Everyone who loves opera cinema knows that “Romeo and Juliet” is not just stage material, but film material. Theater an der Wien, Shakespeare's world-famous plot, shown in Charles Gounod's operatic adaptation, which premiered during the 1867 World Exhibition in Paris, is now a major cinema in the 1990s, as David Lynch put it, “Lost Highway” and continued.
Director Marie-Eve Signirol relocated a treasured Gounod romantic number opera to LA in the 1990s for a run at Vienna's Museums Quartier.
Porn instead of love
Above the downfall of the system is the smell of a cheap business that is primarily interested in making an impact. So Julia (Melissa Pettit) is not the withdrawn woman, but the woman in charge and makes a porno involving four men.
Julia's brother Laurent (Daniel Miroslav) looks and acts like Kurt Cobain — and has to listen to Nirvana's “Come As You Are” in the middle of the opera. This may lead to surgical rejuvenation, but it also causes a few boomer emotions. Everything here is designed for coolness, effect and superficial oiliness. Even the sad ending seems grand: Julia dies of gas from her Porsche (or is it just a Fiat Barcetta?). Again, the Burning Age turns big this evening.
“Romeo and Juliet” at the Musiktheater an der Wien
It is perhaps the most famous love story in the theater world: Shakespeare's “Romeo and Juliet” has inspired many artists. The film celebrates its premiere at the Musiktheater an der Wien on Thursday.
Audiences celebrated Petit, for her performance of the world-famous aria “Je veux vivre” between seduction and appeal, and Julien Behr (“Oh leve toi soleil”) for his portrayal of Romeo. A round of applause also goes to the Arnold Schoenberg Choir and the ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna under the direction of Kirill Karabitz. The director, who was working with large video screen images, became audibly dissatisfied as the night went on.
