This week the Met premiered a "new production" of La Traviata, directed by Willy Decker. The exact same production was actually premiered over five years ago at the Salzburg Festival, staring the romantic duo Anna Netrebko and Ronaldo Villazon. It was a smash hit that year, in 2005, and was considered to have given Traviata a strap-on. Netrebko and Villazon sounded amazing and looked sexy.
Last week the production was imported, with different singers, as the Met's dramatic replacement for the stale Zeffirelli Traviata, that dominated the house for over a decade. Peter Gelb (the Met artistic director) obviously intended to make a stark contrast between then and now, but the fact remains that this is not new art and certainly does not belong to the Met, (contrary to Anthony Thommasini saying in the New York Times that "this is an involving and theatrically daring production that belongs to the Met"). They paid to import a production that had already proven to be an artistic success elsewhere. For an institution that is considered by many as the leading opera house in the world, imported art is lame. Come on. This production is radical, sensual, and minimal, but get your own.
I have included a picture of Anna Netrebko in the NEW production of La Traviata at the 2005 Salzburg Festival.
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