Interesting to read that even after a statement to the contrary from Peter Gelb --- Placido Domingo who was accused of inappropriate conduct -- was let go from the MET. He sang the dress of the opera "Macbeth" and then no more. I believe he is also suspended from Los Angeles. Also the tenor Vittorio Grigolo was accused of inappropriate behavior which took place in full view of the chorus while on tour in Japan. He has been suspended from the MET and I believe Covent Garden.
I wonder if these public circumstances will have any bearing on "West Side Story" as there is also a cast member with a very high profile circumstance(s) of inappropriate behavior. Do the actions of one cultural institution influence those of another? I know the WSS casting has been the subject of a lot of discussion.
And before Domingo there was James Levine for whom there was a recent court settlement.
My partner was very active in the opera world for many years and toured all over the world - none of this is surprising. He says that there’s at the very least ten other big names that should be coming out sooner or later, and even then it’s not going to change much - the institutions (who know about these things for years) are the ones who need to be held accountable. They get complaints stacked up and ignore them until there’s big media coverage, and then suddenly they’re painted as “doing the right thing” when they’re actually just trying to save their asses.
Same thing goes for Hollywood, Broadway, etc. We can expose certain individuals all we want, but that’s not going to change the fact that these industries are letting people get away with this behavior for years, sometimes decades. Not that we shouldn’t go after specific people, but that can’t be the sole focus.
I think he was also slated to sing Sharpless in Madama Butterfly in rotation with Paulo Szot. I wanted to see the opera and couldn't decide which I wanted to see. I decided on Domingo and a friend who is in the opera world told me Szot's range was much more suited for the role. I may still see it with Szot (It appears he is doing a few more performances) but I was also debating on seeing another opera, Akhnaten, because Philip Glass is the composer. I went finally with his opera.
FranklinDickson2018 said: "Interesting to read that even after a statement to the contrary from Peter Gelb --- Placido Domingo who was accused of inappropriate conduct -- was let go from the MET. He sang the dress of the opera "Macbeth" and then no more. I believe he is also suspended from Los Angeles. Also the tenor Vittorio Grigolo was accused of inappropriate behavior which took place in full view of the chorus while on tour in Japan. He has been suspended from the MET and I believe Covent Garden.
I wonder ifthese public circumstances will have any bearing on "West Side Story" as there is also a cast member with a very high profile circumstance(s) of inappropriate behavior. Do the actions of one cultural institution influence those of another? I know the WSS casting has been the subject of a lot of discussion.
And before Domingo there was James Levine for whom there was a recent court settlement.
Interesting to see how it all plays out."
My guess is, if there's no proof, Domingo could insist on going on and the Met honoring whatever contract he has. That his is not doing this suggests he knows quite well he did what he was accused of, maybe knows there is concrete evidence, and wants to get out of there and keep as much of what's left of his reputation in tact as he can.
And Domingo was accused of rape. The guy cast in West Side Story had, in the ballet company he's a part of, been trading pics with other guys of women he'd been with that the women he was involved with had given him willingly (the "buddy" he was trading pics with had pics of women who had not given permission for their pics to be taken in the first place--a worse issue, which is not to say violating someone's trust and privacy is nothing). It's the difference between the Met putting its foot down about an act that is not only repugnant but illegal vs. a theater production not hiring a dancer who has broken no law but done something morally awful.
Obviously there are people who will not support this production of WSS because he's cast. But I don't think it plays into the producers' thinking the same way a accusation of something worse would. And I hate to say it, but that he's nowhere near as famous as Domingo, and therefore isn't as likely to bring anywhere near the same infamy to the production, probably plays into their thinking, as well. And, to tie this back into my opening sentence, maybe the producers fear he could well sue them for wrongful termination when he's neither broken a law nor failed to live up to his contract in any way.
Are you sure that Domingo was accused of the terrible act of rape? I have followed this very closely since the news broke and have never seen any mention of that. Sexual harassment is what I have read over a long period of time. But rape seems very extreme as one of the accusations leveled against him.
