I applaud Janos Gereben's characterization of the sets as excessive,
a drawback to the enjoyment of the opera.

I would go farther and say the sets were an abomination, forcing me to
close my eyes for much of the opera in order to appreciate some of my
all-time favorite music.

The staging was based on Janacek's obsession for Kamila Stosslova,
certainly a valid tack, but Janacek's abiding love for nature was pretty
much ignored or subverted with the overall dreary sets and alteration
of stage directions, taking place entirely in a morphing/remorphing 1989
Ratskeller-like bar.  The closing scene, described in the program as a
walk into the sunset for the forester on a hill, looked instead like a
minature drunk walking down the inside of a barrel of a vented machine
gun toward a blue spot of no particular time of day.

Most people I talked to afterwards, however, liked the sets, thinking
them appropriate to the "modern music." When this opera becomes overplayed
enough that radical re-interpretations seem necessary, perhaps these
sets that insult Janacek's memory should be tried again.  In the meantime,
truly outdoorsy sets with easier-to-decipher animal costumes should be
used to educate audiences with Janacek's original vision, rather than
poison them with falsity as I believe these SF Opera sets do.

As far as I'm concerned, this version is Watership Down in a sewer,
despite fabulous singing.

Jeff Dunn
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