In German Opera, Heads Come Off Without Incident

Religious tensions in Europe have been running high for the past year, with worldwide protests erupting after a Danish newspaper published cartoons satirizing Muhammad. More protests followed a few months later when Pope Benedict XVI gave a speech that his critics assailed as a veiled attack on Islam as a violent religion.

The show premiered at the Deutsche Oper in 2003 but attracted little notice at the time. The modern-day adaptation is seen as a harsh criticism of organized religion, with Idomeneo, the King of Crete, facing orders from the gods to kill his son, Idamante. In the end, the king and his son prevail, as Muhammad, Jesus, Buddha and Poseidon are stripped to their underwear on stage and decapitated.

German lawmakers pressured the Deutsche Oper to resume the production, saying that Europe should not give in to anxiety over religious extremism. Chancellor Angela Merkel called the cancellation "self-censorship for reasons of fear."

But criticism of the opera has persisted from other corners as well. Bishop Wolfgang Huber of Germany's Lutheran church said he wasn't enamored of the show, either, calling the decapitation scene "not ideal."

Even the creator of the Mozart remix was unhappy with the way it turned out. Director Hans Neuenfels did not attend Monday's performance and publicly ridiculed the Deutsche Oper's performance.

Although Neuenfels complained that the rehearsals hadn't gone well, he also said he was still sore over the Oper's original decision to cancel the show. It wasn't the first time one of his edgy productions had attracted the police. A quarter-century ago, a bomb threat was reported during another opera that he directed in Frankfurt. That show went on, he pointed out, and nothing happened.

"Naturally, they should let this production take place," he told the German magazine Der Spiegel. "If necessary, with police protection. Afterward, a discussion would have been necessary. That would have been democratic."

The next performance of "Idomeneo" is scheduled for Dec. 29. Plenty of tickets remain.

Special correspondent Shannon Smiley contributed to this report.