{"id":1598663,"date":"2025-11-07T16:53:30","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T21:53:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/observer.com\/?p=1598663"},"modified":"2025-11-07T16:53:30","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T21:53:30","slug":"opera-director-interview-bartlett-sher-amazing-adventures-met","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/observer.com\/2025\/11\/opera-director-interview-bartlett-sher-amazing-adventures-met\/","title":{"rendered":"Bartlett Sher On Theater as a Catalyst for Change"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Metropolitan Opera\u2019s season opener brought Michael Chabon\u2019s Pulitzer-winning novel to the stage with an ambitious new adaptation exploring art, politics and survival. Photo: Evan Zimmerman<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In September, the Metropolitan Opera opened its season with The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay<\/i><\/a>. Based on the novel by Michael Chabon, with music by Mason Bates, production by Bartlett Sher and libretto by Gene Scheer. Weeks before the opening, Observer visited an early tech rehearsal to observe Bartlett Sher in his element.<\/p>\n

\u201cNoise! Make noise!\u201d Sher hollered at the stage as the cast of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay<\/i> rehearsed a complex party scene with a huge cast of characters. Unusually for a long tech rehearsal, the energy on stage buzzed between run-throughs. Performers bounced from foot to foot, stretched and practiced stage fighting and falls. They waited for the show\u2019s impressive but temperamental new \u201cirising\u201d system\u2014a curtaining technology that opens and closes around a square \u201ceye\u201d\u2014to figure itself out.<\/p>\n

Leaving his lunch uneaten at the director\u2019s stand, Bartlett Sher was constantly in motion. He moved around the stage like a party host, wisecracking, laughing and answering questions. Chatting with Edward Nelson, who plays the opera\u2019s Tracy Bacon, they practiced a balancing move, each showing a different way to hold his body.<\/p>\n

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