Les Contes d'Hoffmann [The tales of Hoffmann] (Complete Opera recorded in 2008)

Les Contes d'Hoffmann [The tales of Hoffmann] (Complete Opera recorded in 2008) cover $72.00 Special Order
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OFFENBACH
Les Contes d'Hoffmann [The tales of Hoffmann] (Complete Opera recorded in 2008)
Grand Theatre de Geneve / Marc Laho / Stella Doufexis / Nicolas Cavallier / Patricia Petitbon / Patrick Davin (cond)

[ Bel Air Classiques / 2 DVD ]

Release Date: Saturday 1 August 2009

This item is only available to us via Special Order. We should be able to get it to you in 3 - 6 weeks from when you order it.

Rated: M - Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993M No Notes

M Nudity & sex scenes - Offenbach's masterpiece, based on three stories by the German author E.T.A. Hoffmann, is both a three-act opera and a trilogy of taut, individual dramas, all rolled into one.

M Nudity & sex scenes

197 minutes

Bonus: After the show / interview with Oliver Py, Patricia Petibon and others.

Offenbach's masterpiece, based on three stories by the German author E.T.A. Hoffmann, is both a three-act opera and a trilogy of taut, individual dramas, all rolled into one. This Geneva production from 2002 features baritone Marc Laho in the tour-de-force triple villain roles, with three different standout sopranos as the tales' three heroines. French producer Olivier Py caused an uproar among Geneva operagoers with a staging of Tales of Hoffmann that features full-frontal male and female nudity and simulated on-stage lesbian and heterosexual sex. Audiences were left "gasping, giggling or reduced to stunned silence" by the production, which interprets the popular opera as an indictment of capitalist society. Py adds several simulated sex acts, including one between the poet Hoffman and the life-sized doll Olympia as she sings her main aria. Soprano Patricia Petitbon is a major tour de force as she sings Olympia wearing only a transparent body stocking in a Venetian bordello.