Rossini: Mose in Egitto

Visually Provocative... Musically a 5 Star Performance
Many of the productions at the Rossini Opera Festival in recent years have been provocative in nature and this performance of Mose in Egitto is no exception. In fact it was probably the most scandalous of all. I recall hearing the audio of this production as broadcast by the BBC and definitely noted some booing and hissing from the audience. Not having the benefit of seeing the visual aspects of the presentation, I was perplexed until I later realized that a certain segment of the audience was reacting not to the singing, but rather to the controversial nature of the staging where for starters Moses is depicted as a clone of Osama Bin Laden... with the staging of the opera's final moments being quite thought provoking. In any event, I recommend viewing the bonus feature regarding the stage director's thoughts prior to viewing the opera proper. Still all concerned are so committed to the concept that everything somehow falls into place... which fact is in no small part due to the...

Fascinating performance of rare Rossini Opera.
Moses as an Osama bin Laden style Jewish terrorist? Pharoah as a King Hussein of Jordan style leader (with a glamorous wife)? Well, that's part of the conceit of this intriguing staging of Rossini's "Mose in Egitto" by the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro in 2011. And, for the most part, it works. Certainly it makes for a very entertaining performance.

"RegiaTheater" is the term used over the past decade or so, for stage works (plays/operas) wherein the director's radical take largely overwhelms the underlying work being performed. It has, here in America, a very negative connotation, smacking of German/Austrian uber-works and director hubris. Most opera fans here will say that they hate it and just condemn these productions, often sight unseen. ("I'll play the dvd but only to listen to the music.") But, the audience for these directorial efforts is more amenable in Europe.

But what is RegiaTheater really? The idea, as here, of changing the time and place where...

Sublime Singing -- Spoiled By Silly Staging
I think that the prior reviewers have captured the quality of the singing and orchestral aspects of this performance. If it had been released as a CD album, I would have given it a five star rating. But as a performed opera, with all the visual impact of acting and staging coming into play, I cannot agree that the staging is "... a meaningful modern way to bring its themes to life while at the same time, injecting its ancient Biblical story with a heavy dose of reality."

Mose in Egitto IS that "ancient Biblical story" and for Graham Vick to alter it to allow him to use the opera as a kind of political diatribe on conditions in the Middle East ends up being internally inconsistant, illogical and just plain silly. There are so many instances where the libretto and the stage actions are at dramatic odds with one another. One example shows the Jews ostensibly rigging the stage for demolition, with lots of concertina wire in evidence, while the libretto has them trying to cross...

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