Salome From the Neck Up

Posted at 4:13 PM on October 10, 2008 by Gillian Martin

Knowing that Karita Mattila bared all in the Metropolitan Opera production of Richard Strauss's Salome, I wondered how they would handle that in tomorrow's live HD broadcast into hundreds of movie theaters all over the world (including 10 in Minnesota).

Well, it's all about camera angles, apparently. Here's a blurb from the New York Times.

Opera aficionados and other prurient types hoping to catch a glimpse of Karita Mattila in the altogether during the Metropolitan Opera's production of "Salome" will have to come to the Met in person. Saturday's broadcast of the opera will omit any potentially R-rated visuals, a producer of the broadcast, Elena Park, said, confirming a report on the Web site of The Los Angeles Times. In the Met's modern-dress staging of Strauss's "Salome," which opened on Sept. 23, Ms. Mattila ends her Dance of the Seven Veils without any dress at all; she will still do so on Saturday, when "Salome" is transmitted live to 800 movie theaters worldwide as part of the Met's HD Live series, but a variety of camera angles will be used so that no nudity is broadcast. "Salome" ends its run at the Met on Thursday.

I wonder how many veils we'll get to see?