Berg: Lulu [DVD] [2011]

With so few performances of "Lulu" available on DVD, this is a welcome addition to the catalogue and it is well worth having for two chief reasons. Firstly, Berg's score is beautifully played by the Licieu orchestra under the baton of Michael Boder and, secondly, Patricia Petibon gives an outstanding performance as the title character. Unfortunately, Boder and Petibon are let down by a mostly mediocre supporting cast, a dubious staging by Olivier Py and (for this DVD) really awful filming.

Petibon, especially, deserves better. She sings the difficult music effortlessly, looks stunning and acts brilliantly. Her Lulu is harder edged than that of Christine Schaefer in the celebrated Glyndebourne production and, instead of the latter's childlike vunerability, she projects a fatalistic weariness as a creature who exists for the use of others. Of the other leads, only Julia Juon as Countess Geschwitz is of any interest. Ashley Holland as Schoen/Jack the Ripper is wooden, while Paul Groves's Alwa not only only looks to be the same age as his father but seems embarrassed at having to do love scenes with the sexy Petibon. In the long love scene at the end of Act 2 he can hardly bring himself to look at her (perhaps he is desperately watching the conductor)and his physical grappling with her at the end of this scene is an object lesson in how not to do it. None of the minor parts acts with any conviction so the whole point of Lulu's story is lost.

Py's staging is wildly over the top and, at times, an incoherent mess. He was right to go for vivid colour - too many recent productions of "Lulu" have been drab and dreary - and his expressionistic/Brechtian approach is fair enough but he never knows when enough is enough. The setting is a garish, neon-lit mix of amusement arcade and red-light district, scattered with Brechtian messages in various languages, which Py populates with sleazy characters
who never stop moving about the stage and constantly take the focus away from the central action. Worse, the set itself is in constant motion throughout Act 1 and during most of Act 3. Apparently Py wanted to reflect the restlessness of our hyper-sexual culture but his set, with its clutter and constantly busy action, instead of supporting the story being played out on stage, merely competes with it for attention. The one exception is during the orchestral interlude between Acts 2 and 3, when the moving, transforming set gives us a superb counterpoint to the music. Of course, there are no people at this point to get in the way, which makes one wonder if Py would have been happier with just an orchestra and a set! Py's Brechtian approach also goes too far. Schigolch spends the whole opera costumed as a circus clown and the Athlete spends all his time dressed as an ape. This is an over-expansion of the circus/menagerie idea with which the opera starts and, especially in the case of Schigolch, reduces the meaning of these characters to that of "extras" in the drama.

Even worse than Py's over-heated direction, however, is the sheer incompetence of the video direction. The camera varies unpredictably between close-ups and long shots of the whole stage. In the latter case, we cannot see anything that is going on as all the performers are dwarfed and overwhelmed by the set. We never get to see what is happening in the moving scenes at the back of the stage, which makes the constant motion even more annoying and meaningless than it must have been to the live audience. At times the camera cannot cope with the garish red and green lighting washes and the quality of the picture descends to that of U-tube. I suspect that this video was made on the cheap.

This is still worth having for Petibon, the music and some interesting ideas and effects but, if you only want one "Lulu", get the Glyndebourne one. As a production, it's in a different class.

This is probably the best DVD (DG 073 4637)available of the opera that is currently available. A strong cast & Patricia Petibon as Lulu makes the role her own.

Amazing production, fantastic performances (particular Petibon) make this the Lulu to have. As a piece of music it's hard work (trying listenting to it on CD), but as a piece of theatre it is exceptional. A very definite five stars.