Rating: 
Summary: After watching this, YOU might need asylum...
Review: because the sincerity implicit in any character's outpouring of emotion is negated when placed outside the context of their reality. Louis Erlo's version of HOFFMANN is placed in a mental institution where Brigitte Balleys (Muse / Nicklausse), Jose Van Dam (the villains), and Jacques Verzier (Frantz) run the show. The production in a nutshell: Hoffmann is institutionalized and experiences his adventures within those confines. After those adventures and unrelated diversions along the way, Hoffmann ends up strangling Stella and babbling the Kleinzach song as the stage fades to black. Hmmm...The production makes little sense - lots of exchanging of trench-coats, rolling about on an aluminum cart, having the other inmates milieu about (strength lying in numbers, I suppose). Motivations are obscured, characters are distorted (Olympia is a paraplegic), and Offenbach's masterful contracts of tragedy and lightness are wiped away (Verzier pulls out a knife on Van Dam in Frantz's song). What does this production say about Hoffmann's relationships or his art? What happens to the Muse's goal of winning Hoffmann back? What is the point of this prodution? Musically, the production is distorted also: dramaturge Dominique Riffaud uses Michael Kaye's critical edition to form a 90-minute spiel to be performed against Erlo's canvas of shame. All more's the pity, as Kent Nagano leads a pretty strong performance. Daniel Galvez-Vallejo, our pudgy Hoffman, goes through the motions decently; his sound has leanness and some muscle - but also some tightness and not much bloom especially nearing the top. Brigitte Balleys' mezzo is clear and full, a cynical presence - very much the devil's advocate. Jose Van Dam performs strongly, although a little more wit might be welcome. The years have taken away from Gabriel Bacquier's voice, but he is still involved onstage as Spalanzani / Crespel / Schlemil. Doris Lamprecht sings decently as Antonia's mother (always climbing onto Antonia, who's always pushing her off). Jacques Verzier doesn't sing much here, and his Frantz is the macabre clown Erlo wanted. Lisette Malidor doesn't sing much as Stella either - she does look gorgeous and speak alluringly. Natalie Dessay is charming as Olympia (the music of the Doll Song is what takes her out of her paralysis into movement), hitting top Gs and A-flats all over. Barbara Hendricks sings well - somewhat on the cool side, wisely not involving herself with the madness around her. Isabelle Vernet may have been right for the standard version of Giulietta, but the inclusion of her seduction aria "L'amour lui dit, la belle" finds her struggling with the high passages and coloratura. This might be decent to listen to without visuals - but that would prove the lack of great HOFFMANNs on video. The Covent Garden release with Domingo doesn't settle text questions, and the 1951 Michael Pressburger film corrupts the piece even more, camping it up and making it a vehicle for dance.
Rating: 
Summary: thought provoking and musically excellent
Review: From the cover jacket, it is extremely obvious that the viewer is in store more much more than the traditional "Hoffmann." Initially, I wasn't convinced by the staging concept as I am sure many traditional fans of the opera were put off. However, the longer I watched, the more feasible the characterizations became. The innate question the production begs is intriguing: would ETA Hoffmann be perceived as less than sane in modern society? To that end, the story fits surprisingly well in the asylum context. Musically, the cast is suberb and presents many of the foremost french singers of our time. Although probably not for the die-hard traditionalists, this performance is definately worth trying out for those who are interested in re-discovering one of the most beautiful French operas of all time.
Rating: 
Summary: Visual Flop
Review: I am in total agreement with the preceding reviews. As a visual performance, not worth a dime. Aurally, very good. As a video, a total waste of good money.
Rating: 
Summary: WHAT?!
Review: I can't believe anyone would give anything less than 5 stars for this DVD. If you don't like the way it's done, then you need to wake up. This is how opera should be...entertaining! Love,
Chris
Rating:
Summary: WHAT?!
Review: I can't believe anyone would give anything less than 5 stars for this DVD. If you don't like the way it's done, then you need to wake up. This is how opera should be...entertaining! Love,
Chris
Rating:
Summary: Keep your eyes closed.
Review: I concur completly with the person from Georgia's assesment. I'm sorry I didn't it read in time to save my money. (I guess I'm lucky I wasn't in Lyon.) This fiasco can only be enjoyed from another room, and what makes it even worse is that some of the opera's best music has been left out. Perhaps the production from the Met, or one I once saw with Beverly Sills will one day be made available on DVD. In the meantime, I'll go see Hoffmann in person hoping to erase this memory.
