The Rake's Progress
I. Stravinsky - W.H. Auden/Ch. Kallman

Set & Costumes........Conor Murphy
Light design.........Norbert Chmel
Choreography.........Gaby Wappl
Conductor........Nicolas Chalvin

première: 4 March 2008, Angers
company: Angers Nantes Opéra

1st revival: 28 september 2011, Nancy
company: Opéra National de Nancy et de Lorraine

Reviews

From the beginning one welcomes the commitment of the singers, who all offer accomplished performances. Beginning with the chorus who, apart from their vocal skill, construct a society of London-business-people feverishly subject to the ever more demanding profitability and the obsessive necessity to seduce whoever is in the limelight.
Carlos Wagner signs a production of exemplary coherence. With the complicity of Conor Murphy for the set and costumes, and Norbert Chmel for the lighting, he bases his production essentially on one semi-illustrative metaphorical element, the revolve. Thus the time that passes is suddenly palpable, just as the paths followed by the different characters. The striking sobriety of this naked stage finds perfectly accomplished  singers as inhabitants- each character is based on a precisely thought through conception - that makes any decorative clutter unnecessary. Likewise we find a discreet social comment which, with all naturalness, makes Tom Rakewell's greatest sin all the more evident: the pride of wanting to save the world with a bread machine. Occasional brainwaves spice up this beautiful view-point - the psy-show of Baba and Anne, for example, the embarassement of Mother Goose, summoned to the final epilogue when she has no business of being there, finally the sweet photo shoot at the beginning, spiked with associations. And what could be more beautiful than the madness that smothers Adonis in his cushions, after three acts in which one has experienced the gullible rake let himself be dominated by his passions.

Anaclase.com

The first scene worries a little with gadgets that seemed unnecessary, but Carlos Wagner quickly redresses the approach to focus the attention on a tight direction of his actors, that is demanding on soloists and chorus in particular --- The bedlam scene, with the entrance of the sick carrying cushions through a tiny hole and spreading out over the central circle is disturbing  to perfection and later appropriately moving. The whole, coherent, plunged in a modernist ambiance "très british" that is particularly appropriate for the text by Auden; of a seriousness and a sense of humour of equal acidity. A work both respectful and inventive.

Opéra Magazine

Opéra: Stravinsky as a seductive devil
Lightness of touch and humour combine with genuine profoundness.
--- certain sequences are genuine accomplishments of direction. Like the arrival of Tom in London choreographed like a musical comedy, the auction scene, funny and inventive (between the concept pop and the tv-reality) or the end in bedlam, dominated by the colour white, as if Tom with his madness had found peace and sweetness again.

Le Courier de l'Ouest

Stunning staging by Carlos Wagner at the Théatre Graslin
The staging by Carlos Wagner allows all the artists to invest themselves in a game of boundless liveliness. He explores all the possibilities of theatre and each performer is of absolute necessity on the stage. The chorus of Angers Nantes Opéra is dizzying in its expression of urgency, madness and debauchery, as if Tom's madness was contagious. Gilles Ragon endorses the contradictions of the character in an interpretation captivating with truthfulness and precision. A great joy for opera, when an artist has given all! Nick Shadow portrayed by the dazzling baritone Josef Wagner with mysterious and fatal beauty. Gail Pearson gives vibrant accents to the emotions of Anne and constructs a figure that is like an angel amongst all this mayhem.

Fragil.org