"Theodora", a risky proposal, but without combustion

Theodora 5 points

Scenic version on the oratory of Georg Friedrich Haendel for an actress, singers and orchestra.

Stage and dramaturgy address: Alejandro Tantanian.

Musical Director: Johannes Pramsahler.

Costumes and Space: Oria Puppo.Texts: Franco Torchia.Lighting: Rubén Conde.Video: Oria Puppo and Matías Otalora.Continuous: Benoît Babel.

Singers: Yun Jung Choi (soprano), Martín Oro (Contractor), Florencia Machado (Mezzosoprano), Santiago Martínez (Tenor) and Víctor Torres (Baritone).

Guest Actress: Mercedes Morán

Sala: Colón Theater.Tuesday, September 28

How to make a basic consomme #soup http: // t.CO/DFBCOMXD

— Chris Kemp Wed Feb 20 14:22:27 +0000 2013

Repeat on Friday, October 1 at 10 and on Sunday 3 at 17.

"Our gods are queer because they are what we want to be".The phrase, as a lid title, was projected wide from the whole mouth of the stage. En tanto, el público que se disponía a asistir al estreno del segundo título de la temporada lírica de Teatro Colón, se acomodaba con lentitud y silencio de protocolo en la sala que para la ocasión amplió su aforo al cincuenta por ciento. Apenas las luces se apagaron la actriz Mercedes Morán entró a escena para desplegar a modo de preámbulo el primer texto de Marcella Althaus-Reid, la teóloga disidente que desde otra humanidad posible empezaba a cuestionar los límites de la teología hegemónica.They were the first gestures of one night that in their diversity would move away from their promises, being lost in their own labyrinths.

El martes se estrenó Theodora, el oratorio de George Friedrich Haendel en una versión escénica, con la dramaturgia y la puesta de Alejandro Tantanián y la dirección musical de Johannes Pramsohler.In that train of being "what we want it to be", the artistic direction of Columbus wanted an oratory to be an opera.But it could not be. A pesar del despliegue de recursos creativos, la proyección de videos, la buena iluminación, la puesta funcionó a medias, sin lograr que el todo fuera más que la suma de las partes.

La idea de un contrapunto entre la historia de la mártir cristiana del Siglo IV que Haendel estrenó en Londres en 1750 y los textos de Marcella Althaus-Reid presentaba sus atractivos.Two forms of insurrection dialogue through the scenic interventions of Morán, video projections and the summary of a canonical oratory of the late Baroque. Entre la potencia de la fe con que Theodora construye un dios y la prepotencia de un dios sin fe que denuncia Marcella, corren siglos de tropelías en nombre de la redención religiosa.The world that Theodora imagined challenging imperial power had become the religious institution that Marcella disarms with the energy of a "theology in underwear", which denounces that "the dictatorship had a sexual plan" and warns that the Virgin Mary works as"The Mummy of the Poor", for pointing out some of the many reflections with which the theologian's texts contribute to the construction of the sense of drama.

In different tips of a timeline, the oratory did not support the oratory.Segmented even to the slogan, the Althaus-Reid texts after all stated the asymmetries between what each language carries in their folds.The words of the decent martyr are liquefied in the conventions of the sacred genre, while those of the indecent theologian are of an impressive power, they snatch, excite and intimidate.Impossible not to feel questioned by concepts that thrown as Molotov bombs fell on the ceremonious dynamics of the oratory, but ended up bogging themselves on the auea measure of the original libretto delayed in the affection of the music.There was no combustion.

The singers fulfilled. La soprano Yun Jung Choi, con hermoso color de voz –aunque cierto exceso de vibrato–, compuso un buena Theodora y el contratenor Martín Oro resultó un gran Didymus, el soldado con tendencia al cristianismo púdicamente enamorado de Theodora . A la altura de lo que nos tiene acostumbrados estuvo el barítono Víctor Torres, en el papel de Valens, el perverso gobernador de Antioquía. También el tenor Santiago Martínez, como Septimius, soldado romano fiel a Valens, y la mezzosprano Florencia Machado, como Irene, la correligionaria de Theodora, cumplieron una óptima tarea.Pramsahler, director "historically informed".

Theodora's staging was trapped in the solemnity of the oratory and his tragedy and the rage of the complaint and his reasons.It almost did not reflect forms of enjoyment and it is known that no uprising is possible without joy.And much less with little budget.For Tantanián, Franco Torchia and the team is the merit of having dared, to have risk independence in a room that could well be the emblem of decency-speaking in terms of Althaus-Reid.It was an experiment that would have had its natural place in the CETC - the experimentation center of the Colón Theater - one of the spaces suppressed by the current artistic direction.

With Theodora, the old Haendel extended once again the expressive advantages of the oratory to the banks of the opera.But it is not an opera.The clear plot line, the shocking choirs and the duos wonderfully achieved are not sufficient.To be an opera he lacked libido, sensuality.The lubricity that usually creates the disproportion of the love triangle, which with appropriate power of synthesis,tanning, and a baritone tries to prevent it ".