Oscar Wilde's scandalous play set to equally outrageous music by Richard Strauss. It caused riots when it opened but has become one of the most-often performed operas around the world.Oscar Wilde's scandalous play set to equally outrageous music by Richard Strauss. It caused riots when it opened but has become one of the most-often performed operas around the world.Oscar Wilde's scandalous play set to equally outrageous music by Richard Strauss. It caused riots when it opened but has become one of the most-often performed operas around the world.
Photos
- Director
- Barbara Willis Sweete(directed for live cinema by)
- Writers
- Hedwig Lachmann(uncredited)
- Oscar Wilde(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThose attending the Met HD Broadcast of Salome in the hopes of seeing Finnish soprano Karita Mattila nude in what she calls a "slutty, two-second scene" have been sorely disappointed. During the Dance of the Seven Veils while audiences in the theatre have seen the much talked about full-frontal nudity, those watching the movies have seen the camera go elsewhere. The decision not to show the nudity came from Met general manager Peter Gelb, who, the spokesman said, "decided early on that the 'Salome' broadcast would not feature nudity." When asked about Mattila's input into the decision, the spokesman declined to comment for the record, but he did point out that video clips of the soprano performing nude have circulated on YouTube, though these scenes are from productions in Europe, not the Met's. (a scene from a Paris production of "Salome" in which Mattila flashes her buttocks.) Those who absolutely have to see Mattila in the buff can check out former Met general manager Joseph Volpe's memoir "The Toughest Show on Earth," which features a photograph of the soprano in character as Salome, minus her seven veils.
Featured review
Magnificent! Wonderful
Stage director Jürgen Flimm gives us an art deco Salome set, maybe, in 1930s Germany about 30 years after Richard Strauss's opera was composed. Both sets and costumes are heavily influenced by the paintings of Gustav Klimt. To this sumptuous setting is added, rather incongruously, a cistern or well at one side of the stage topped by a construction of planks and scaffolding.
Salome is sung by Karita Mattila who is perhaps the wrong side of 40 to be singing the role of a teenage girl. Mattila throws everything into this role to convince us that she is a maddeningly irritating, naughty little girl. But her voice is something else in a huge role that demands an almost unbearable intensity of singing throughout the opera's 100 minute length. In particular, the final scene as she rolls around the stage deliriously kissing the head of John the Babtist is one of unbridled savagery and a tour de force for the Finnish soprano. I am not generally in favour of standing ovations but, at the end, as Mattila appears alone in front of the curtain, it seems entirely natural that an astounded audience rise to their feet in one movement.
Mattila is ably supported by Kim Begley's lecherous Herod, Ildiko Komlosi's well-characterised Heroditas and Juha Uusitalo's sonorous Jochanaan. Uusitalo has to be sonorous because much of his role is sung from the bottom of a cistern.
Strauss's music for the dance of the seven veils is sumptuously erotic but Mattila performs the dance as a modern transvestite strip routine. She grinds her buttocks into the crotch of one of the spectators. Two other spectators remove her trousers with their teeth. At the end she apparently flashes her breasts at Herod but we only see Herod's reaction shot as he exclaims: "Magnificent! Wonderful!" Now, I've no particular desire to see Ms Mattila naked but I think that we at home should see the performance as it was viewed by the audience at the Met. If it is good enough for the sophisticates of New York, it is good enough for the citizens of Birmingham Alabama and Birmingham England
Salome is sung by Karita Mattila who is perhaps the wrong side of 40 to be singing the role of a teenage girl. Mattila throws everything into this role to convince us that she is a maddeningly irritating, naughty little girl. But her voice is something else in a huge role that demands an almost unbearable intensity of singing throughout the opera's 100 minute length. In particular, the final scene as she rolls around the stage deliriously kissing the head of John the Babtist is one of unbridled savagery and a tour de force for the Finnish soprano. I am not generally in favour of standing ovations but, at the end, as Mattila appears alone in front of the curtain, it seems entirely natural that an astounded audience rise to their feet in one movement.
Mattila is ably supported by Kim Begley's lecherous Herod, Ildiko Komlosi's well-characterised Heroditas and Juha Uusitalo's sonorous Jochanaan. Uusitalo has to be sonorous because much of his role is sung from the bottom of a cistern.
Strauss's music for the dance of the seven veils is sumptuously erotic but Mattila performs the dance as a modern transvestite strip routine. She grinds her buttocks into the crotch of one of the spectators. Two other spectators remove her trousers with their teeth. At the end she apparently flashes her breasts at Herod but we only see Herod's reaction shot as he exclaims: "Magnificent! Wonderful!" Now, I've no particular desire to see Ms Mattila naked but I think that we at home should see the performance as it was viewed by the audience at the Met. If it is good enough for the sophisticates of New York, it is good enough for the citizens of Birmingham Alabama and Birmingham England
helpful•21
- Gyran
- Sep 7, 2009
Details
- Runtime1 hour 53 minutes
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