Rating: 
Summary: Handel vs. Sellars
Review: "A Viewer" describes this Theodora as "rubbish." The term might more aptly be applied to the views of someone who thinks one of Handel's best English oratorios was originally written in Italian! While I am somewhat sympathetic to repulsion at the antics of Sellars, his frequently misguided nonsense cannot begin to overcome the musical virtues of this performance. This is an absolutely first rate Theodora musically, something no Handelian should miss, despite the often goofy staging. To be fair, some of Sellars devices work beautifully (the Valens scenes are delicious!) and if one can overlook the idiotic gesturing of the chorus and the death scene by lethal injection (a low point in classical video for sure), much of this production actually does serve to enhance the drama. I do wish Handel producers would try the obvious approach at least occasionally and not fight the music. Given the state of Handel DVD's, that would be the REALLY radical approach! Handel still emerges victorious here, but it would be better if he didn't have to compete with maniac directors on colossal ego trips.
Rating: 
Summary: If you love voice - you'll love this!
Review: A superb cast, original setting by Sellars and glorious music of Handel require - yes require - every music lover to add this to his/her library.
Having just endured a marginal counter tenor in a live performance of the Messiah, I could not get the sound of David Daniels out of my mind...so here I am writing a review of this opera which I was not sure others loved as much as I. Having only seen it on cable TV, I was not sure it was on DVD, but a Google to Amazon brought me the good news - I can own it to see often!
So now I am here to tell you that this old tale related in music by GF Handel and represented to us in our time by Peter Sellars is a breath of fresh air into a lost Handel score - one which was abandoned to time and poor stagecraft. But no more, because I am going to buy right now...and so should you.
PS...it's long so see it in stages if necessary. Daniels, Upshaw, Hunt and yea all the rest are worldclass performers so it will NEVER get old again.
Rating: 
Summary: Music of sublime beauty giving in a novel staging
Review: Handel's late oratorio is giving a magnificent reading in this modern staging, taped at the 1996 Glyndebourne Festival. Baroque specialist William Christie leads the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and a group of spectacularly talented principals who bring great sensitivity and drama to some of Handel's most achingly-beautiful music. Daniels, Upshaw, Croft and Hunt all sing ravishingly (pay special attention to Croft's wonderful first act aria). The Glyndebourne Chorus is spectacular, and gives wonderful treatment to the great choral sections. Avante-garde director Peter Sellars gives the piece a modern treatment that holds interest, if not providing any revelatory moments. Technical aspects are superb. Highly recommended for the Handel completist, and a great introduction to this beautiful score (considered to be Handel's personal favorite).
Rating:
Summary: Going Wild Over Theodora
Review: If you are fortunate enough to buy this DVD, you will see that Peter Sellars certainly lives up to his reputation as an avant-garde innovator. Certainly it can be a gamble to invest in his visions. However, there is no such risk with his 1996 staging of Handel's "Theodora". Not only does he not disappoint, he creates an intensely creative and heartfelt modern-day update of what has to be one of the saddest stories about the power of faith in a world of bad governments. Now eight years have elapsed since this staging, and the theme resonates more than ever.The minimalist set acts as a subtle counterpoint to an astonishing cast. Really impressive is Lorraine Hunt, who sings in that burnished mezzo-soprano range that fits her role so well. What I appreciated most about her performance is that she got the drama of what was essentially an observational role without calling undue attention to her character. When you have five great voices competing for your attention, obviously that is not a minor accomplishment. The real standout, however, is David Daniels. The countertenor voice is an acquired taste for many, but his full and rich voice will convert even the most jaded. He brings a melting, haunting quality to his performance from his first outstanding aria to the final heartbreaking ending where Sellars uses an almost clinical approach to the inevitable. It was obviously a star-making performance for Daniels, and he completely delivers the goods. The results are devastating. If you are a non-opera buff...if you are leery of stories with heavy Christian themes...if you are afraid of the 207-minute running time, fear not, as this is no depressing, fundamentalist history lesson marathon...they even sing in English! This is an amazing piece that has to be experienced. As for the DVD itself, the picture quality is crisp and clean, and the sound quality nice and deep. An excellent job and well worth the investment even if you already own the VHS tape.
Rating:
Summary: THEODORA WITH RESERVATIONS
Review: If you're looking for grand opera with pagentry and costumes showcased in period sets, this production is not for you. If you're looking for some of the finest singing in opera heaven, this DVD is for you. I'm in total disagreement with Sellers production concept, but those voices take control over everything so you can just close your eyes, or better yet, turn off the picture on your tv set and enjoy these opera voices at their finest.
