This past August, following a performance of Richard Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde” in Rio de Janeiro’s opera house, the production’s eccentric Jewish director made sure the audience received a view of the full moon — and it was not to confirm the arrival of Rosh Chodesh.

Brazilian prosecutors have charged the German-born, American-raised director, Gerald Thomas, with indecent exposure after he removed his pants to expose his backside to a disgruntled audience, which disapproved of the director’s modern interpretation of Wagner’s classic, including a plot change that highlighted the composer’s antisemitism. Thomas claims the mooning came only in response to anti-Jewish catcalls. A court hearing is scheduled for February 17.

“All the Wagner hard-liners in the front three rows started shouting at me ‘You Jew, you Jew. You’re an assassin. Go back to your camp,’” Thomas told the Daily Telegraph. “I am afraid my blood boiled. My family lost eight people in Auschwitz.”

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis of the crisis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Thomas’s gesture was all the more brazen considering the high-powered contingent on hand for the performance, which included the president of Brazil, actors Winona Ryder and Denzel Washington and “Godfather” director Francis Ford Coppola, who went backstage to console the distraught director.

For the last 17 years, Thomas has headed the Dry Opera Company in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Since the controversy erupted, he has apologized on national television and is currently in self-imposed exile in Britain.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount