Maazel - 1984

Bringing George Orwell's telling story of totalitarian horror and cruelty to the stage is undoubtedly a herculean task, fraught with many pitfalls, but this pioneering project must be praised not only for its vision, but more so for execution. J.D. McClatchy's and Thomas Meehan's libretto is a masterpiece in itself and Orwell's brutal tale is narrated with a realism that strikes both fear and anger into one's inner self. Robert Lepage's stage direction penetrates into the very soul of the characters with unsparing intensity; the Examination Room sequence in Act 3 is by far the most revolting experience in the history of opera and you must be prepared to stomach some to stay with it till the end.