 |
| Etch-a-sketch? |
It seems that in Zurich, it’s often
feast or famine. It’s probably like this with other opera houses, too. Zurich
(fortunately) makes a lot of its productions available on video (and I tend to
look for them), so perhaps that’s why it's their productions in particular seem so uneven to
me.
This Parsifal is strong musically, but like the Zurich Arabella production of the same season,
it’s dramatically dull and visually cheap. Notes on back of the DVD call
the setting “austere” and that’s being generous. It doesn’t look deliberately sparse;
it looks like they had no budget for scenery or props. The most
interesting aspect is the tables that emerge from the floor. The flower
maidens carry some “magic” acrylic panels that just look silly. Seriously, I
think a junior high drama department could come up with something better.
