In yesterday's post we looked at metamorphosis in a fashion collection through technologically advanced textiles. Let's continue the thread by looking at a system that allows instead to create a quick mutation in the costumes for a recent production of Richard Wagner's "Lohengrin", currently on at New York's Metropolitan Opera (running through April 1st). Directed by François Girard, this new staging features tenor Piotr Beczała in the title role, bass Günther Groissböck (King Heinrich), bass-baritone Evgeny Nikitin (Telramund) and sopranos Tamara Wilson (Elsa) and Christine Goerke (Ortrud).
"Lohengrin" has often been reinvented throughout the years, with settings varying and including a laboratory and a classroom. Last performerd on the Lincoln Center stage in 2007, this new production by Girard is transported into another realm, a sort of post-apocalyptic world with a sci-fi twist about it, symbolized by a wall hanging at an angle over the stage with a huge hole opening onto the sky.
Tim Yip (Academy Award Winner for his set and costume design for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon") designed the costumes and sets for this new staging.
The production was originally conceived in collaboration with the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, where it was first performed last year on the day Russia invaded Ukraine. As the war started, The Met severed its links with the Bolshoi and everything – from the sets to the costumes – had to be recreated in the United States.
The story of this romantic opera follows Lohengrin, a mystical and mysterious knight, who arrives among the people of Brabant to defend an innocent woman, Elsa, accused of having killed her brother. Piotr Beczała as Lohengrin, Parsifal's son, wears in this new production the same minimalist modern-day attire of the Grail defenders - black trousers and white button-down shirt - in Girard's previous production of "Parsifal". Yip designed instead for the other characters black cotton cloaks that display some connections with medieval robes.
Some characters are also provided with heavy armour-like jewels. Moving from his experience of the pandemic and thoughts of the war in Ukraine, Yip left behind the traditional language of the theatre and turned to abstract inspirations creating symbolic visual moments revolving around a palette comprising a trio of colours - saturated reds, deep greens and neutral white – shades used for the silk double-layer linings of the cloaks.
Green hints at royal authority and at King Heinrich, who has arrived in Brabant with his followers to rally the locals to join him in fighting off an invasion from the east; red is the color of the native Brabantians, who are under the influence of Friedrich von Telramund and his wife, the sorceress Ortrud; white evokes the innocence and purity of Elsa, defended by Lohengrin.
On stage there is a rivalry between those who support Lohengrin the rescuer and those who want to conspire against him, and, to symbolize this shifting allegiance of the Brabant people towards one character or the other, and their uncertainties and doubts, Yip came up with a stratagem.
The costume designer integrated a set of magnets in the choristers' robe: the magnets allows them to reveal their linings in accordance with the dramatic needs of the moment (check out the opera trailer on YouTube or at the end of this post to get an idea). By revealing their colours, the choristers symbolically allow the audience to discover their allegiances and therefore their feelings and inner thoughts.
This solution may be replicated during a runway to achieve a quick (and less noisy compared to Velcro) metamorphosis in a garment and impress or surprise the audience. But, please, remember to strategically place the magnets (Yip was very meticulous and made sure the set of magnets was placed at a specific height so that the performers could easily reach it).
Not everything worked out at the first performances: the trick proved tiring to some critics who complained about the choristers struggling with the magnets. So, if you opt for this solution, don't overcomplicate the design and hide the magnets in strategic places.
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