In the US, reactionary opera fans (those who want everything done as lavishly and as old-fashioned as possible) use the label "Eurotrash" for any production that dares to deviate from their powdered-wig and brocade & lace norm (because this form of static, stilted stage production often involves very-well-fed singers, these productions are often said to be from the "Park-and-Bark" school).

While there are plenty of cases of directorial exccess (the Calixto Bietio 'Ballo In Baschera' which opens with fourteen men sitting on toilets in the Parliament lavatory being a controversial example) the work of the greatest European opera directors (Konwitschny, Neuenfels, Decker, Flimm, Wieler & Morabito, to name a few) offers searing dramatic insights while working within the framework of the music.

It's hard to imagine the cobweb-infested Metropolitan Opera hiring Lars von Trier to produce Wagner's Ring, as the 80-year-old Wolfgang Wagner (grandson of Richard himself) is doing in 2006.



[This message has been edited by Non-NonRev (edited Feb 16, 2004).]