DVD 11692 I CAPULETI E I MONTECCHI (Bellini)

GREAT SINGING. Again, a director gives us a horrible production and costumes. I keep asking why these directors have to ruin operas. Yes, many can be logically updated.....Rigoletto, for instance, has been done in different settings/time periods with little loss of the composers intent. But putting Romeo and Juliet in what looks like a bathroom looses all the impact of their relationship. It's as bad as Violetta spinning around in a hospital room with her IV bag/stand as she dies. Zefferelli may have been lavish, but his productions had the composers' meaning.

wherever this Capuleti takes place, in 14th century Verona it does not!Absurd costumes,apology for scenery-Giulietta has not even a bed but she does have modern plumbing.so one has to rely on the music. here things are much better-Di Donato and Cabell provide some exciting singing and Bellini,s plaintive melodies still enchant so everything is for the ear, nothing for the eye