Telramund'scoat, strides between the two rows of women, underneath the train, untilshe reaches Elsa, casts off her husband's coat, and begins the greatconfrontation scene. The King, Elsa, Lohengrin, and Telramund take theirplaces on their little slide-out trays. No one moves to restrain the terrible behavior of Telramundand Ortrud, soapparently their banishment under threat of death has slipped everyone'smind. As the act reaches its climax, a second drawbridge descends stageleft, connecting the platform to the stage wings. The procession can nowleave the platform and continue its upward progress. But it doesn't.Everybody just stays where they are. Big waste of drawbridge. [AJF: Big waste of magnificentprocessional music, too, roaring away as the characters stand still.] Act III: Telramund, Ortrud, and the Four Nobles lurk in the culvert below, as Elsa and Lohengrinhave their great scene in which she asks the fatal question. Gradually the Act I sinkhole reappearsdownstage. As things begin to go bad, Elsa leaves the platform, rushes to the front of the stageand frantically begins gathering up all the wrapped swords until her arms are completely full ofswords. (Good thing they're Mylar stage props, or she'd never be able to hold them all--not tomention the cuts!) The purpose of this is so that shecan then drop them again, which she proceeds to do. WhenTelramund rushes Lohengrin and is slain by him, the platorm suddenly lurchesinto a steep tilt, and several gallons of water spill out of it into thesinkhole. [AJF: Wild cheers followedfor the "Frauenmacht" production. My analysis follows: Ticketing In case you are wondering, we have ordered tickets to the festival every year since 1983(friends in Germany gave us tickets to "Parsival" in 1982, so we have been there four times). In1987 we received tickets to "Lohengrin" (Werner Herzog's exciting production was new thatyear), "Tannhäser," and "Meistersinger," the latter two pretty flat. In 1993 we receiveticketse to Dieter Dorn's sensational "Dutchman," the same"Lohengrin," which we were delighted to see again, and "Parsifal," unremarkable visually butfeaturing Placido Domingo--a rare first-rate star in a Bayreuth cast. Our tickets in row 19 costabout $165 and were closer to the center than to the sides. The sound was marvelous and most ofthe time there was little or no stage noise; perhaps the banging away in Act 2, scene 2, wassupposed to wake up Elsa, but somebody should bang away and wake up the Festival director.
We thought that Arlaud's ideas for "Tannhäuser," insofar as the set expressed them, weretrivial. You can see in Act 2, when the song contest has collapsed, that
This was the most objectionable of the three we saw. It introduced extraneous characters anddeliberately setstage action against the libretto; it also failed to deliver any visual punch for any--any--oftheopera's most dramatically and musically exciting moments and was generally mired in conceptualmurk from beginning to end.
During the overture, three vignettes appear murkily behind ascrim:
2) At middle height,against a round moonlike circle, someone's silhouette is seen for quite awhile, until he slowly wanders off.
3) At ground level, a swan rises to thesurface of a small pool, puddle, or sinkhole, then sinks again. [AJF: the swan looked like an icecarving, a little like what you'd find in a Las Vegas wedding reception.]
Elsa's normally dramatic entrance when summoned by the king isvitiated by the fact that the director has her already onstage as part ofthe general crowd. As she sings her opening aria ("Elsa's Dream") a shieldand sword rise from the sinkhole, then sink again. Does anybody else see them? The approach ofLohengrin is heralded by the chorus as they marvel at the swan-drawn boatthey see approaching. This is represented onstage by the lowering of a boxhigh overhead, in which a person can be seen briefly thrashing around untilthe box is hauled back up to the flies. A curtain [AJF: a big box, actually, that cracks open,then closes; it was embarrassing to see the chours peering into this hole, getting more and moreexcited by something they couldn't see; delusional?] splits at the back of thestage letting very bright, white, light spill out--in a most un-magical way.The assembled nobles face the back of the stage and we hear Lohengrin'svoice in his opening aria, but we can't tell where he is. Finally one ofthe crowdturns to face us, as we see that he is Lohengrin. For the duel betweenLohengrin and Telramund, a screen of bedsheets is erected, thus saving thecost of a fencing coach for the singers. When the sheets come down,Telramund is on the ground, defeated.
