Since opera houses in New York City were mentioned in one of the comments on the decline of the city, I thought I would take a look at the current state of the Met. After the Met put on The Death of Klinghoffer, I have zero interest in setting foot in it ever again, but I wanted to see if it had pulled back on the wokeness… and nope.
Here’s Carmen set in a ‘contemporary’ American setting with what looks like men in Border Patrol uniforms. Because hating immigration enforcement is the current cause of the moment that transcends all causes. Just like Hamas was 5 minutes ago.
Joe Horowitz (no relation, presumably) called it the Worst Carmen Ever. “One called it ‘the worst thing I’ve seen at the Met in thirty years.’ The other declared it the ‘nadir’ of the company’s 141-year history.”
According to the program book, Cracknell has transplanted Carmen to “a contemporary American industrial town.” Bizet’s Seville cigarette factory is now an “arms factory.” The outcome is a “contemporary American setting” where “the issues at stake seem powerfully relevant.” Carmen and her co-workers are oppressed in a man’s world.
“Relevant” is the key word here. By relevant, wokes mean ‘political’ and by political, they mean hectoring. Every work of art is meant to carry the narrative and be infected by it. There is to be no escape from state propaganda. Anywhere.
“Relevant” pops up a lot in Met listings. Everything from Porgy and Bess to Handel’s Agrippina are described as “relevant” as if that’s the metric of great art. Why else do people go the opera except for ‘relevance’? Relevant used to be for annoying off-Broadway amateurish rants about capitalism and then everything became “relevant” which means that nothing is relevant because it’s all interchangeable. If everything is about class, racism, sexism and the rest of the small portfolio of uber-causes, then it’s all the same slop with minor variations in style. And that’s what much of modern entertainment, from comic book adaptations to period dramas, is, the same narrative with variations in style.
Back when the Met decided to put on an opera hailing Islamic terrorism and the murder of Jews, I noted the financial irresponsibility of it at a time when it was having trouble selling seats. Things have only gotten worse and the Met is in free fall and has had to turn to Saudi Arabia.
The Metropolitan Opera, one of the world’s most renowned performing arts companies, is turning to Saudi Arabia to help it solve some of the most severe financial problems in its 142-year history.
The company has reached a lucrative agreement with the kingdom that calls for it to perform there for three weeks each winter. While neither the Met nor the Saudis disclosed financial terms when they announced a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday, the deal is expected to bring the Met more than $100 million.Partnering with trusted voices from around the world, Verified floods digital channels with science-based climate facts and resources, improving the integrity of information in spaces where climate disinformation most typically circulates.
“All the democratic governments that I know of are engaged in business with Saudi Arabia,” Mr. Gelb said, adding that he believed that the deal would give the Met the opportunity to help promote “human understanding and compassionate thinking” there.
So the next performance of Carmen will be staged with the women wearing Burkas.
