Cherubini: Médée

Disappointing Modernization, Poor Production Values
I expect to see a production of an opera or a play that is an accurate representation of what the writer/composer wrote. To alter his work, and to present it, even with a notice that it's been updated, is, to my mind, a species of a fraud. It's even worse when I'm encountering something for the first time, and have no idea what the original is supposed to be like. In this case the original libretto has been updated so that while the arias remain intact the recitative has been changed, or updated, so that Medea now says things like she wants Jason's sperm. Huh? Surely that wasn't in the 1797 text. Further the production has been moved out of either 1797 AD period, which would be acceptable given that plays and operas were frequently staged with contemporary costuming during the period of Cherubini's life, or the Bronze age period when the events would have occurred, and put into the modern era. So there's 1 star deduction for that.

There's some action that seems silly. Dirce...

A terrifying and powerful opera
Medee has been described as "unmitigated horror" which indeed it is. Krzysztof Warlikowski, the stage director, and Christian Longchamp rewrote and updated the spoken dialogue of Luigi Cherubini's 1797 opera. In addition, this version of Medee is set in what appears to be a late 60's and early 70's era with 'punk' as well as modern formal dress.

Nadia Michael as Medee, the ultimate femme fatale, dominates the entire opera, as, of course, she must. She provides an utterly convincing performance of a terrifying woman who quite literally cannot endure rejection. Her rage and baffled fury seem to consume the stage. Kurt Streit as Jason is also convincing in his portrayal of a man who is at once frightened of his wife, and yet almost hypnotically fascinated by her.

Vincent Le Texier as Creon is presented as a kind of gangster/businessman who, though used to power, has no idea what he is up against in his confrontation with Medee. Hendrickje Van Kerckhove as...



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