Wagner sets the first scene outside the fortress of Antwerp andcalls for the banished Ortrud and Telramund to be alone onstage. Ourdirector prefers to set the scene in a desert ditch above which a segment ofhighway seems to rest. In this desert, Ortrud and Telramund light acampfire and recline on upholstered furniture beside a round, carved tablewith decanter. They are not alone. Unidentified persons encircle Telramundand wave their hands over his head for a while before wandering off. [AJF: One of them iscuttinghis hair, I think, punishment? banishment? shame?] Up onthe highway, Elsa and Lohengrin sit motionless in chairs facing one another,but separated by a screen. [AJF: They were covered by the big box mentioned above, which islifted up to reveal them sitting on opposite sides of the screen, which obviously represents the"secret" between them.] As the act progresses, Wagner has theunsuspecting Elsa appear at her window, respond to the scheming Ortrud'sblandishments, and come down to admit Ortrud into the women's quarters.("Thus does mischief enter this house!") In this version, the highwaysegment rotates until Lohengrin is out of sight behind the screen (whichthen collapses). Elsa comes down from the highway for her scene with Ortrud,but at its end they leave the stage in opposite directions, pausing for along moment to point at each other. (Thus no mischief enters anyhouse--except the mischief of the director in the Festival house.)
The bridal chamber is the platform, now level, and furnished witha black leather chaise and a small chair. It rotates continuously during the scene. A procession ofabout a dozen bridesmaids enters stage left with folded white cloths over outstretched arms.
As the final scene opens, a large number of black-clad soldiers engage inswordfighting. (No explanation for this in the libretto.) In the finalscene, the King has become unaccountably enfeebled, unable even to lift hissword, although he was hale and hearty up to now. Allen tells me he alsocollapses and dies. (I missed that, as the stage was extremely murky; also the king was far rightand upstage.) Lohengrin explains his identity and that hemust return to his native land. The swan is supposed to reappear now, but in this version, anunidentifiedchild comes in carrying a dead swan ("Parsifal," anyone?). This dead swan is NOT transformedinto Gottfried. At some point, four children come rushing down from the hillsideand flatten themselves on the stage. Adult persons wave their hands overthe children's heads for a while. Lohengrin approaches one of them, saying"See here the Duke of Brabant!" But this child shakes his head andindicates that it's not him but one of the other kids who is Gottfried. SoLohengrin gives that kid his sword. Then, instead of leaving in adove-drawn boat, as per Wagner, he lies down and rolls into the sinkhole.Elsa does not sink lifeless to the ground. Instead, she joins hands withher tormentor, Ortrud, and gazes up at her smiling. Curtain.
But this mysterious God-sent knight won't say who he is; thus Elsa too gets a raw deal too, victimof a power play by the man who was supposed to save her. Her supposed "rescue" is just anotherform of oppression. So it is easy to see, professor- or director-wise, that Elsa and Ortrud havemore in common than, say, Elsa and Lohengrin. George did not note that unlike Elsa and her man,Ortrud and her man actually dabble in sex on stage, this being Ortrud's weapon over Telramund.(People who have sex are better than people who don't, since in professor- or director-landnothing is more middle class and outré than being "sex-negative.") As to the nobles, in theend King Henry is just another feeble male, unable to resist the rising women. Lohengrin can'tdefeat Ortrud, which leads to his shameful, cowardly exit as he rolls into the hole he supposedlycame out of (but he didn't; he came down from heaven in a box, presumably dangling from astork's jaw, but I couldn't see it). The new king, the boy, will be even easier to manage than theold one, and when he grow up he certainly won't try to keep any secrets from the ladies. End ofheroic masculinity, end of story.]