Naked Ambition

In some sections of German society, naked senior citizens are not only welcomed but embraced -- although not always literally. Nudity among the aged in the pursuit of health and wellness is positively encouraged in some places. However, theater stages in front of large, clothed audiences are usually not among them.

If the idea of a bunch of wrinklies in their well-worn birthday suits cavorting on stage in the name of entertainment isn't enough to disturb you and give you nightmares, then imagine said oldies frolicking around in the ashes of the World Trade Center while wearing Mickey Mouse masks. Or don't, if you value your sanity.

But this isn't some bizarre sex fetish show catering for "appreciators of the mature" on the Hamburg Reeperbahn. This is high culture, German style.

The 35 OAPs in the all-together form just one part of the Erfurt Theater's sell-out reinterpretation of Verdi's opera, "A Masked Ball."

And for those thinking that some crazy young thing has perverted a classical masterpiece just to get some cheap publicity, it may come as some surprise that the opera is actually no stranger to controversy.

Original scandal pales into insignificance

Giuseppe Verdi wrote the piece about the 1792 assassination of Swedish king Gustavus III, who was shot while attending a masked ball. Nineteenth-century censors demanded that Verdi move the opera's setting from Europe to colonial America so as not to depict the assassination of a European monarch.

While there were no geriatric genitalia on show back then, it was deemed to be quite the scandal at the time.

Austrian director Johann Kresnik may have added more than spattering of senior skin to the modern version but he adheres to the relocation ordered by the prudes of Verdi's time and stages his bizarre take on the opera in the United States just as they would have liked.

Except the post 9/11, Disney-clad ageing nudes may have caused them to rethink their priorities somewhat.

"It's a very beautiful, poetic scene," Guy Montavon, the theatre's general manager, explained to nervous reporters when timidly questioned about the exhibitionist pensioners.

"The concept is a little critical about America, the world of America with very rich people, very poor people, with war and the excesses of American society today," he added to general bafflement.

Politician's censorship bid outstripped by public clamor

The show has already found its 21st-century version of Verdi's censors in the form of local politician who has called for a boycott of the production.

However, theater-goers have not heeded his call. Montavon told reporters the Saturday premiere and four other performances had already sold out.

He would not be drawn, however, on rumors that business cards for local therapists would be included in the show's program.