A note on why Edmonton Scene will not be reviewing it
by Mark Morris
Edmonton Opera’s presentation of Bluebeard’s Castle opens tonight (February 1), and runs through February 7 at the Jubilee North Auditorium in Edmonton.
I will not be reviewing it, as Edmonton Opera has ‘withdrawn media privileges’ from me, following my criticism of Edmonton Opera failing to credit original librettists in their recent productions (the title page of the Don Giovanni booklet read music by Mozart, libretto by Joel Ivany, and the booklet for Die Fledermaus did not mention the librettists at all, only ‘Dialogues by Joel Ivany’).
I will not here comment further on Edmonton Opera’s action, other than to say such an action is very rare in the professional theatre and opera world. It is, though, very difficult to understand why Edmonton Opera is so insistent on suppressing the work (and the existence) of the original librettists of the operas they are ‘reimagining’, especially as it is so unnecessary.
Be that as it may, Edmonton Opera’s Bluebeard’s Castle is not a presentation of Bartók’s celebrated opera. It is essentially a completely new work – perfectly valid in itself – utilizing Bartok’s music, developed by Britain’s Theatre of Sound, and subsequently seen to considerable acclaim in a number of countries, including a presentation in 2022 by Toronto’s Against the Grain Theatre when Ivany worked there.
The original libretto by Béla Balázs – a dark psychological symbolist exploration of masculine and feminine, and one of the greatest librettos ever written – has been adapted in what Gerald Finzi has called “a new and close translation of the original Hungarian” by Daisy Evans to create a poignant exploration of a woman with Alzheimer’s disease and her husband looking back on her life. The doors of the original are replaced by a suitcase full of memories: each memory represents looking back on a stage in the lives together of Judith and Bluebeard. Balázs’ characters and their motivations are thus completely changed, and the large orchestra is reduced to seven players (though the performances in New Zealand kept the original scoring). When it was presented in Toronto by Against the Grain Theatre, Evans was listed as librettist, and Béla Balázs’ name could be found in their program booklet only if you clicked on ‘Education and Engagement’.
By all accounts, the Theatre of Sound Bluebeard’s Castle is a very moving and powerful work in its own right, and well worth seeing as a rethink of the Bluebeard story, and as an award-winning piece of music theatre. But no-one should be under any illusions that it is what Bartók and Balázs wrote, or what Bartók and Balázs intended.
For that you will have to go to Calgary in April, when Calgary Opera are putting on Bartók’s actual opera.
Calgary Opera:
Bluebeard’s Castle
music by Béla Bartók
Libretto by Béla Balázs
Gianni Schicchi
music by Giacomo Puccini
Libretto by Giovacchino Forzano
April 5, 9, & 11, 2025
Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
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