Strike threat hangs over La Scala gala opening

AP/Luca Bruno

Who said strikes were only happening in France? More on the subject here.

Opéra de Paris ubuesque

Suite à la grève à l'Opéra de Paris;

Strikes update

Opéra de Paris:

The strikes are over as every technician is back to work; yet, due to unknown causes (something about the scene of Bastille being staged for the Nutcracker and therefore preventing the switch to the Tannhäuser set - I didn't get the point though), the Paris Opera is maintaining the current semi-staged arrangement: no sets, but costumes, and lights.

The huge news though is that the website has posted the update in French and English (yes, talk about a miracle). I guess lights are on in the webmaster's brain too now.

Teatro San Carlo, Napoli, BNF archives

Italy:

Strike was avoided in Milan on Dec.7 for the Scala Prima, thanks to Stephane Lissner being able to convince the Italian government to give the 1250 workers a €3.2 million bonus to be shared amongst them.

Yet, performances in Genova (Teatro Carlo Felice), Palermo (Teatro Massimo) and Florence (Teatro del Maggio Musicale) were once again cancelled and, after weeks of turmoil in the Italian Opera Houses all around the country, the situation stands firmly unresolved.

As Jean-Jacques Bozonnet mentions in Le Monde today, the situation is a bit desperate everywhere: money is nowhere to be found, and the Teatro San Carlo in Napoli and the Teatro del Maggio Fiorentino are on the brink of bankruptcy, as was the House in Cagliari a few years back.

That situation has striking resemblances to the current situation some Opera Houses are facing in France right now (Avignon, Metz and Tours), with the French Government threatening to cut its fundings.

"La grande traversée"

Nous sommes en 2007 après Jésus-Christ ; toute la Gaule est occupée par les Romains... Toute ? Non ! Car un village peuplé d'irréductibles Gaulois résiste encore et toujours à l'envahisseur. Et la vie n'est pas facile pour les garnisons de légionnaires romains des camps retranchés d'Elyseum, Matignum, Châtelum et Palaisroyalum...

Depuis le début du soulèvement populaire, le centurion Gérarum Mortimus s'est fait bien discret. Il faut dire qu'il a d'autres préoccupations en tête. Là-bas, très loin, par delà les océans, une nouvelle vie l'attend chez les glouglous. Alors forcément, la révolte des Gaulois du Coliseum de Lutèce ne l'intéresse pas vraiment et il en a délégué la gestion à son décurion Dominicum Legrandus.

Sauf que la révolte se prolonge et tient désormais plus de la guérilla sporadique que d'un mouvement de grande ampleur. Pour autant, les annulations des Jeux continuent et menacent désormais les Jeux de Fin d'Année, la vitrine du Coliseum aux yeux des citoyens romains. Sans compter que les sesterces commencent à manquer cruellement (3 millions à la fin novembre, 10 à 15 millions si les Jeux de Fin d'Année sont touchés).

Mais qu'attend Caesar pour envoyer les légions?




[Texte librement inspiré de l'article du Monde paru hier, "L'Opéra de Paris paralysé par le problème des régimes spéciaux"]

Grèves, toujours

The current strike at the Opéra de Paris is rather odd. Tonight's performance of Puccini's Tosca will be played, but in a concert version with costumes (so I guess the only thing missing will be the set and lights). Spectators who choose to show up rather than asking for reimbursement will be able to come back to the Bastille Opera's store in December to receive a free DVD. I guess it's a new kind of "when Christmas meets strike" gift. On the other hand, the Nutcracker will be cancelled a second time sunday Nov.18. So basically, if you have tickets for the Opera, you have no clue either your performance is going to be played or not (and how it's eventually gonna be played) unless you check the Paris Opera website. Daily. Oh, and you'd better be speaking French too, if you want to understand the daily announcements.

Good news for all of us, French people; a union labor of the "cheminots" on strike from the SNCF, the French National Railway Company, has decided to stop striking for now (unlike all other labor unions), to start discussions with the government. But it also threatens to go back on strike on Dec.20. Just for the Christmas holidays. How thoughtful.

Grèves, encore

As France is getting ready for a second round of transportation strikes on wednesday (beginning tomorrow night for the trains), the Paris Opera is also getting ready; after the strike of the end of October that resulted in several performances cancellations, this time, the strike could last up to 16 days.

I guess it's not that bad, since you won't be able to go to the Opera House anyway, with the transportation strike.


By the way, one of the stupidest excuses to justify this mess was given by the technical staff of the Garnier Opera: « C'est vrai qu'on bosse dans un cadre magnifique. Mais en plateau, on est dans le noir et la poussière toute la journée », dit Christophe. Sans compter l'effort physique. « On a un plateau à l'italienne, incliné à 5 %. C'est d'autant plus dur de monter et démonter les décors. Je ne me vois pas à 60 ans porter encore des murs ou soulever des danseuses pour les faire disparaître du décor », explique Nicolas.

My translation:
"It's true we work in a magnificent place. But, on the stage, we are in the dark and dust all day long" says Christophe. And that's without taking into account the physical effort. " We operate an Italian-like stage, with a 5% slope. It's even harder to build and unbuild the set. I don't envision myself at 60 still lifting walls or raising dancers to make them disappear from the stage" explains Nicolas.

Well, that's a first: the weight of dancers.
And that's a shame, this slippery slope of huge proportions that has so much effect on eveybody.
By the way, when the Garnier Opera was inaugurated in 1875, how were the technicians doing?

Sciopero generale a La Scala

Sciopero generale a Milano. La Scala occupata militarmente, 14 giugno 1914

So...

It seems going on strike is not so much a French trademark after all.
Italians do it too.

The performance of Verdi's Requiem on Nov.9 is cancelled, since nobody will be working to run La Scala.

Aux armes, citoyens!

The great thing about opera is that you get to talk about anything, really. The Paris Opera has just announced some cancellations planned over the next few days; the world premiere of a ballet by Wayne McGregor, Genus, and Medea's Dream by the Angelin Preljocaj as well as a performance of Tosca, currently receiving a big success at l'Opéra Bastille (the dance evenings play at l'Opéra Garnier). Why is that? Well, I know it sounds desperately cliché but the employees are going on strike over pension reform. I'm so fed up with how selfish and dumm the French people can sometime act (thank God, they're not always like that). We have one of the best health-care systems in the world, a fantastic state-run pension system, we damn well know it's ruining us and killing the entrepreneurs thus causing a cycle of poor economic growth (our Prime Minister got busted by our new president/God a couple of months ago because he admitted on a radio interview that we were, indeed, facing a recession), we know all that, everybody knows, and yet, instead of sharing the burden, the French have that tendency to keep it all to themselves. I can't emphasize enough how I love our Social Security, how I love our maybe so-old-fashioned state-run pension system. Yet, some "troupes de mouches", to use this XIXth century vocabulary I love so much, go on strike and protest all the time instead of thinking of the Greater Good. No wonder many across the globe see us as little midgets yelling around like crazy. If you think about it going on strike and protesting on a regular basis is really kind of a French trademark. How sad a reputation is that.

Mise à jour du 31 octobre:
La grève qui dure à l'Opéra de Paris, ça mérite bien un mini-article de Renaud Machart dans Le Monde daté du 1er novembre.