1h 58min | Drama, Music | 12 September 1986
Director: Franco Zeffirelli
Lorin Maazel ... conductor / music producer
Stars: Plácido Domingo, Katia Ricciarelli, Justino Díaz.
Alberto Testa ... choreographer
I did not read the opera books before watching this. I know the basic plot well enough, but found myself distracted by some minor characters whose identity I didn't know. Reading the books afterward didn't help. So I looked for a production of the play Othello online, and found the '81 BBC version (3h23m, dir. Jonathan Miller, Amazon Prime) with Anthony Hopkins and Bob Hoskins as Otello and Iago, respectively.
And now I see why I didn't understand those minor characters: the librettist chopped off the beginning of the play and most of Iago's interaction with Rodrigo throughout. In the film he's only used for opening exposition, and mentioned near the end (that Cassio killed him, but I knew not why). This is much more explicit in the play, but really is not essential to Otello's story, nor do we need more evidence of Iago's evil.
In the opera, I didn't pick up that Emilia was Iago's wife, again introduced fully in the beginning of the play. In the play, she gives the handkerchief to Iago; in the opera, he takes it from her forcibly. But since Iago is her husband, it makes sense that she does not reveal the providence of the handkerchief when she knows it's causing trouble.
I learned from the opera books that listing the character names is not enough. Which voice should be cast (tenor, etc.) is important, but also needed are the relationships and/or professions. Penguin did not provide that here, but Simon did. Martin is much too wordy for previewing the story, but very handy for finding a particular plot turn, since they visually break up the scenes and include which character sings what.
Both productions were not stage-bound. Zeffirelli took the opera much bigger, with grand stone halls and rustic wooden courtyards for sets, and even showed us the endangered ship in the storm to begin the story. We get a grand feast with Mediterranean entertainment (woman dancers, and whirling dervishes) to celebrate Otello's triumphant return. Desdemona and Cassio are both blondes, and Iago looks too much like the minor characters, but when he casts his evil face and/or sings, I know who he is. FZ's biggest personalization was that, instead of Iago getting away, as all my opera books portrayed the ending, Otello manages to throw a spear across the room right through his torso; I much prefer that death to his disappearance. A lot of the subtitles turn out to be actual Shakespeare text, since I recognized some lines in the play.
The play went the other direction to free itself from the stage; it became more intimate. The characters mumbled some of their introspection/plotting, and BH's Cockney accent made him difficult to understand at times (hooray for video subtitles). The set looked like a British castle, and their costumes had the Elizabethan neck flounces that also made me think we're in England instead of Cyprus. Good to see Iago brought to justice, however cruel & unusual it might be.
In neither production do I really understand how Ot(h)ello, portrayed as an excellent level-headed leader, can so easily succumb to Iago's manipulations. Perhaps it's a good thing for the island that he does not become its governor, because he has no concept of jurisprudence; he accepts tall tales as fact with the flimsiest "verification."
Although this took the better part of a day, it was worth it.
opera film, dir. Zeffirelli, cond. Maazel; 8
BBC, dir. Miller; 8
