It may seem unusual for a renowned film director to suddenly switch mediums and helm an opera, but such a thing has happened a number of times before: for example, Woody Allen has directed Puccini’s “Gianni Schicchi” for the Los Angeles Opera; legendary Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami has helmed Mozart’s “Cosi Fan Tutte” for the Aix-en-Provence Festival; Julie Taymor has directed Mozart‘s "The Magic Flute" for the Metropolitan Opera in New York, as well as the Broadway musical adaptations of "The Lion King" and "Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark"; Roman Polanski has helmed Verdi’s “Rigoletto” for the Bavarian State Opera; William Friedkin has directed a version of Alban Berg’s “Wozzeck”; and Werner Herzog has helmed a number of Wagner productions including “Doktor Faust,” “The Flying Dutchman” and “Parsifal”.
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Terry Gilliam is among this elite group, having helmed several operas, including directing Hector Berlioz’s “The Damnation of Faust” at the English National Opera, a collaboration with Music Director Edward Gardner. Gilliam and Gardner have also reunited for the English National Opera’s production of Berlioz’s “Benvenuto Cellini,” about the 16th-century goldsmith, sculptor, soldier, draftsman, musician and poet of the same name. For the production, Gilliam also served as the co-set designer, and the sets include a tricked-out Mardi Gras carnival befitting of one of Gilliam’s trippier cinematic visions.
A video has surfaced of Gilliam’s nearly 3-hour 2014-2015 production of “Benvenuto Cellini” for the Dutch National Opera, a co-production with the English National Opera and Italy’s Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, with Sir Mark Elder serving as the Conductor and Musical Director. As you might guess it’s eye-popping stuff, so settle in and check it out below.
