It’s not timely to say this, given the critical licking that his film “Australia” has just been given, but I adore Baz Luhrman.
His film of “Romeo and Juliet” is the best version of that play ever filmed (it certainly shows Zeffirelli’s version up as no more than an old queen’s ad for Verona and calf muscles) and one of the best films of any Shakespeare play there is; I thought “Moulin Rouge” was brilliantly inventive; and “Strictly Ballroom” had such an astoundingly powerful aesthetic that it had the same impact as “Reservoir Dogs” on how films have looked since (although taking them in a rather different direction, it must be confessed). I was always a fully paid-up fan - but I have just watched his version of “La Boheme”, recorded at Sydney Opera House – and I think the time has come to say that the man is a fully-fledged genius: it is remarkable.
It is funny, it is daring, it feels fresh. The leads are young and (fairly remarkable this, in an opera that has had both Luciano Pavarotti and Montserrat Caballe star as the “starving” bohemian leads) slim and attractive – in fact, the woman who sings Lucia/Mimi is ASTOUNDINGLY hot and the woman who sings Musetta actually looks like she COULD be a kept woman who drives men wild – this is opera that you can actually believe in. The sets are superb, the translation is excellent (jokes about erections; swearing; references to “hot chicks”), and the singing is first rate.
But it’s in the acting, the staging that you really notice the difference. I don’t know if it’s because he’s working with Australians, who may not be under the influence of that fucking awful “Open-your-eyes-as-wide-as-you-can-stretch-out-and-wave-your-hands-like-a-sleepwalker” tradition that seems to inflict itself upon European and American opera singers, but it’s so very credible. People sit down. On chairs. They drop stuff and grope around for it on the floor. When they tell each other how beautiful they are, they’re actually looking at each other, rather than at the couple in 18 and 19C. Maybe it’s because he doesn’t have the worry of moving romantic leads around the stage who between them would weigh more than the proscenium arch, and would need sticks to move from fireplace to doorway – but these people actually DO shit, as they sing.
The audience reception sounds ecstatic – and I can see why: this is one of those productions that I would love to see live – but I understand that it was badly received on Broadway (where they like their opera very straight, and their sopranos to be dressed by Osborne and Little), so it died an early death and isn’t going anywhere fast: a real pity.
So, if you get a chance: make it a priority. I’ve just seen it on Sky Arts, and they’re usually good for a repeat – it really is unmissable. I hope he gets a chance to do something in London (or Europe) soon.
