SALZBURG, Austria (AP) 鈥� Offbeat operas have been some of the Salzburg Festival鈥檚 best in recent years, the latest a colorful, outlandish and entertaining staging of Sergei Prokofiev鈥檚 鈥淭he Gambler鈥� by director Peter Sellars.
Starring soprano Asmik Grigorian as Polina and tenor Sean Panikkar as Alexei, the 125-minute work was met with enthusiastic applause when it opened Monday night in the Felsenreitschule, the theater built into the M枚nchsberg mountain known for its appearance in the 1965 film 鈥淭he Sound of Music.鈥�
Seven large roulette wheels/chandeliers rise and fall, each looking a bit like a pinball bumper or the Jupiter 2 from 鈥淟ost in Space.鈥� The Felsenreitschule is covered with green moss and its archways filled with mirrors, mostly broken, in George Tsypin鈥檚 set design.
鈥淵ou get these thrilling sounds because the mountain is just exploding with sonic energy,鈥� Sellars said.
James F. Ingalls, the lighting designer, used Astera PlutoFresnel lamps to illuminate the action without cables, creating rich reds, greens, purples and yellows in what Sellars termed the style of Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Martin Scorsese.
鈥淚t鈥檚 something I needed to get used to,鈥� Grigorian explained. 鈥淚 said, `Peter, I think with every single rehearsal, I鈥檓 getting more and more blind.鈥� The lights are really very strong, but in a few days you are getting used to it.鈥�
Grigorian鈥檚 outfit, by costume designer Camille Assaf, made the message clear. Playing the stepdaughter of the debt-ridden General, she wears jeans and a burnt orange and black T-shirt that reads: 鈥淧ATH CHOSEN 鈥� ALL OR NOTHING.鈥�
鈥淭he gambler is like an emblematic figure of our time,鈥� festival artistic director Markus Hinterh盲user said. 鈥淲e are surrounded by gamblers. They鈥檙e playing with us. They鈥檙e playing with our existence, with our world, with the climate. They鈥檙e playing with cryptos and bitcoins.鈥�
Scenes morph into each other instead of ending.
Panikkar commands the stage as tutor for the children of the debt-ridden General and would-be lover of Polina. An American from Pennsylvania, his sometimes imprecise diction during early rehearsals sparked laughter from Grigorian, a Lithuanian.
鈥淚t suddenly became some bad words in Russian,鈥� she said.
Even when Panikkar's pronunciation sharpened, memories of early rehearsals prompted cackles as opening night approached.
鈥淲hen I鈥檓 staring into her eyes in this dramatic moment and I say this, it just made her crack up,鈥� Panikkar recalled.
Among Sellars鈥� updates to the libretto, adapted by Prokofiev from Fyodor Dostoyevsky鈥檚 1866 novel, is changing 鈥渢elegram鈥� to 鈥渆mail鈥� in the on-stage English titles.
In a story set in the mythical German resort town Roulettenberg, Polina is in debt to the Marquis, apparently her former lover. She is in Sellars鈥� view an activist who persuades Alexei to splash orange paint on the sports jacket of Baron Wurmerhelm (bass Ilia Kazakov) as a climate-change protest. The General, here a corrupt government contractor, awaits the death of wealthy grandmother (mezzo-soprano Violeta Urmana), who arrives at the casino and loses big. Alexei wins enough to pay off Paulina鈥檚 debt only for her to reject him and return to Mr. Astley, an English venture capitalist who is another former lover. The opera ends with Alexei collapsing and exclaiming: 鈥淩ed came up 20 times in a row!鈥�
鈥淚 have family members that dealt with gambling addiction, not necessarily in a casino environment but more on the day-trading side of things,鈥� Panikkar said. 鈥滻 have family members that are alcoholics. Everybody has somebody that they can relate to that struggles with various addictions.鈥�
Sellars wrote his undergraduate thesis at Harvard on Vsevolod Meyerhold, who was to direct the premiere in 1917 at St. Petersburg鈥檚 Mariinsky Theater before it was postponed due to the Bolshevik Revolution. Meyerhold was executed in 1940 during the Great Terror, but cleared of wrongdoing 15 years later. The opera didn鈥檛 premiere until 1929 at Brussels鈥� La Monnaie and received its Russian premiere at Moscow鈥檚 Bolshoi in 1974 鈥� 21 years after Prokofiev鈥檚 death.
鈥淓conomics were censored. The politics were censored. The erotic element was censored,鈥� Sellars said. 鈥淚t was presented as a really Soviet opera made out of steel, like a warship, but not very sensual, not alive with all these colors, not the wild Soviet avant-garde of collage.鈥�
There are five additional performances through Aug. 28, and a stream will be available on Medici.tv starting Aug. 24.
Hinterh盲user also programmed well-received productions of Bohuslav Martinu鈥檚 鈥淭he Greek Passion鈥� last summer and of Mieczyslaw Weinberg鈥檚 鈥淭he Idiot,鈥� also based on a Dostoyevsky novel, this season.
Russia is being highlighted. Timur Zangiev conducts the Vienna Philharmonic in his festival debut in 鈥淭he Gambler鈥� and Nina Khrushcheva, great-granddaughter of the former Soviet Communist party head Nikita Khrushchev and a U.S.-based professor, gave the festival鈥檚 keynote speech on July 26. Teodor Currentzis, criticized by some for alleged funding ties to the Russian establishment, is conducting a revival of Mozart鈥檚 鈥淒on Giovanni.鈥�
While condemning Russia鈥檚 government and invasion of Ukraine, Khrushcheva argued against cultural cancellation.
鈥淪ince 2 1/2 years I have this situation where I have to explain why I don鈥檛 ban every Russian artist and every outfit from the festival,鈥� Hinterh盲user said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 impossible for me. This is something which didn鈥檛 exist a few years ago, these kind of pressures. It鈥檚 also due to the social media now, which are very powerful.鈥�
Ronald Blum, The Associated Press