GiantsInTheSky2 said: "My partner was very active in the opera world for many years and toured all over the world - none of this is surprising. He says that there’s at the very least ten other big names that should be coming out sooner or later, and even then it’s not going to change much - the institutions (who know about these things for years) are the ones who need to be held accountable. They get complaints stacked up and ignore them until there’s big media coverage, and then suddenly they’re painted as “doing the right thing” when they’re actually just trying to save their asses.
Same thing goes for Hollywood, Broadway, etc. We can expose certain individuals all we want, but that’s not going to change the fact that these industries are letting people get away with this behavior for years, sometimes decades. Not that we shouldn’t go after specific people, but that can’t be the sole focus."
1. Real talk.
2. And that promised Times expose on the big Broadway names is WHERE...oh right, it got sequestered with money.
FranklinDickson2018 said: "Are you sure that Domingo was accused of the terrible act of rape? I have followed this very closely since the news broke and have never seen any mention of that. Sexual harassment is what I have read over a long period of time. But rapeseems very extreme as one of the accusations leveled against him."
I'm equating sexual harassment with rape. As I understand it, he made having sex with him a condition of working there. That means the women had no choice. That means it was rape.
joevitus said: "FranklinDickson2018 said: "Are you sure that Domingo was accused of the terrible act of rape? I have followed this very closely since the news broke and have never seen any mention of that. Sexual harassment is what I have read over a long period of time. But rapeseems very extreme as one of the accusations leveled against him."
I'm equating sexual harassment with rape. As I understand it, he made having sex with him a condition of working there. That means the women had no choice. That means it was rape."
First off, let me just say that I think Domingo is disgusting for doing what he did and deserves anything that comes his way as a result. However, there’s a big difference between harassment and rape.
Saying to these women, if you want the job you have to sleep with me, is harassment. It is an unwanted sexual advance. For all we know there could very well be girls who found out about this and walked away or didn’t show up at all. But, if a girl tried to walk away and he physically restrained them and penetrated them, then that would be rape.
I understand you think Domingo is disgusting, and I'm glad, but it's important to realize one doesn't have to be physically forced for rape to occur, one can be emotionally or psychologically forced. That other women said no and walked away from Domingo does not alter the fact that the women who agreed under duress were raped. As far as I'm concerned, the ones who had the confidence to say no simply overcame a potential rapist, the way a stronger woman might fend off a physical assailant.
Those women who said yes, they didn't want it, they just didn't think they had a choice because their job was on the line. They didn't think they could afford to resist. They may well have worried that not only that job but any job at any major opera company would be closed to them in the future if they didn't, due to his very prominent role in that world. When a person messes with someone's mind like that, so they think they have no choice but to have sex with the person who seems to have all the control, that's rape.
Now, if there was no threat of job loss or losing out on consideration for future roles, but he kept hitting on women even though they'd made clear they weren't interested and wanted to be left alone, I'd call that sexual harassment.
I worked in classical music from the early 1990s until 2009. Domingo's penchant for aggressively pursuing female colleagues -- and, in cases where the woman was of a lower stature than himself, not taking no for an answer -- was well known even at the beginning of my career. A prominent soprano (now deceased) once told me she slapped him so hard after he made an aggressive pass at her backstage that she thought he might have to cancel a performance. It was not the first or the tenth time he'd tried it on her. Another still-active singer wrote a thinly veiled account of being harassed by Domingo (she didn't name him, but it's clear who she's talking about) on HuffPo a few years ago, before #MeToo. I won't give her name, but it's not hard to find through Google.
Grigolo came to prominence after I left the field so I don't know anything about his history of behavior.
This is so frustrating. There's never any excuse for this behavior from anyone, but it seems especially troubling that a man with such talent and, honestly, good looks is more into forcing women against his will than just getting involved with any of the many, many women over the years who found him attractive. Not nearly as serious as what these women went through, but I'll probably never be able to listen to his performances again, and that's a shame because I own a lot of Domingo recordings.
joined:4/6/18
joined:
4/6/18
Posted: 9/29/19 at 6:54pm