L´amour, le desir, le mort. Olivier Py has created a macabre, expressionistic, morbide and nightmarish dark vision of Les Contes d´Hoffmann. The eternal darkness at Pigalle.
The set
consists of interchanging
frames, blinking neon lights, plenty of grotesque naked figures, black masked
men, skeletons, naked body suits (Olympia), coffins with dead bodies (Antonia
and her mother), a luxury whore in a dark brothel (Giulietta), murderers (watch Hoffmann in the
last act). In short: Plenty of death. Much, much darker than his Lulu but as
sheer dark imagination goes not unlike his version of Tristan and Isolde, in which both commit suicide. Darkness aside,
Oliver Py is a rather straightforward storyteller with no obvious “concept”
applied.
No version
of Hoffmann is alike, and each director has his explanation for omissions etc. Here we
don´t have the Scintille diamant, which Offenbach admittedly did
not put in there from the beginning. Nevertheless for me a Hoffmann
withouth Scintille Diamant is a bit like Die Walküre without Leb Wohl. In any case, choices have to be made. So why not shorten down the first act, as
it often tends to drag on quite a bit and the finest music is to be found further on? In any case
the macabre atmosphere suits Hoffmann, and I remember well the rave reviews
this production received in 2008.
Best were Stella Doufexis as an elegant Muse/Nicklausse and Nicolas Cavallier as the darkly grotesque villains. However, the other ladies were fine as well from Patricia Petibon´s full-toned Olympia, Rachel Harnisch´s repressed Antonia and Maria Riccarda Wesseling as a voluptuous luxury whore in a Venetian-sort brothel. Hoffmann himself, Marc Laho, however was not entirely up to his surroundings and often, but not always however, sounded dry with problems in the top.
Hoffmann as le grand macabre. It suits it amazingly well and this would be my choice of a Hoffmann to own on DVD. If you are put off by all this death, however, then I suggest to take a look at Robert Carsen´s elegant production from Paris.
Best were Stella Doufexis as an elegant Muse/Nicklausse and Nicolas Cavallier as the darkly grotesque villains. However, the other ladies were fine as well from Patricia Petibon´s full-toned Olympia, Rachel Harnisch´s repressed Antonia and Maria Riccarda Wesseling as a voluptuous luxury whore in a Venetian-sort brothel. Hoffmann himself, Marc Laho, however was not entirely up to his surroundings and often, but not always however, sounded dry with problems in the top.
Hoffmann as le grand macabre. It suits it amazingly well and this would be my choice of a Hoffmann to own on DVD. If you are put off by all this death, however, then I suggest to take a look at Robert Carsen´s elegant production from Paris.
The bottom line (scale of 1-5, 3=average):
Marc Laho:
3
Stella
Doufexis: 4-5
Nicolas
Cavallier: 5
Patricia
Petibon: 4
Rachel
Harnisch: 4
Maria
Riccarda Wesseling: 4
Patrick
Davin: 4
Olivier
Py´s production: 5
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