Search - Mozart - Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail on DVD

Successful hijacking? Are you kidding?

G. Stefan Lazar | San Francisco, CA USA | 01/25/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

"There is little to NOTHING successful in this "hijacking" of my favorite Mozart opera. I'm at a total loss for words but..................if you looking for Turkey you won't find it here. I'm not even sure this is "of this earth." If you think you know this opera that's good because 15 minutes into this you'll start wondering if the packaging is labeled incorrectly. I do not object to operas being placed in different locales/time periods and with a very different point of view. I find that challenging and that's good for me. BUT, this does not resemble the opera I know in any shape or form. What I object to here most is (1) the gratuitous violence, (2) the crude sex, (3) the major dialogue changes, (4) the overdone production, (5) the settings that don't give you a clue as to where you are or what is happening - have I said enough? The singing is average to good but certainly nothing worth buying this for. After watching Doris Dorrie's fun "La Finta Giardiniera", this Abduction was a MAJOR disappointment and hopefully the low point of the Mozart operas at Salzburg during 2006. I've got 4 more of the Mozart series sitting here to watch and I'm keeping my fingers they are better than this bad idea that did nothing but get worse as I watched it."

A nightmare

Alberto S. V | Lima, Peru | 09/15/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

"First of all let me tell this: I love new ideas about theater, opera, arts in general. Really love it... but this SERAIL is a kind of joke without taste. Where is the original idea about the mix of cultures and the battle of sexes written by Mozart? Nowhere. Just a joke about SERAIL without SERAIL. A nightmare... Poor Mozar! What happenened with Salzburg? The two stars of my rating are for the voices and the orchestra."

Wiped clean of all meaning

pohjola | Maryland | 10/14/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I won't give a diatribe about the indecency of this production, the fact that there is some full frontal nudity on stage is not my objection. My problem is that the story has been completely stripped away in this production. The opera, as it was written, has a plot which may be silly, but which gives us an idea of 18th century European attitudes towards sex, intimacy and Eastern culture. In this production the plot is gone and the arias have been used as the basis of a set of essentially unrelated set pieces supposedly giving us insights into the nature of sexual relationships. The irrelevant action on stage simply distracts from the drama of Mozart's skillfully constructed arias and recitatives. The result is supposed to give a provocative view of sexuality, but to me seems to be utter foolishness. To sum up, if this sounds interesting, you might want to buy this DVD, but don't expect it to be a reasonable representation of the opera as Mozart conceived it.

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Mozart abducted!

Mr John Haueisen | WORTHINGTON, OHIO United States | 03/17/2010

(2 out of 5 stars)

"This only faintly resembles Mozart's Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail.
Yes, it's true what the other reviews have said. There are many brides and grooms running around the stage, many lovely brides in their lingerie. But there is also a little girl with a butcher knife, chasing some of the principals. There's no Pasha Selim, but there are many wedding gifts being opened. There are many caresses between Blonde and Konstanze, AND Osmin and Pedrillo. At one point Osmin seems to have become a priest of some sort, even tossing a wedding bouquet back over his shoulders.

If all of the above sounds confusing, indeed it was, at least for me. Many of Mozart's arias are still here--some of them nearly intact. So what I'm telling you is if you want a traditional "Abduction," this one's been abducted far from Mozart's original work. But if you'd like to hear some of Mozart's music, while watching bridal gowns, tuxedos, and perhaps a lot of sexual confusion and male/female role confusion, you might really enjoy this. Seriously, once you get over the shock of how different it is from Mozart's original, it is really quite entertaining. It's YOUR choice--I just wanted to prepare you for some of what you can expect."