Many people talk about Met's new production by Tan Dun, The First Emperor. Here is the introduction from Met's website:
"In what promises to be the most elaborate Met production since War & Peace, composer Tan Dun (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Symphony 1997: Heaven Earth Mankind) creates an epic new opera set in the ancient court of Qin Shi Huangdi, the First Emperor of China. Plácido Domingo sings the role of the Emperor who unites China and builds the Great Wall. Paul Groves is Gao Jianli, the court composer who defies him and seduces Yueyang, the Emperor’s daughter, sung by Elizabeth Futral. The production team includes China’s leading film director, Zhang Yimou (House of Flying Daggers and Hero), and Academy Award®-winning costume designer Emi Wada (Akira Kurosawa’s Ran). Ha Jin, the National Book Award-winning novelist, is the co-author of the English language libretto."
故事的情节和中文版的《刺秦》没有什么大的差别，只是鬼佬代替葛优和许晴出演了高渐离和乐阳公主。秦始皇也从姜文变成了多明戈。张艺谋的到导演，哈金的台词，加上谭盾的音乐，大都会歌剧院也算是网罗了中国文化界的大小名家了。整个故事和谭盾之前的《茶》差不多，男人间的恩怨和男女间的缠绵，最后由女人的牺牲结束。多么的男性中心主义，怎么也没人批评一下？看了网上的介绍（
http://www.tandunonline.com/Composition/composition.asp?id=53&s=3），怎么看怎么都觉得这是谭盾和张艺谋一起在恶搞中国文化，按照好莱坞的模式创造美国人需要的异国情调。故事里有暴力，有色情（好像中国以前的公主都比较开放，在《茶》里兰公主和日本王子Seikyo激情出演，在《秦始皇》里乐阳公主和高渐离不能自己，在《粉色》里金瓶梅中的角色粉墨登场），有特别效果，有大牌明星，由名导演和作曲家和小说家制作，作为观众的你还想要什么？我真不知道自己该不该去看，如果去了，恐怕最后的结果和《皇帝的新装》差不多，其他观众都叫好，你到底叫不叫呢？叫了，也许有点违心；不叫，好像你没看懂。
普契尼大概是第一个具有东方情节的作曲家，他写了《图兰多特》和《蝴蝶夫人》，把所谓的东方情调引入了歌剧的舞台。但是他的“东方”是典型的西方中心主义者眼中的东方世界，古老、神秘、落后、迷信，充满了非理性的爱恨情仇和神话故事，是不可理喻的世界。所以它才迷人和绚烂，因为它的“不同”，因为它与西方世界的距离。西方人对于东方世界的迷恋出于这种“主动的误解”（朱青生）。但是今天谭盾和张艺谋们所作的，不是清理和消弭这些主动的误解，而是把西方的观众引到了一个更深的误解之中。这些前卫的艺术家宣称，嘻嘻，东方其实就是你们想象的那样，既然你们喜欢，我们就生产更多的、类似的“神话”来！
其实这些艺术家的行为不难理解。 以谭盾为例，他的多数作品都是由西方的歌剧院或者艺术赞助机构订购的，所以他要为他们生产艺术的产品。对于成功的前“前卫艺术家“来说 （80年代他们可是开中国文化风气之先的人），他们的行为受到他们在60-70年代所接受的意识形态教育和西方艺术市场经济所要求的影响，有趣的是当下二者不谋而合。二者所要求的都是艺术为人民大众服务，谁是人民大众？是观众，是批评家，是舆论。既然西方人喜欢东方的神话，好吧，就这么办。先来个《霸王别姬》和《卧虎藏龙》，再来点儿《英雄》和《十面埋伏》，最后忍不住了，终于生产出《夜宴》和《满城尽带黄金甲》。可怜一个张艺谋，从独立电影的先驱发展到今天，成为R 级电影的导演和歌剧的制片人，真不知道该怎么夸他！《秦始皇》是西方和东方的悲哀。
希望谭盾和张艺谋不要用它来申请今年奥斯卡最佳外语片奖。
The westerners pay to see a diversified art world, instead, they see what they want; the artists from eastern world sale what people want, not what they believed. For those artists, art is not a way to pursuing the truth, but a way of living and maximizing their prestige. Lao Zhu always says contemporary art is a way to demystify the world and to go back to our non-existent being, a way of reflection, and a way to deconstruct the illusions. But I don't find any of the above in The First Emperor. This is why I call it a tragedy for both worlds. The comprehension is impossible, why can not we just start to learn how to live with differences?
