Richard And Felix: Twilight In Venice
According to the press release, the play “picks up Wagner near the end of his life, in his beloved adopted city, Venice, where he is visited by the ghost of the long-dead Mendelssohn. Felix …is here depicted as a bit prudish, the product of a strict upbringing. Wagner is more the sensualist of the two…The play, looking at Wagner’s attitudes toward Jews, suggests a question: Are Wagner’s attitudes more ambivalent rather than hateful? This is a conclusion that could be reached partly on the basis that some of Wagner’s contemporaries were far more bigoted than he, particularly his wife...Wagner struggles with his relationships with Jews, women, politics, and music.”
I am extremely grateful for these program notes as I found it almost impossible to concentrate or involve myself in what was painfully reminiscent of a never ending lecture in a music appreciation class.
Cornelius Schnauber is the playwright: novelist, author, and internationally recognized scholar, he is director of the Max Kade Institute for Austrian-German-Swiss Studies at USC; is the recipient of the Distinction of Honor in Gold for Services to the Republic of Austria, The Federal Republic of Germany Friendship Award, the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, the first Lifetime Achievement Award of the American Association of teachers of German; and has received many more awards and commendations.
However, with all this background and recognition, Mr. Schnauber doesn’t seem to have any insight into the nature of drama. Drama is about the most intimate inner workings of a person’s soul. It explores the secret passions and yearnings of one’s innermost being, and those mysterious forces that drive behavior and action. It is about how one person deeply touches another, for good or ill. Drama is not an essay showing off abstract intellectualism and erudition. Playwriting demands a profound revelation of feeling. Richard and Felix is less a play then a lengthy dissertation on music, political theory, anti-Semitism, sensuality, sprinkled here and there with vague attempts at philosophical thought, all leaving this viewer more than numb.
The acting was not sincere or personal. The set (Paul Koslo) and costumes (Valentinos) were outstanding, but nothing could save this project. One of the few lines I remember from the play is, “Oh, sleep, sleep! Where have you gone?” One needed only to look out into the audience to find the demonstrative answer to that question.
The last play I saw at the MET Theatre was, Who is Curtis Lee? It was brilliant and I gave it the best possible review. Unfortunately, every hit in the ball park can’t be a home run; some balls go afoul.
MET Theatre 1089 N. Oxford Ave.
Hollywood, Ca. 90029
March 26-April 25
Fri. & Sat. at 8, Sun. at 3
(323) 957-1152
www.theMETtheatre.com