| Barbara Frittoli | Thaïs |
| Lado Ataneli | Athanaël |
| Alessandro Liberatore | Nicias |
| Maurizio Lo Piccolo | Palémon |
| Nadezda Serdyuk | Albine |
| Eleonora Buratto | Crobyle |
| Ketevan Kemoklidze | Myrtale |
| Daniela Schillaci | La Charmeuse |
| Diego Matamoros | Un seriteur |
| Gianandrea Noseda | Conductor |
| Stefano Poda | Choreography, Costumes/Costume Designer |
This Arthaus Musik DVD production is of a 2008 live performance in Torino. During the performance, the audience keeps remarkably silent, with minimal coughing. Massenet called this opera a lyrical comedy, which is a misnomer - there's nothing even faintly amusing about it. To me, the opera's key point is irony; the monk Athanael persuades the courtesan Thais to abandon her 'sinful' life and seek redemption; meanwhile, he succumbs to earthly desires by falling in love with her.
The aural component - beautiful music - is at odds with this visual presentation, which includes many semi- or nearly-naked people leaping, gyrating, or writhing around the stage to represent - what? If you like futuristic sets with generous helpings of surrealism and/or symbolism, this production will probably please you. Symbolism is acceptable if one understands the point; if not, one is left perplexed, even irritated. Thus, in Act 1 scene 1; the camera zooms out to show the monks on an upper level and a completely different setting below, which represents - what? All of this was wasted on me; I would have preferred sets in keeping with the opera's time period - fourth century AD - without the symbolism.
The cast overall is a strong one; Lado Ataneli (Athanael) and Barbara Frittoli (Thais) deliver powerful performances, though I found Frittoli's prominent vibrato, especially on some high notes, very distracting. In Act 3, she is dressed in white - depicting, perhaps, her deliverance from sin - which is at odds with her low-necked, very revealing dress. The supporting cast all deliver sound performances.
Overview