Review-Salome-Opera Hong Kong
10-10-14
By: Meaghan McGurgan
I’ve never had a chance to see Salome in person before last night. Yes, I know the story from Sunday School as a kid and I had heard of it. After all, it’s one of the most infamous operas in modern history. Did you know it was once banned in England? Richard Strauss’ work was based on the work of the same name written by the infamous Oscar Wilde. Wilde took one of the most salacious stories in the Bible and put it on stage in France where it was called “shocking” and “obscene”. Sounds like perfect material for an opera, if you ask me. Even in the director’s notes in the program, they describe The Dance of the Seven Veils as “horridly fascinating.”
Salome is about forbidden desires and obsession. Salome is a spoiled girl who is constantly fawned over. She is never told no. When finally she is rejected by a person, she can’t help but obsess over him. Other members of Salome’s family also obsess over things. Herod obsesses over his niece/step-daughter. Herodias obsesses over what could go wrong in her life.
Andrejs Zagars production of Salome is incredibly well polished. It’s visually stunning and grand in scale. It’s not your typical production design for the show, with a more modern setting. The set design for this production by Renis Suhanovs is one of the best I’ve seen. When the curtain rises you are immediately transported to another world. Lighting design from Kevin Wyn-Jones is also very well done. He makes great use of chiaroscuro and pattern in his design and manipulates Suhanov’s set into a variety of textures. Video design by Ineta Sipunova should also be commended for helping project the themes of the opera onto the walls.
Zagars has cast the production well. The performers are beautiful singers with powerful voices, excellent expression and great commitment to the characters.
Annemarie Kremer, who played Salome, is the show. She is a spectacular performer and handled what had to be a difficult role with incredible grace. Her descent into madness at the end of Scene 5 wasn’t overdone and I appreciated that she slowly slipped into it rather than going insane suddenly at full force like in some operas.
The Dance of the Seven Veils was awkward at times but I think it was supposed to be. Audience members should feel uneasy when they watch a scene with incest in it. The nudity in Salome is handled very tastefully but due to adult content of this show I would recommend this production for ages 16 and up.
Another performer that I really enjoyed was Carol Lin. She had a smaller role, the Page, but was present on stage for a lot of the first scene. She had a very strong voice both in timbre and volume. She was one of the very few females in this production and her voice stood up well compared to the bravado of the boys around her in the royal guard.
There were parts of the costume designs by Kristine Pasternaka that I really enjoyed. I loved the choice of costumes for Herodias. I thought she looked very glamorous and expensive. But I did not particularly care for the first outfit that Salome wore. I got they were going for this “rich socialite” persona but I think it was just too much pink (matching feather jacket, pink sparkly dress, pink tights, matching shoes) and the wrong shade of pink for the actor and the lighting used in the production. It read Pepto Bismal rather than expensive.
I also thought the severed head at the end of the show was pretty terrible. It looked poorly made; the texture of the hair was very synthetic, the skin tone was too pale, there was no blood or anything to really put us in the grotesqueness of the moment. It looked like a basic wig head you’d pick up at the Ladies Market for 250HKD. It was a shame to me that Opera Hong Kong had spent so much money on this production and then didn’t invest in a decent prop for such a pivotal moment in the story.
If you’re an opera fan I think you’ll enjoy Salome. It’s a bit more macabre than your usual opera and it’s only about 1 hour and 45 minutes in length. Ticket prices for Salome are pretty reasonable with a range starting from 150HKD. There are also additional discounts for students, seniors and persons with disabilities. It is my understanding that the Saturday evening production has sold out but there are still tickets available for the other performances.
Salome is playing through Sunday. For more information, click here.
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