Rating: 
Summary: Another Bad Production
Review: Once again the great David Daniels makes a fool of himself by taking part in this vulgar version of Theodora (as he did in Rinaldo), and to make matters worse, it is sang in English. How can one set a Haendel's opera in the US (not America because America is a continent not a country, by the way)is beyond me. Operas by composers such as Haendel, Vivaldi, and Monteverdi must be performed in period costumes. The beauty of opera is not just the wonderful music but the production. DO NOT BUY THIS RUBBISH
Rating:
Summary: Magnificent and Powerfully Moving
Review: Peter Sellars sets the production in (around) the present and while several things may
not make literal sense (e.g., an American president condemning a virtuous Christian woman to a sentence of prostitution at the Temple of Venus for not worshiping Roman gods), the contemporary setting for the most part is powerfully effective.
Save for carry on props (chairs, etc.) the only "set" is an ever changing setting of enormous stressed antique Roman tear bottles. Profoundly simple and beautifully capturing the feel of the "ancient" in this updated setting.
Frode Olsen's President Valens opens the work declaring that his gods are to be worshiped and his happy followers (each carrying an American soft drink, which I thought to be a minor unfortunate directorial choice) rouse and begin the first of the big hand gestures which will occur throughout the rest of the night. For once Sellars' use of hand gestures not only appropriate but excitingly useful. Olsen's rather large voice was exciting and reminded me a little of Triegle's turn as Giulio Cesare.
As two of the president's main guards, David Daniels (Didymus) and Richard Croft (Septimius) are magnificent. While much is written about Daniels, I have for years been amazed by the sheer beauty of Richard Croft's voice. I have always been a fan, and his singing here evoked beautiful memories of a Semele a few years back where his "Where 'er you walk" won the prize for the most beautiful singing I've experienced live.
It is nearly impossible to separate Sellars direction of "Theodora" from the vocal performances - there is so much going on, indeed, the entire work achieves a nearly balletic performance. I would imagine it, in our era especially, to strip sexuality from a stage work, to be extremely difficult. Sellars, early on, establishes same sex bonding, first between Didymus & Septimius, later Theodora and Irene with such beauty, gentleness and honesty that later, when men and women are touching it is never
perceived as sexual - rather compassion.
One of the most beautiful of images occurs during Septimius' aria "Descend kind pity, heavenly guest." Sellars has created a pas de deux between the two soldiers Croft alone singing, imploring heaven's pity. At the downward scale sung on the word "descend" Didymus' arms repeat a falling motion finally encircling Septimius. When Septimius faces up and sees his fellow soldier he is startled, profoundly touched, wiping tears from his eyes. We witness a bonding deeper than either foreshadowing the compassion and highlighting the similarities between these two different men. It doesn't hurt that Croft sings with the most ravishing tone one is likely to ever encounter in this role.
Late his bravura aria "Dread the fruits of Christian folly" lets him sing what may be the fastest coloratura I've heard a tenor execute. His performance, as well as Lorraine Hunt Lieberson are the highlights of this extraordinarily beautiful evening.
Of Ms. Hunt, all I can ask is: has there EVER been a better singer of this type of music? Her Irene is simply an overwhelmingly powerful presence. Sellars has cast Irene as the leader of the Christian sect to which Theodora belongs. She is obviously and passionately devoted to her congregation and it is clear this community would follow her to the ends of the world. Irene has some of the best music in "Theodora" and Hunt sings
it with such passion and aching beauty, nowhere (for me)more than in "As with rosey steps the morn. This is one of Handel's most exquisitely beautiful arias and Hunt's singing of this is simply ravishing. She is up to big coloratura work in "Bain of Virtues" and her ornamentation in the di capo is thrilling stuff.
Dawn Upshaw's Theodora is one of the best things she's ever done. The image of her, in simple white, rising from her chair at what looks like a prayer meeting is a stunning image as she begins her aria "Fond flattering world adieu." Her voice was built for this type of slow Handel aria. Sellars gives her some of the grandest arm/hand gestures of
the cast and Upshaw's execution of them was believable - never once looking artificial, rather as if merely another extension of the music. "Angels ever bright and fair" provides another stunning visual moment - when Septimius, with his soldiers, reluctantly but dutifully leads her away to "that vile place." The arresting image of Theodora in virginal white, and the soldiers in their orange riot gear is hard to forget.