BTW, Tan Dun got his doctor degree in Music Art From Columbia University in 1993. From Columbia with love!
This November was not normal, the temparature stayed around 15 to 18 degrees and there was no sign of snowing whatsoever. The constant rain and warm weather really made me uneasy and I decided to go to see The Barber of Seville to smooth my feeling. Although I have booked a ticket for next March for this performance, but I really wish to see it now. It has became a critically acclaimed new production of Met for this season, which has not been performed for 25 years. Plus, it is refered to as a Divine Comedy, which I need most at this tricky point of my life.
According to Wikipedia: "The Barber of Seville (Il barbiere di Siviglia) is a comic opera in two acts by Gioacchino Rossini with a libretto (based on Beaumarchais's comedy Le Barbier de Séville) by Cesare Sterbini. This opera follows the first of the plays from the Figaro trilogy, by French playwright Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais. The original Beaumarchais version was first performed in 1775, in Paris at the Comédie Française at the Tuileries Palace."
This season at Met "the greatest Rossini tenor of our time, Juan Diego Flórez, sings the role of Count Almaviva in The Met’s first new Barbiere in 25 years. Diana Damrau and Joyce DiDonato share the role of Rosina, Peter Mattei is Figaro, Samuel Ramey is Don Basilio and John Del Carlo sings the role of the hapless Dr. Bartolo. Directed by Bartlett Sher and designed by Michael Yeargan (both of the Tony Award®-winning The Light in the Piazza), this is a Barbiere that is light on its feet, with mobile sets that allow the comic action to swirl from stage to audience and back again. Maurizio Benini conducts."
The amazing thing about this opera is that you know it is a comic, but it makes you laugh without any burden. Dr. Bartolo is certainly the hopeless laughstock of the story, however, his simple and stupic plots makes him even loveable. Peter Mattei's Figaro is very impressive, in terms of vocal part and his performance. I even think he could make a great Méphistophélès in Faust, even though he is a baritone, not a bass. The show-off of the play is Juan Diego Flórez, the Rossini tenor of our time. Flórez is a native of Peru and a son of folk musician. As for the title role he has played for 13 years, he commented: “You have to sing it fast!” says Juan Diego Flórez of Rossini’s quicksilver coloratura. “Otherwise, it’s not exciting." He points out that it’s not Rossini’s tricky fireworks that most appeal to him but rather the vocal elegance that underlies the crowd-pleasing display. “I like the refinement of it, the musicality of it,” he explains of Rossini’s vocal lines. “For me, Bach and Haydn and Mozart and Rossini are all part of the same style. The melody, the line—that’s very important for me.”
《塞韦利亚的理发师》总是让我联想到达里奥.福的《一个无政府主义者的意外死亡》。在《意外死亡》里，一切都是赤裸裸的，警察和被关押的无政府主义者的地位和关系一目了然。《塞》表面上是一出喜剧和爱情故事，但是其中充满了权力和反抗，包括男性和女性的冲突（Dr. Bartolo 和罗西娜），不同阶层之间的冲突（费加罗和Dr. Bartolo ），年轻和年老者的冲突 （Count Almaviva 和Dr. Bartolo ）。但是这些权力关系潜藏在诙谐的表层之下，只有到了山穷水尽，故事无法继续的时候，Rossini 才不得不把个人的身份挑明，使冲突得到解决。故事的结果固然是皆大欢喜，其实也不过是拥有权力者的胜利。罗西那到底爱的是Count Almaviva 还是穷光蛋Lindoro，恐怕连她自己也不清楚。 哎，难得糊涂吧！
