Met Opera 2014-2015 Season

[abatt]

Why would he be pleased about this. People involved with the production have been threatened with bodily harm. I suspect people who have tickets are considering whether they will be harrassed on the way into the opera house, and also wondering about the safety once inside the opera house. Yes, he's getting a lot of publicity, but this kind of publicity - where people feel they may be physically harmed - isn't helpful or wanted.

[Helene]

People protesting the production because they think it glorifies terrorists are planning acts of terror?

[abatt]

Gelb and various cast members have received threats, according to published reports.

[Drew]

The situation seems too volatile for Gelb to be pleased (especially given what must be his concern over what donors will do).

[Helene]

Those with enough influence on the board spoke when they made their calls to pressure him to drop "Klinghoffer" from the HD broadcast.

If people are threatening Gelb, he's living it.

[canbelto]

I was at the premiere last night. Protestors were not as large in number as expected, and the NYPD put them in safe spaces away from the attendees. There were vigorous bag checks and some mid-show disruptions but overall it was peaceful and at the end John Adams got a huge standing ovation. The cast is amazing and the production is well worth seeing. Shame it won't be preserved on HD.

On my way in a woman tried to block me and said "I love Israel." I said "I love Israel too but you're in my way." That was that.

[dirac]

People protesting the production because they think it glorifies terrorists are planning acts of terror?

Color me unsurprised.

[kfw]

From the Jewish Forward:

Alan Opie, the baritone who plays Leon Klinghoffer, told the New York Times that his agent received emails likening him to the murderers.

He is an opera singer. Not a terrorist.

Abraham Foxman told the Times that, after brokering an earlier compromise with the Met not to broadcast the opera worldwide, he received an email calling him a “kapo.”

He’s the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, for goodness sakes, not a Jewish apologist for the Nazis.

Jeffrey S. Weisenfeld, master of ceremonies of Monday’s protests, promised earlier to return every night the opera is staged “until the set is burned to the ground.”

I listened to an old performance of the opera Monday night, this time while reading the libretto, and I still don't think it takes a dim view of Jews or justifies terrorism. Neither do I agree with Anne Midgette of the Washington Post, who writes that

Even the strongest music cannot redeem a libretto as diffuse and verbose and full of blather as Goodman’s tedious “Klinghoffer” text. It drones on and on without actually being sure of what it wants to say, and obfuscating rather than clarifying its points in the name of “poetry” and “art,” neither of which it serves.

[Helene]

Ruth Bader Ginsberg saw the opera and has weighed in:

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2014/10/28/on-the-death-of-klinghoffer-justice-ginsburg-finds-for-the-defense/

Justice Ginsburg, who is Jewish, said she sympathized with the daughters, but disagreed about its depiction of their parents.

The opera “is a most sympathetic portrayal of the Klinghoffers. Both of them come across as very strong, very brave characters….There was nothing anti-Semitic about the opera.”

Justice Ginsburg also disputed claims that the opera glorified terrorism.

[sandik]

Ah, the Notorious RBG!

[Kathleen O'Connell]

Ah, the Notorious RBG!

I love that Tumblr ...