Title: Great music-making; offputting staging and custumes
Product review: If this was the CD release of this opera, I'd give it five stars. Kent Nagano, the soloists, the orchestra and chorus are super in this live performance. But I found the "kabuki" staging of this opera weird, frankly. Not only does it completely clash with Rimsky's sinewy, oriental-style music, the costumes make everyone look like overstuffed dolls and make graceful movement impossible -- hardly in keeping with the sensuousness of the score. (Besides, Japan or Mongolia has nothing AT ALL to do with this opera ... perhaps the producer needs to bone up on his/her history to recall that it isn't Russia that traces its lineage to the Far East, but rather the Hungarians, Finns and Estonians!)This opera could really benefit from a staged production that is true to the composer's intended style and time.
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