The King of Crete

The Deutche Oper Berlin cancelled four performances of Mozart's "Idomeneo" because of the perception that they might be offensive to Islam:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,439393,00.html

"The Deutsche Oper, one of Berlin's three opera houses, was due to show a controversial production of Mozart's "Idomeneo" by director Hans Neuenfels in which the severed heads of the Prophet Muhammad, Jesus and Buddha are placed on four chairs. "

It turns out that the very same opera opened at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City the very next night. But there is no mention of Buddha, Jesus, or Mohammed in the plot synopsis:

http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/history/stories/synopsis.aspx?id=168

What Buddha, Jesus and Mohammad are doing in a story set many centuries before either were born is beyond me. Maybe I'm a purist, but why do artists need to take such liberties? So my wife and I decided to see the Metropolitan Opera's more pure production.

Short review: Beautiful music. Boring plot. Buddha, Jesus, and Mohammed are not relevant.

Well, eventually the Deutche Oper had a change of heart, and allowed the production to go on:

http://www.playbillarts.com/news/article/5757.html

Thomas Jefferson might be happy. I'm not sure about his contemporary and fellow Mason, Mozart.

Futher thought: Are Wagner operas performed in Israel?