The Press in New York | François Girard towards other heights

François Girard is in New York to offer nothing less than three productions of his own: Lohengrin And ghost shiptwo Wagner operas presented at the Metropolitan Opera, and Hunting rifle, a theatrical performance starring the legendary Mikhail Baryshnikov. Our columnist Mario Girard wanted to see the result of all this work. Conclusion: he returns conquered and moved!

Wagner according to François Girard

After a Parsifal widely acclaimed and now part of the Metropolitan Opera’s repertoire, François Girard tackles another Wagner piece de resistance, Lohengrin. You should know that this production was created at the Bolshoi in February 2022, at the very moment when the Russians invaded Ukraine.

The Quebec director’s view of this work is now offered to music lovers at the Met, an audience that is not afraid of the German composer’s exuberance, let alone the length of the work (nearly five hours, two intermissions included ).

I attended the performance on March 21. My chauvinistic side was triple flattered since Serge Lamothe, faithful collaborator of François Girard, acts as a playwright. And then also because Yannick Nézet-Séguin is at the desk for the duration of the performances.

The principal conductor and artistic director of the Met, whose faithful have made him “their Yannick” (you should hear the cries and the applause which go to a crescendo over the intermissions), carried this monumental opera with all the genius that we knows him.

It is said of Lohengrin, a romantic work par excellence, that it is a “master’s opera”. Whoever is at the desk does not make this adage lie.

It must be said that in addition to having high caliber singers and musicians in front of him, the conductor is entitled to scenic scenes of breathtaking beauty. From the first bars of Prelude, we discover a huge platform that completely covers the middle of the stage by advancing towards the public (note that the Met stage is gigantic). A large hole reveals the immensity of space.

We are up to our necks in poetry and mythology. The magic happens in seconds.

This idea is taken up differently in the second and third acts. It is in this place which has no time and where plant elements abound (are we on the surface of the Earth or in its depths?) that the characters deliver this story of impossible love, revenge and reverie.

This libretto by Wagner is far from my favorite of his work. The story of this princess, accused of the murder of her brother and cleared of her crime by a noble knight who arrives on a gondola pulled by a swan, is high-sounding. Thank God, François Girard left the swan to rot in the cellars of the Met. He went one better by creating a visual landscape that enhances the sumptuousness of this musical drama.

On this subject, it is necessary to underline the magnificence of the lightings of David Finn and the projections of Peter Flaherty. Rarely have I seen such an impressive and compelling depiction of the Milky Way.

The staging of François Girard, without displeasing the purists, is full of symbols and ingenious finds that avoid the bling bling. Thus, all the members of the choir (I do not tell you how they appear to the public), as well as the dancers, wear loose tunics which, when deployed, can make various colors appear (red, green, white ). The effects are striking.

Tamara Wilson takes the role of Elsa and Piotr Beczala, that of Lohengrin. In the world of opera, everyone knows that this character, held by a tenor, is very demanding.

There are three performances left. Lohengrin (March 25 and 28, 1^er april). This production would then return regularly in Met seasons over the next few years.

François Girard, present every evening, is already preparing for his next challenge: going up The ghost ship with a new team of singers. Its staging (created in Quebec during the summer of 2019) was little seen by Met audiences when it was presented in February 2020. A vessel named COVID-19 stopped everything. This other work by Wagner will be presented from May 30 to June 10.

With this new production, it is clear that the Quebec director is now a staple of the Met. It is also impressive to see the names of those who have climbed Lohengrin since 1966, the year of the opening of the “new Met”: Wieland Wagner, August Everding, Robert Wilson… In 2023, the name of François Girard is added to this prestigious list. That says it all.

The strange beauty of slowness

He slowly walked towards us. He smiled shyly, shook hands, and answered a few questions. Especially mine, me the incorrigible talker. I imagined Mikhaïl Baryshnikov to be very tall and also very naively, like in the days of his great ballet roles, during the Balanchine period.

The man is rather of average stature. This dance legend, who still retains his charisma, is now 75 years old. His friends Laurie Anderson and Diana Krall will remind him of this during a big show which will take place next June in New York. The former star dancer was exhausted after the performance he had just given.

The one who made history by asking for political asylum in 1974, during a Bolshoi tour of Canada, is on view in The Hunting Gun (THE gun of chase), a theatrical show designed around the novel by Japanese author Yasushi Inoue and directed by François Girard.

Every evening since March 16, Mikhail Baryshnikov shares the stage with Japanese actress Miki Nakatani at the art center that bears his name in the 37^e Street, in New York, in the Hudson Yards district. This story, as beautiful as it is heartbreaking, is that of three women, the daughter, the wife and the lover, who read a letter intended for a man. Meanwhile, the man silently handles a shotgun.

For 1 hour 45 minutes, Mikhail Baryshnikov, who has devoted his entire life to movement and velocity, performs extremely slow gestures while his partner brilliantly delivers Inoue’s magnificent text.

“I think I was attracted by the limits that were offered to me,” explained Mikhail Baryshnikov to me the day after the performance. I move on a tiny platform behind a curtain and there is no space to move. As I don’t have a text to say, it requires body language that must express intense emotion. I have never done anything like this before. »

This project comes at the right time in Mikhail Baryshnikov’s career. If he can no longer perform great throws as before, the artist still wants to vibrate on a stage.

There is no doubt that Mikhail Baryshnikov is an artist with a capital A. He does nothing and says nothing at random. With him, everything is thought out, felt, matured. It is not surprising that he finds himself working today with François Girard, whose films he already knew. And it’s also no wonder he’s paired with Miki Nakatani, who I met before the show.

The latter, who offered this show in 2011 in Montreal (after Marie Brassard) and in Tokyo with Rodrigue Proteau, slips into her three characters every night with impressive preparation. When I entered her dressing room, she was listening to the Ninth Symphony Mahler, music that prepares her “to die”.

Initially, François Girard proposed to Miki Nakatani to play one of the three women. It was she who had the idea of ​​taking on the three characters. This results in an outstanding performance. Rarely have I seen a performer achieve such a multi-interpretation. In a fraction of a second, her voice, intonation, gesture and delivery change completely as she moves from character to character.

A huge Japanese film and television star, Miki Nakatani tries to distance herself from the fiery reactions of her admirers. “What is important for me is to play well. When we created the play in 2011, I knew very little about theatre. I learned that when you’re on stage, especially with this show, you have nothing around you. You are naked. So you feel like you have nothing left to lose. »

Miki Nakatani loves working with François Girard, whom she describes as an “obsessive perfectionist”. “She is right and sometimes I have to hide this aspect of my personality, says the concerned. But what I like about Japan is that everyone is like me. I feel like home,” he adds with a laugh.

The story between this work and François Girard is given a new lease of life thanks to this series of performances at the Baryshnikov Arts Center. “Wajdi Mouawad put this book in my hands and told me it was a movie. I said it was more of a play,” recalls the director.

This decision was the right one. Now let’s hope that one day we will be able to see this show again in Montreal. Discussions are ongoing.