Stravinsky meets Sin City: an opera where morality gets lost in neon and bad decisions.
Stravinsky's masterwork The Rake's Progress, created for La Fenice in Venice in 1951, is based on a libretto by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman, inspired by a series of 18th century prints by William Hogarth. This amazing production from La Monnaie De Munt jazzifies the setting by replacing Hogarth's sin city, London, with 1950s Las Vegas, turning it into a glittering, cinematic gallery of tableaux vivants inspired by the early days of television. Staged by one of the most visionary theatre directors of our age, the Québécois Robert Lepage, the neo-classical morality tale truly becomes a grand spectacle. Lepage's visual imagination works its magic superbly, while Kazushi Ono's energetic musical direction drives the sparkling ensemble to exhilarating heights. Recorded in High Definition and true surround sound.
Direction
Lepage transforms Hogarth into televisual fever dreams.
Production
1950s Vegas as moral wasteland — the aesthetic is *chef's kiss*.
Score
Ono makes Stravinsky's neoclassicism actually swing.
Director
Robert Lepage
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Lepage originally conceived the TV tableau concept for a 1998 Canadian production before perfecting it here.
Stravinsky wrote this while becoming a US citizen; the Vegas transplant weirdly honors that immigrant eye on American excess.
US
