The Met's new Nose

[Quiggin]

William Kentridge's sets for 'the Nose' may be his best work -- and it seems to rank up there with David Hockney's theater work. I've linked a discussion page with the NYTimes arts critics, where you can also view a video of the sets and Kentridge talking about them. They look a little like the brilliant Russian experiments of the early twenties by Vertov in film, and the Constructivists on the stage -- but somehow also like Merce Cunningham's late work, and the way he was trying to relate the real dancers with the virtual, stick-figures he was creating (as if off knitting needles) to each other.

Roberta Smith -- who has been doing some fine reviewing lately, especially on the misguided New Museum show curated by Jeff Koons, and on alternate, non Blue Chip, real painting-painting -- has some interesting observations on set design. Note her evaluation of Per Kirkeby's sets for City Ballet.

SMITH:

From the visual side I found it thrilling that Kentridge activated the entire proscenium space, top to bottom, and that it remained active through the entire opera.

&

Kentridge’s “Nose” is slightly behind David Hockney’s frothy treatment of “A Rake’s Progress” (which was also done by the German artist Jörg Immendorff) and Kentridge’s own magical “Magic Flute.” It is quite a bit better than the Bill Viola video set for “Tristan,” at least as seen at Avery Fisher Hall in 2007, and it is miles ahead of the sets by the Danish painter Per Kirkeby for a recent restaging of “Romeo and Juliet” by New York City Ballet.

But I’d say the sky’s the limit in terms of future collaborations among visual and performing artists. For one thing, so many artists already work in multiple mediums, including music, or incorporate aspects of performance into their work. There’s already quite a bit of cross-fertilization. There is only going to be more.

'The Nose' and the Eye ...

[richard53dog]

This production has gotten an awful lot of very positive buzz.

Here's a link from the New York Observer which discusses Kentridge's approach to the staging, including his use of the libretto, which is flashed all over the sets and even costumes . All this is in addition to the by now familiar Met Titles, which displays a translation of the text being sung on an individual display for each ticketholder (yes, even the standees have them).

http://www.observer.com/2010/culture/nose#

And the Met is doing some creative tie ins, drawing in the perspective ticket buyer from the ranks of the MOMA crowd

http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/sea...n.aspx?id=10378

"As a special offer, ticket holders to The Nose receive 50% off tickets to the career retrospective William Kentridge: Five Themes at the Museum of Modern Art. This large-scale exhibition surveys nearly three decades of work by the artist, including works related to his staging and design of The Nose. Present your ticket to The Nose at MoMA through May 17, 2010 to receive 50% off admission."

I love to see this kind of imaginative effort and it's nice to see it's paying off. Ticket sales at the Met this season have been very variable with rows and rows and rows of empty seats at many performances. Only the productions with the big stars have been in any kind of demand but The Nose has sold really well. For the remaining five performances,looking at the availability in the largest section, the orchestra, there are only a scattered handful of tickets left; only for the last performance is there anything other than one or two single seats.

[Helene]

I'm pretty sure I know why the Met didn't risk HD broadcasts for "House of the Dead" and "The Nose", the two productions I was most interested in seeing this year. I'm still heartily disappointed, and I think they could have done a splendid promo for "The Nose" especially. I mean, jeez, they've got Karita Matila singing Lise, Peter Mattei as Yeletsky, and Dolora Zajick as the Countess in "Queen of Spades" next year, and despite having a hit and DVD in "Eugene Onegin", that's not even on the HD season.

Given the number of subscriptions to HD they sell, you'd think they could risk one tougher production a year. Maybe they'll come to this conclusion if they review "The Nose" after next year.

[richard53dog]

I'm pretty sure I know why the Met didn't risk HD broadcasts for "House of the Dead" and "The Nose", the two productions I was most interested in seeing this year. I'm still heartily disappointed, and I think they could have done a splendid promo for "The Nose" especially. I mean, jeez, they've got Karita Matila singing Lise, Peter Mattei as Yeletsky, and Dolora Zajick as the Countess in "Queen of Spades" next year, and despite having a hit and DVD in "Eugene Onegin", that's not even on the HD season.

Given the number of subscriptions to HD they sell, you'd think they could risk one tougher production a year. Maybe they'll come to this conclusion if they review "The Nose" after next year.

I agree, the Met is being pretty risk averse with the productions they slot for the HD candidates. They go after items with the biggest, widest popular appeal.

But you'd think it wouldn't be hard to include at least one sort of experimental choice , wouldn't you?

I'm not sure, though, The Nose was really ideal for the HD treatment, I haven't seen it by it sounds like a very busy show with the text flashing all over the set. This can be pretty thrilling if you are in the auditorium but trying to catch it effectively on film doesn't always work so well. But who knows.

The Nose is a coproduction with Aix and the Lyons' Opera so it might wind up being filmed for DVD anyway

[dirac]

Thanks for starting the topic, Quiggin, and thanks for the link, richard53dog. I hope those who see the production will tell us about it.