Lyric Opera of Chicago launched as Lyric Theatre 60 years ago with a “calling card” production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and the company has revisited the work a number of times in its history as a kind of temperature-taking. How refreshing to see a refutation of so much of this, and from a director and a company in no way committed to turning the clock back. Don Giovanni (Kwiecień) toys cruelly with Donna Elvira (Martínez).

Regie, some think, has become de rigueur. After lovers on leashes, space age Aidas, triple-decker “mind-reading” supertitles, manipulation and resetting of scenarios - even, in the most extreme cases, of the music itself - “modernizing” costumes and swaggers seem to many to be the norm. Many audience members object to the very idea of such a thing. Most producers and marketers think that they need one. Many stage directors think that they have an answer. (Production photos by Todd Rosenberg) By Andrew PatnerĬHICAGO - “What’s the concept?” has become perhaps the most misused question in the world of opera. Mariusz Kwiecień and Kyle Ketelsen at right. Early 20th-century Spain is the setting for Robert Falls’ production of ‘Don Giovanni’ at Lyric Opera of Chicago.Īt left, Ana Maria Martinez.

Lyric opera chicago don giovanni