Woody Allen changes of registry and turns to the opera. The filmmaker of 83-year-old, who had been Gianni Schicci, a Puccini opera, 2008 in Los Angeles, is about to propose this to the Scala from 6 to 19 July. It is the same version but will be done with the students of the Academy of the prestigious theater in milan. The cast will also present the Italian baritone Ambrogio Maestri and the Hungarian conductor Adam Fischer.
«I was curious to see how (the students) manage the difficulty of interpreting a comic opera. I was amazed,» said the director of the 83-year-old during a Milan press conference where journalists were allowed to ask him questions on this production. «They have done an extraordinary job, by interpreting the opera house exactly as I wanted and as Puccini had thought», he assured.
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A long process
Woody Allen has recounted having been approached by Placido Domingo to stage this opera, but that he had to be to the tenor of years to convince him before his first experience in Los Angeles. «I didn’t know if I had the ability to do such a thing, I had done some theater and a little bit of theatre,» recalled the director of Manhattan and Annie Hall . «It’s very different from a movie, where you make a small scene, and then another out of sequence. Here, (the artists) like to interpret the work with tremendous energy all the time,» he said.
The opera tells the story of how a family, distraught to see the old Buoso Donati bequeath all his property to the clergy, appealed to Gianni Schicchi to solve the problem: it replaces the deceased to dictate to the notary a new will, and the opportunity to receive the inheritance.
«We’ve decided to make a production in a theater style néoréaliste of the 1950s, such as the early films of Fellini,» explained the director. An opera Fan, Allan Stewart Königsberg, his real name, recalled that he had «a very good seat on the Lincoln City in Manhattan» but that there ever saw the last few acts because he had to get up early. «What I want for always, this is an evening only of third acts, in order to be able to see all those that I missed», has amused the New Yorker.
More appreciated in Europe but struggling in the United States
After the «first» on Saturday, he will join San Sebastian in Spain, to turn a romantic comedy with Christoph Waltz, Gina Gershon, and Louis Garrel. It will thus continue its anthem film for big european cities, illustrated by Vicky Cristina Barcelona in 2008 and Midnight in Paris in 2011. He recognized that his films were better received in Europe, particularly in France and Italy, than in the United States, stressing that he himself was a fan of european films, and that there may be a process of»osmosis». His 50th feature film, A rainy day in New York city , with Timothée Chalamet, Elle Fanning, Selena Gomez and Jude Law, will be released in France on 18 September. Distributed by Amazon, it is sealed off from 2017 but it is not released in early 2018 because of the accusations that have emerged.
Since the beginning of the wave #MeToo, the filmmaker from new york has been caught up by the accusations of sexual abuse initiated by his adoptive daughter Dylan in 1992. At the time, the proceedings had been discontinued after two separate surveys of several months. But Dylan Farrow, supported by her adoptive mother Mia Farrow and brother Ronan Farrow (journalist, star of #MeToo, whose revelations have contributed to a fall in the producer Harvey Weinstein), has renewed early 2018 with his accusations, that Allen has always refuted. Several actors and actresses have since distanced themselves publicly with the director. Thus, Timothée Chalamet had and said they want to repay its stamp of charitable associations defending women and the LGBT community. According to the New York Times , the project briefs do not find takers from the publishing houses.