Rating:
Summary: Bizarre Production
Review: I enjoy conventional productions of opera which feature lavish sets and huge ensembles to complement the vocal, dramatic, and instrumental aspects of the subject. This production by the Opera National de Lyon is an off-the-wall avant garde exercise that is so bizarre that it would have been funded by the National Endowment for the Arts if Europe were the 51st state. It features stark sets, bald women, and a hand full of supernumeraries selected from a nursing home and a mental hospital. If they spent over 50 cents on the set they were robbed. At one point there was a dual between a stage curtain and one of the performers that reminded me of Woody Allen battling the Giant Tit in the movie "Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex But Were Afraid to Ask". I did enjoy the sound track. It was when I opened by eyes that the horror began. But, if this is your cup of tea, bottoms up.
Rating: 
Summary: Vaguely Hoffmann
Review: I was relieved (it's not so bizarre, grotesque as these other reviewers say) and mildly entertained. Though the music is sublime, beautiful, this version makes even less sense than the original. And if I hadn't known the original, I would have been hopelessly lost. I was anyway. It had some effective moments, particularly the draping of the corpse of Antonia's mother over Antonia's shoulders, in fact that whole story was wonderful I thought. The story of Olympia who in this version was called a mechanical doll but was actually a girl in braces who when she first stood could barely walk was, frankly, I thought, in very poor taste. Guilietta's part made no sense at all, it doesn't in the original to me either, but particularly not in this nonsense. The stories are arranged Olympia, Antonia, Guilietta. I won't give away the ending which I didn't understand anyway, I disliked the "modern" vocal sound effects that showed up towards the end, and the last words of the opera were inaudible, but fortunately there were subtitles, for all the good they did. There were no sets at all, it ran 2 hours with no intermission, the costumes were contemporary dress, I have only the reviewers here to assure me that it all happened in a mental hospital, it was a trip, kept my interest, but like most "modern art," was more of a curiosity than something to care about. It had no feeling whatsoever. But the music was grand. By the way, the reviewer who lambasts the old (old is new to someone) and calls it in bad grammar and all lower case "conservative," said nothing I remember about the opera at hand. And no one in his right mind who knows me would ever call me "conservative." I don't even like to say the word. But being old doesn't make a thing bad, just as being new doesn't ipso facto make it good. Look at "modern verse." But like the lower case reviewer who relishes all things new and despises all things old, I also think art is about dead, but not through want of novelty. Through want of genius. But that always was rare. And there has been a lot of it in Western music since Bach. Oh. I almost forgot. I for one did not think the tenor who sang Hoffmann was that outstanding. He was almost good enough, but I thought his loves were better.
Rating:
Summary: Vaguely Hoffmann
Review: I was relieved (it's not so bizarre, grotesque as these other reviewers say) and mildly entertained. Though the music is sublime, beautiful, this version makes even less sense than the original. And if I hadn't known the original, I would have been hopelessly lost. I was anyway. It had some effective moments, particularly the draping of the corpse of Antonia's mother over Antonia's shoulders, in fact that whole story was wonderful I thought. The story of Olympia who in this version was called a mechanical doll but was actually a girl in braces who when she first stood could barely walk was, frankly, I thought, in very poor taste. Guilietta's part made no sense at all, it doesn't in the original to me either, but particularly not in this nonsense. The stories are arranged Olympia, Antonia, Guilietta. I won't give away the ending which I didn't understand anyway, I disliked the "modern" vocal sound effects that showed up towards the end, and the last words of the opera were inaudible, but fortunately there were subtitles, for all the good they did. There were no sets at all, it ran 2 hours with no intermission, the costumes were contemporary dress, I have only the reviewers here to assure me that it all happened in a mental hospital, it was a trip, kept my interest, but like most "modern art," was more of a curiosity than something to care about. It had no feeling whatsoever. But the music was grand. By the way, the reviewer who lambasts the old (old is new to someone) and calls it in bad grammar and all lower case "conservative," said nothing I remember about the opera at hand. And no one in his right mind who knows me would ever call me "conservative." I don't even like to say the word. But being old doesn't make a thing bad, just as being new doesn't ipso facto make it good. Look at "modern verse." But like the lower case reviewer who relishes all things new and despises all things old, I also think art is about dead, but not through want of novelty. Through want of genius. But that always was rare. And there has been a lot of it in Western music since Bach. Oh. I almost forgot. I for one did not think the tenor who sang Hoffmann was that outstanding. He was almost good enough, but I thought his loves were better.
Rating:
Summary: Save your money.
Review: I, for one, encourage new trends in classical works, but there is nothing inspiring here. The music is fine, what there is of it. One would think they could afford to tape the entire score, rather than slicing and dicing. Turn off your monitor and listen to the music -- save $$ by buying A CD.
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