From around the world: Prague.(International ... an international cast delivers The Death of Klinghoffer)(Opera Review)

The 2003 Prague Spring Festival brought opportunities to experience five rarely-performed works, ranging from nineteenth-century Czech operas to a contemporary American masterpiece. With John Adams's The Death of Klinghoffer (seen May 22), the National Opera took a giant leap toward its goal of joining the rank of A-list European opera companies. Daniel Dvorak, artistic director of the National Theater, created a visually stunning set: a ship's deck dominated by the suggestion of a huge smokestack, placed in front of projections of the rising and falling horizon as seen through portholes, capturing the constant motion of being at sea. Individual cabins, dramatically lit, rose on elevators for specific scenes. Simona Rybakova's detailed, realistic costumes contributed greatly to the atmosphere. Jiri Nekvasil directed with dear-cut storytelling, avoiding the temptation to add topical context to the true story of a 1985 terrorist attack on a cruise ship. The chorus, which dominates the work, was given simple, stylized movements. Slow-motion action pointed up the anguish of the moment the terrorists seize the ship. In the opera's only light moment, the British Dancing Girl's number was accompanied by six chorus boys in glitzy costumes executing fluffy choreography by Regina Hofmanova. Klinghoffer was given a motorized wheelchair, which he used to defy and annoy the terrorists. After his execution (not depicted onstage), Klinghoffer sang his death aria standing next to the empty wheelchair, ...