‘Tannhauser’ production with Nazi imagery cancelled

A German production of the Wagner opera Tannhauser that utilized Nazi imagery and staged atrocities from their reign has been cancelled due to an overwhelmingly negative response from audiences.

Earlier this week, the Dusseldorf opera house and the Deutsche Oper am Rhein company said that after a disastrous opening night, they would try to make changes to make it less offensive. The production included scenes with gassings at concentration camps, actors giving Nazi salutes and wearing swastikas and a family being stripped and shot. Director Burkhard C. Kosminski added the controversial elements to the opera, which was originally set in the Middle Ages and centered on a singing competition.

The BBC reports that some members of the audience even sought medical attention because they were so shocked by what they saw.

“The public didn't get it and didn't like it,” critic Norman Lebrecht told the BBC’s Today. “The production company were in a state of shock - not because of the bad reviews, but because the public were besieging them with demands to sell back their tickets for the rest of their production, nobody wanted to see it.”

On Wednesday, the company ultimately decided to stop performances altogether on Wednesday after Kosminski had refused to make changes, reports The LA Times. “Of course we have to respect for legal reasons the artistic freedom of the director,” the company said in a statement.

It was originally planned to continue through June 2.

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