![heaven or hell heaven or hell](https://wallpaperaccess.com/full/1439179.jpg)
Reminded that his use of the stage during an overture - rather than letting the overture speak for itself - was a frequently remarked upon (and criticized) element of his recent production of ''La Traviata'' at the Met, Mr. Gradually there are moments of clearing up in the music, and at those moments the skies become more transparent, and finally all the clouds fade away, and we reveal to the audience the space in which the action is going to take place - this box that says 'the end of the 18th century.' '' The overture tells about good and evil, heaven, a man defying God. The music is strong it tells a supernatural story. But they're not very peaceful clouds they're stormy clouds. ''It starts by lifting the audience from their seats. The way scenes change, the lighting, the painting, have their roots in this kind of theater, but at the same time I'm projecting into new areas and new styles when the music requires it.''Īs he describes the stage effects, the director grows positively rapturous, and one seems to get a glimpse into how he translates the abstract into the visual. Mozart's roots are in the Baroque theater, But I, like him, move into new revelations and discoveries. ''I am literally using the structure of the Baroque theater, with wings and portals. Scene changes happen instantly - two, three, four seconds - suddenly you have moved from one mood to another, following the music.'' ''This particular machine (or invention, or conception or production) has the advantage of palpitating with the music and the drama. Otherwise it is too lean, and you just have characters with an enormous space around them.
![heaven or hell heaven or hell](https://c8.alamy.com/comp/EPGGC9/illustration-of-heaven-and-hell-directional-signs-EPGGC9.jpg)
It requires - it cries out for - a spectacular scene.
#Heaven or hell plus#
At the end of Act I there's a party with three orchestras on stage, plus the one in the pit. It is a most pristine production, but also the most elaborate when the music requires it rich. I am using a lot of the technique of 18th-century stagecraft, but seen through the eyes of today's very spoiled audience. ''So I said this time I want a space into which the music will expand and explode, and the story will unfold. Zeffirelli gets carried away into the metaphysics of staging Mozart. Then you realize it's something else, maybe Italian.''Īs he talks about the production, Mr. You do it in Spanish style and then you realize it's not Spanish, it's Salzburg. You want to do it in Spanish style, fine. It contains so many different things - values, layers.
![heaven or hell heaven or hell](https://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large/heaven-or-hell-hannah-greer.jpg)
In this particular opera it would be very dangerous, because the opera is such a completely and totally achieved miracle. I don't want to do anything outrageously personal.
#Heaven or hell how to#
I know more, I know better, about theater, about how to avoid certain mistakes. ''I think I'm a much more serene person now, more balanced. So you reflect into this mystery what you like. It is one thing when you're young, another when you're old, another when you're in love. ''I have done five 'Don Giovannis' in my life,'' he recalls, ''and every time has been different, because 'Don Giovanni' is different every moment in your life. Zeffirelli has staged Mozart's masterpiece about the libertine Don Giovanni, his sexual conquests and his blasphemy. It's like 'Hamlet.' No one has written about man as deeply and profoundly as mysteriously as Shakespeare in 'Hamlet.' Another case is 'Carmen' - another work that is like an eel, like mercury. So you preserve the best of what was old and project what is yet undiscovered. ''This was the last Baroque opera composed, and the beginning of the neo-Classical and Romantic line was arriving,'' he said during a break in rehearsals. He is especially proud of the rapid scene changes of this production - often with columns moving about the stage in various configurations, against paintings of sky and landscapes - and the flexibility they provide. For Mozart's time, too, it was a big production.''Īnd yet the 67-year-old designer and director is at some pains to explain that his conception of the production has its roots in Baroque stage practices. You have three orchestras on stage, a ball, dances. The inspiration may be baroque, but when Franco Zeffirelli speaks about his new production of ''Don Giovanni'' at the Metropolitan Opera, which opens Thursday, he leaves little doubt that the execution will be vintage Zeffirelli.