7 Deaths of Maria Callas is an opera project, directed, designed and scenographed by conceptual and performance artist Marina Abramovic with music by Marko Nikodijevic and arias by Bellini, Bizet, Donizetti, Puccini and Verdi. The project pays homage to the 20th century’s most famous prima donna who lived, like Tosca did, for her art. Tosca was her most famous performance.
Dark threatening clouds fill the whole stage. Maria Callas, who died in 1977 aged 53, is discovered on her deathbed. Seven divas walk on in turn, stand centre stage, sing an aria and walk off. Dressed casually, they might be auditioning.
Behind them on a huge screen, which fills the whole of the Coliseum stage, Abramovic and Willem Dafoe mime short films titled “Burning”, “Knifing”, “Jumping”, “Hara-kiri”, “Strangulation”, “Consumption” and “Madness”. The pretentious text, she and Petter Skavlan have written and which precede each aria, is not needed and could be cut.
The seven arias have one thing in common. They are the final aria sung by the heroine before she tragically dies. Verdi’s Violetta in Traviata dies of tuberculosis. Puccini’s Tosca throws herself off a tall building. Her body falls in slow motion. Verdi’s Desdemona in Otello is strangled by an enormous yellow boa round her neck.
Puccini’s Cio-Cio-San in Madam Butterfly commits suicide. On screen two scientists, dressed in protective clothing, search for butterflies in a desolate landscape. Dafoe strides the desert in full drag. Bizet’s Carmen is tied up with ropes by a bullfighter and accidentally knifed.
Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, abandoned by her lovers, goes mad. A hand mirror and a full-length mirror are shattered. A vase of flowers is hurled across the room. A bridal veil is ripped. Face and toes are bloodied. Abramovic’s mime is silent movie acting.
Bellini’s Norma steps into a raging fire and then an extended blackout follows. The orchestra, conducted by Yoel Gamzou, continues to play Nikodijevic’s music. The chorus sings from dress circle boxes on both sides of the auditorium. Musically, it is the production’s most dramatic moment.
Callas dies of a broken heart. Abramovic takes over the role. Callas’ bedroom at 36 Avenue Georges-Mandel in Paris is recreated on stage. The seven sopranos (now cast as maids) clean up and drape the furniture in black sheets.
There is too much Abramovic on screen in enormous close-up. She even bares her breasts at one point. She upstages Callas completely. I longed for images of Maria Callas on and off stage. There were none.
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