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Mozart - Don Giovanni
RRP: $39.98Our Price: $22.66 (subject to change)Editorial
Product Description
MOZART:DON GIOVANNI - DVD Movie
5 for entertainment value, less for overall performancesReview date: 2009-12-08 Rating: 10 out of 10This is a highly original and fitting adaptation with two really excellent leads (the Perrys) and of course, the always excellent Lorraine Hunt (pre-Lieberson) as Elvira. Zerlina is very enjoyable. But, Donna Anna and Don Ottavio disappoint. Donna Anna has some good moments, but is uneven. Ottavio is just poor, well out of his league vocally.
That said, this is more than worth owning and enjoying...vocal flaws and all. The dramatic impact cannot be denied and indeed why should it be? Opera is both music and drama, this is a little deficient in one and excellent in the other. I plan to show this to my daughter who is definitely not an opera fan. I am certain this Don will capture and amaze her (could this be 18th century opera??!!).
I remember taking a youngish opera neophyte to a performance of The Barber of Seville. She loved it, and commented after the performance that it was nice that they updated it to make it funny for modern audiences. She was shocked when I told her there was no updating at all. As with this Don, human nature translates seamlessly century to century.
Where have the Perry twins been all my opera life?
ReviewsIl Prodotto saporito.Review date: 2009-05-12 Rating: 10 out of 10This production is absolutely extraordinary, for two reasons - the singing and the interpretation.
The singing is superb, with Eugene and Herbert Perry possessing excellent squillo.
And Lorraine Hunt as Donna Elvira is simply unsurpassed. I admired her before for her Handel roles, so I knew she would be a virtuoso, and indeed her Elvira is just the best ever in technique and expressiveness. Her command of the voice is superb, and the voice itself simply heavenly.
The interpretation is hilarious and dramatic at once. Sellars is always the most inventive, and Don Giovanni being a thug from Harlem is refreshing. His gun is a novelty. The scene of his last dinner, with a sandwich and soda from McDonald's is just a riot. It really is outrageously hilarious.
Elvira's tawdry clothes are excellent, too, in conjunction with her devotion to the bible. And of course Don Ottavio being a policeman is marvelous.
My only critique would be that I found it some tricks repetitive. For example, Don Giovanni strips for the ball and then again when Commendatore asks for a hand; another of Donna Anna injecting herself with a needle, after Don Giovanni had already done so in Champagne aria.
In Champagne aria, which was sung impeccably, I found it disturbing hearing the noise of broken Veuve Clicqout bottles - I think a director can make any action, but the fabric of music must be preserved without introducing foreign sounds.
Also at finale all five offended by Don Giovanni are presented as asylum patients. Strangely enough, this idea has been since exploited - I've seen a production of Iphigenia in Paris where she was playing an old patient in a psychiatric clinic, and the whole story was her hallucination. Here it was a bit of the same mood, but it takes credit for inventiveness since it was the first of such kind.
Unique performance, for those who like novelty intertwined with superb musical delivery.It worksReview date: 2008-11-27 Rating: 10 out of 10I guess it's not surprising that DonG goes very well as a '70s blaxploitation flick. It really is a cheesy exploitation story-- lots of gratuitous sex and violence and overdramatic characters, and the main theme is how ornery and dangerous the title character is. I think DaPonte and Mozart would have loved this. Although they might have called for Leporello to be more clowny--Herbert Perry plays him more or less straight.
But there's more: even if you take away the urban-ethnic stuff, this performance shows the interactions among the characters, and their intense emotions, more clearly than any I've seen on video. For this reason I'd recommend it as a first exposure to the piece in spite of the unconventional aspects. Plus, world-class singing by everyone.
I have only one suggestion for improvement: The chorus of demons should be limping, decaying zombies, and they should come on stage as the Commendatore disappears, converge on DonG, clawing and biting, and finally tear him to pieces and disperse after his final yell, gnawing on organs and severed limbs. Hire Tom Savini for makeup and props. If they could conceal him by crowding around him with their backs to the camera it wouldn't be that hard to stage it convincingly.The twins are still singing, and well.Review date: 2008-10-24 Rating: 10 out of 10I recently ordered Peter Sellars' "Don Giovanni" starring Herbert and Eugene Perry as the Don and Leporello, or was it Leporello and the Don? Since the brothers are identical twinc and would change roles from time to time just to keep from getting in a rut, I had often wondered what they were doing. A couple of years ago, Long Beach Opera did a shortened and interesting version of Wagner's "Ring" cycle. Lo and behold, there were the Perry Brothers, portraying Faffner and Fasolt, the two giant brothers who built Valhalla for Wotan and a catalytic force in the changing ownership of the Ring. They sounded great, and I have no idea which one was which, but I was delighted to see them. I am not a Peter Sellars fan, although this operatic concept works as well as almost any update I've ever seen, and it does present the audience with a modern and realistic street-smart approach to characters who are difficult to fully understand at best. Under Sellars' supervision, they become modern and real. This DVD is highly recommended to any viewer who wishes a modern and realistic approach to the timeless story. Joann TollA jiving Don?Review date: 2008-06-10 Rating: 8 out of 10You either hate this CD or at the very least, like me, enjoy it a lot. Why? Because Peter Sellars' most unusual take on the old story, transplanting it to modern Harlem seems to me fun, fascinating and sometimes a bit infuriating.
The Perry twins, Eugene & Herbert, of whom I have never heard and haven't heard of since (which seems grossly unfair) are fierce. They fit the milieu in their sharp, decisive actions. Intense! I have never seen such a mesmerizing performance. SOmewhat overboard perhaps, as when the Don briefly strips to his BVD's - twice no less! - and yet not all that unbelievable in terms of the overall portrayal. At least to my mind.
And he certainly has a body for display!
Oh, the singing? Yes, the brothers sing, and quite well too. No Pinza or Baccaloni (see what an old-timer I am), but nothing to be ashamed of. For me, their singing matched the manner of their presentation well.
Oh, and dear Lorraine Hunt L. - what a wonderful Elvira. She acts very well too. I liked the other performers well enough, except for the Ottavio. But the twins and Lorraine - they are enough for me.
The orchestra seemed OK to me, but frankly I paid so much att'n to the stage that I never much noticed the band. One annoyance: during the overture the camera takes you on a scenic ride through the dumps of Harlem. Even the subway appears. I must say, I was put me off but once the curtain went up, I was hooked.
Excuse me while I groove on Hoffmann, no stranger to getting high.
Product Details/SpecificationsActor(s):
Carroll Freeman
Herbert Perry
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson
Dominique Labelle
Eugene Perry
Director(s):
Recording label: Decca Manufacturer: DeccaEAN: 0044007141199Binding: DVDNumber of items: 2Format: Classical, Subtitled, Color, DTS Surround Sound, DVD, NTSC, Release date: 2005-06-14Universal product code (UPC): 044007141199Number of discs: 1Aspect ratio: 1.33:1Audience rating: NR (Not Rated)Running time: 190 minutesTheatrical release date: 1991Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: Italian (Original Language)
Language: English (Original Language)
Brand: Universal Studios
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