The prison scene, a darkened stage with a large yellow square representing her cell finds Theodora in a red bathrobe over a white slip. Upshaw's movements become Martha Grahams all tortured angles and match the coloring of her singing. Foregoing her typical pure sound Upshaw is unafraid to emit painful, frightened sobs and frenzied hyperventilating, unifying physical and vocal performance into a dramatic whole. The image of her on the floor, palms and feet extending upward, robe barely wrapped around her magnificently projects the image of a renaissance saint ascending to heaven.
William Christie and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Glyndebourne chorus are completely "on" throughout the entire performance. I cannot recommend this videotape highly enough. What lucky audiences Glyndebourne had for this magical production. A wonderful achievement by all involved.
Rating:
Summary: A Superb Production!
Review: Please ignore the uneducated comments of the review from the Welshman, Theodora is not an Italian Opera but an English Oratorio, so it is wholely appropriate for it to be sung in English! The libretto and Handel's manner of composition however makes this piece particularly well suited to an acted rendition as we have here. Believe me, if there is only one Handel DVD you will ever buy get this one - the performance, and indeed the whole concept of this production is superb. Never has Handel crammed so much profound music into one opus. This is without doubt Handel's greatest work and this DVD is the best version of it you can get at the moment - and it is better than any CD version (even Christie's own!). BUY IT!!
Rating:
Summary: vocal heaven meets a firmly grounded production
Review: Stunning in every respect. Hunt is luminous, earthy, and lives entirely within the world created by the production. Upshaw is clear, focused, and very moving. Croft is spectacular -- emotionally charged, musically affecting, and a great actor. Daniels is in very fine form indeed and sings with control, wonderful coloring, and heartbreaking beauty. The production does what modern dress updates so rarely do -- rather than condescend to the audience with look-at-me tricks, each of its bold gestures serves to illuminate and focus the emotional and musical content of the scene. I've only owned it one day and have already watched it twice! Give over to it and you will be generously rewarded.
Rating:
Summary: Sellars, Upshaw, Hunt & Daniels Make Handel Relevant
Review: The Glyndborne production was an instant classic, and was revived twice after the festival to tour the UK and Europe--hardly a "controversial" production when all were in agreement that each aspect of this production, and each of Sellars' directorial choices, were perfectly balanced, bringing this rarely-performed but heartbreakingly relevant opera/oratorio to new light. (I remember there was even a rave review on the cover of the Los Angeles Times arts section, without any plan for the opera to be performed there.) Some of Sellars most successful productions have been with Handel (Giulio Cesare, Saul), and he and his usual team of designers (the design here is simple, strange and stunning) know exactly how to set these operas in modern America, utilizing all kinds of modern staging techniques (here, his trademark dance/gesture/semaphore performance mode reaches new heights of subtlety, expressivity and sublimity, totally in concert with the music and the drama), without in any way violating the integrity, meaning or complexity of the music. To the contrary, these artists take the music and it's meaning quite seriously, creating, with these incomparable singer/actors, complete characters in real situations, not contentless presentations of pretty music. Traditional "period" stagings of Handel often trivialize the material, barely tell the story, and hardly examine what the opera might actually be about (it turns out that Handel's work is intensely, relentlessly political). For example, the intensely effective simplicity of the presentation of the subculture of the "Christians" within the larger world of the "Romans" betrays a group of theater artists who know exactly what they are doing, and are putting their hearts and souls into their work--from the singing to the costuming to the lighting to the conducting. I'm not sure how the other reviewer saw Nixon in the characterization of the Roman governor (he seems to be an amalgamation of every Western leader of the last 25 years), but he seems to think that the outstanding performing has nothing to do with the "need I say more" production around the singers. In reality, every moment of every performance in every Sellars-directed opera has been carefully crafted through extensive collaboration between the director and the performers (besides the fact that he works with the same people again and again, like Upshaw and Hunt). These performances are astounding because the singers understand completely what this production of this opera is about. Great performances don't happen in a vacuum. Besides, the greatness of the singing is inextricably linked to the intensity and depth of the acting. What's also amazing about this video adaptation of a live performance is the sensitivity of the camera work. Other video versions of Sellars-directed operas have been choppy, shaky and jumpy, but the transition here are smooth, intelligent and seem carefully planned. The viewer is able to imagine what the live performance looked and felt like, but can experience it as a well-directed video piece as well. However you look at it, opera productions don't get much better than this, and we're very lucky that we have this well-made video for all of us who didn't get to see it live. I'm able to see Handel in a totally new way now, and realize he's got a lot more to say to 21st Century America, and in this case, post-September 11th America, than I had ever imagined.
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