Messiah – Theater an der Wien, 2009 (Part 3: Not Your Mother’s Messiah, Either)

Claus Guth's staging of Handel's Messiah is strange and wonderful; weird and exquisite; disturbing and comforting. 

O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion

Wonderful, exquisite, and comforting all describe the musical performance; and all six adjectives describe the staging. His alienating gray and institutional set is on a turntable, making scene changes swift. This plus the stark contrasts of light and shadow give the production a cinematic feeling. 

Messiah – Theater an der Wien, 2009 (Part 2: Strange and Wonderful)

I noted in the previous post that Claus Guth has chosen to add a new layer of narrative to Messiah. He builds on the emotions and images from Handel's text, but doesn't stage the oratorio in a literal way.

The action begins at a funeral. People are sad, some are angry. In Every valley the minister (tenor Richard Croft) preaches comfort, but is uneasy, and seems to know more than he is telling. An angry man, perhaps the deceased’s brother (bass Florian Boesch) opens the casket to reveal that the deceased slashed his wrists. Another brother (?) (countertenor Bejun Mehta) freaks out, exhibiting remorse, fear, grief, and anger. Meanwhile, the chorus seem to be the people that are walking in darkness. Asking, questioning, reassuring, usually clustering together or moving close to walls, and almost always moving as a unit.