FROM AROUND THE WORLD: VIENNA.(Review)

For its first-ever production of Britten's Billy Budd (premiere, Feb. 12), the Vienna Staatsoper chose the original four-act version from 1951, which gives more focus to the difficult character of Captain Vere. Using little more than scrubbed white boards and black walls, Wolfgang Gussmann conjured up the oppressive atmosphere of a man-of-war, underscored by his costumes, which clearly marked the levels of naval hierarchy. The oppression and brutality inherent in such a closed community were also starkly realized by director Willy Decker. Decker, who had already directed the revised two-act version in Cologne in 1992, rightly concentrated more on the conflict between Claggart and Vere rather than on Billy. Nevertheless, he did not ignore the opposition between good and evil personified by Billy and Claggart, and through several meaningful exchanges of glances, he suggested that Billy is aware of Claggart's intentions. Decker also paid great attention to detail in the choral masses -- superbly sung by the Staatsoper chorus -- ensuring that they were an anonymous block when the action demanded it. Decker miscalculated, however, when it came to Billy's blocking. The sailor was made hyperactive, thrashing his arms and staggering around not only when his speech was blocked. And it is unthinkable that Billy would embrace the Captain ...