Woody Allen encena Gianni Schicchi, de Puccini, em LA

(Gianni Schicchi, Ópera de Los Angeles Opera, encenação de Woody Allen)

Woody Allen – a quem nunca achei particular graça, nem como realizador, nem como actor -, ao cabo de muita insistência, acedeu, por fim, a encenar uma ópera. Domingo havia-lhe lançado o desafio há, pelo menos, década e meia!

Allen assinou, pois, a mise-en-scène de Gianni Schicchi, de Puccini, que a Ópera de Los Angeles tem em cartaz, presentemente.

O leitor atento sabe, com certeza, que Puccini não conta entre os maiores, para este blogger…
Dito isto, Allen... e Puccini..., apesar de tudo, pela calorosa recepção, merecem uma referência neste espaço!

A avaliar pela reacções – The New York Times e Le Monde -, a coisa correu pelo melhor ao ora metteur-en-scène!

«Pour ce final, Woody Allen a surpris en transposant l'oeuvre de Puccini de la Florence médiévale à une Italie contemporaine, et en animant tous les personnages de cette farce, qui se disputent un héritage. Il injecte d'emblée son humour et ses calembours dans un générique sur écran blanc qui annonce : "Prosciutto e Melone Productions..." (une production jambon et melon).

(…)

En quoi consiste le défi de l'opéra pour un novice ? "Empêcher une quinzaine de personnes de se cogner les unes contre les autres dans un espace restreint !", répond-il.

Sa décision de transgresser les règles de l'opéra en faisant jouer tous les personnages, tout le temps, même quand ils ne chantent pas ? "Je ne peux pas imaginer de les laisser sur la scène, debout là, à ne rien faire ! Pour moi, c'est plus naturel de procéder ainsi, c'est ce dont j'ai l'habitude." Il confirme qu'on lui a proposé beaucoup d'opéras et même de filmer La Bohême, de Puccini (le projet n'a pas abouti), mais il ne prévoit pas de réorienter sa carrière : "Je ne me vois pas monter un opéra de trois heures !"»


«Far from being incompetent, his “Gianni Schicchi” is a cleverly updated and inventive staging of the popular comedy, marred only by a regrettable directorial liberty at the end. In another recent comment to the press, he described “Gianni Schicchi” as “funny compared to ‘Tosca,’ not funny compared to ‘Duck Soup.’ ” True enough, though as the performance began I was briefly worried that Mr. Allen was determined to turn Puccini into the Marx Brothers.

Though the libretto places the story in Florence in 1299, this “Gianni Schicchi” begins with a comic montage of film credits — all mock-Italian names like Giuseppe Prosciutto and Oriana Fellato. A street band plays “Funiculì, Funiculà” in the background. Though silly, the gimmick sets the tone for what comes when Puccini’s music begins and the curtain goes up. With sets and costumes by Mr. Allen’s longtime collaborator, Santo Loquasto, the production has the look and style of some old black-and-white film. Not one of those black-and-white Woody Allen films. Think “Big Deal on Madonna Street.”

In a two-story house in Florence, members of a large, boisterous family are bustling around the deathbed of their wealthy relative Buoso Donati. There is pasta boiling in pots on the stove, laundry hanging on crisscrossing clotheslines above and a young boy practicing knife thrusts with a vengeance.

Buoso Donati’s relatives fear that he has left his money, country properties and ample city house to a monastery, a fear borne out when they locate his will. So young Rinuccio suggests that they turn for help to a newcomer, the clever Gianni Schicchi, who is still not trusted.
With comic pacing and dialogue already determined by Puccini, Mr. Allen may have felt there was not enough for him to do. So he fills the show with sight gags and busyness, perhaps too much so. Still, the comic maneuvers of the cast are deftly choreographed, and he elicits feisty portrayals from the singers.»