Fantastical sandwich drawing10/2/2023 Conductor Pablo Heras-Casado made his debut in Bayreuth’s covered orchestra pit and led a pulsating performance of a standout ensemble that was taut without ever seeming rushed - the first act clocked at about 1 hour, 40 minutes. Scheib arrived for technical work on May 15 and the cast began rehearsals on June 5, a long leadup leading to intense, nuanced performances. I didn’t expect that,” Katharina Wagner said. “This digital level is flowing into the real level of the stage. There are six additional performances through Aug. The BR-Klassik network televised the premiere in Germany and the Stage+ streaming service is showing it worldwide on Wednesday and Thursday. At some points the different views were dramatic: Parsifal’s seizing the spear provoked giggles from some of those watching without goggles. The additional visuals were akin to ads at sports stadiums that are viewed on the telecast but aren’t really there. While the AR could be viewed only through headsets, Mimi Lien’s sets, Meentje Nielsen’s bright costumes and Rainer Casper’s lighting could be seen by all in the auditorium. The goggles were somewhat cumbersome - audience members who use glasses had to send in prescriptions for corrective inserts that were only approximate and had to arrive well before the 4 p.m. They were forced by financial constraints to have only 330 goggles for an audience of 1,925 but hope to increase the total for revivals in the next few years. Scheib, a 53-year-old MIT professor who directed Thomas Adès’ “Powder Her Face” and the Meat Loaf/Jim Steinman musical “Bat Out of Hell.” He was contacted by Bayreuth general manager Katharina Wagner - the composer’s great granddaughter - about five years ago. Scheib’s staging, just Bayreuth’s 11th “Parsifal” production, paid homage to Wieland Wagner’s breakthrough 1951 minimalist sets with a circle of light that represented both the knights’ round table and a flying nimbus above the wasteland. The Wagner family limited staged performances to Bayreuth until it lost a lawsuit in 1903. Wagner called “Parsifal,” his final work, a “Bühnenweihfestspiel,” a stage-consecrating festival play, an often solemn evening with religious ceremonies such as communion. A spear through an ear referenced Hieronymus Bosch’s “The Garden of Earthly Delights.” Many digital visuals were impactful, such as arrows shot at the audience. We’re set in a world that is somehow post-planet and post-collapse of energy production.”ĪR use was at times visually busy: insects and starbursts appeared tangential to the action, and there were a few instances of slight judder. “But at the same time, we’re not that far in the future and the third act is set around a broken Lithium ion field. “We sort of focus on a future society in which myth has become possible again and the grail once again somehow achieved a kind of mythic property,” Scheib said in an interview. A fusillade of calcium batteries and white plastic bags drifted above the landscape along with birds and the final image was a dove soaring above the desolation. If you looked down at your feet during the third, a craggy surface was visible that appeared to be below the auditorium.Īs the director’s post-apocalyptic take of the Holy Grail unfolded, a world tree floated along with avatars. In the theater Richard Wagner conceived 150 years ago in a quest for innovation, another cutting edge step took place Tuesday at the venerable Bayreuth Festival: Director Jay Scheib’s augmented reality-infused production of “Parsifal” premiered in the Festpielhaus where Wagner supervised the first staging in 1882.Īt the end of a season-opening, six-hour performance that included a pair of hourlong intermissions, an audience that paid 15 to 459 euros ($12 to $508) and included former German Chancellor Angela Merkel applauded for 15 minutes, though 5-10% booed the production team.ĪR goggles brought fantastical images: a moon and a fast-moving cloud-filled sky above people’s heads in the first act. BAYREUTH, Germany (AP) - A giant swan sailed into auditorium and crashed, felled by a huge arrow still protruding.įlowers burst into bloom, radiant in red and green, pink and blue.
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