The Fenice Theatre and Giuseppe Verdi’s Traviata have history. The opera debuted in Venice in 1853 in a seldom-performed first version (the one most commonly performed is, in fact, a second version). The former is also what we saw in 2004, inaugurating the newly-rebuilt Fenice Theatre after a fire destroyed it in 1996. In that occasion, director Robert Carsen followed Verdi’s resolution of making a piece of opera that would be ‘the sign of the times’ and adapted it to our modern times, doing away with that idealism and romanticization that its characters were subject to over the course of the twentieth century.

The Traviata’s story takes after Alexandre Dumas’ The Lady of the Camellias and is a depiction of bourgeois society of the time, the background of the love story between Alfredo and Violetta. Carsen renders the characters more vividly than ever, not shying away from making it clear that Violetta is, in essence, a prostitute, all the while respecting bourgeois customs, and never giving in to vulgarity. This staging was met with extraordinary success: both audiences and critics loved it, and we can’t wait to see it again in a few short days.