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| Christopher Nell, sublime boy, and Rosa Inskat, Ahab, (Krulwich NYT) |
If you loved The Life and Times of Sigmund Freud, The Life and Times of Joseph Stalin, Deafman Glance and even the late Robert Wilson's more recent production of The Three Penny Opera (whose majestic production by the Berliner Ensemble derived from its faithfulness to the original work), you may find the current production of Moby Dick, by Germany’s Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, disappointing. To begin with Moby Dick is its words. The greatness derives from language which is belittled and mocked, in the current outing with once grand characters turned into babbling cartoons. The other problem is that the last half is quite simply a rock opera. No doubt the songs by the British singer song writer, Anna Calvi, will make it to the hit parade say like Laurie Anderson's "O Superman!" Anderson BTW did a l999 production of Moby Dick at BAM. The audience was grooving, heads bobbing, and the production received standing ovations from the youthful crowd. Moby Dick had been turned into a rave, the kind of irritatingly percussive soundtrack that accompanied Sirat.