Prancing Around

We’ve had one rehearsal for the upcoming concert and I have to say I think it’s going to be fun! I don’t do much in the Iolanthe scene except creep up on stage when I’m “called” from the deep, then sing my 2 lines, throw off my robe and happily greet my “fairy” sisters. I do a lot of smiling, I greet my son, smile at him as he sings and then the fairy sisters and I prance off stage. We will be wearing long flowy skirts and dresses. What are the chances I’ll step on the edge of my skirt and fall flat on my face, or even better, somehow end up pulling it off? Hopefully slim…

We didn’t yet get to practice it all together. They were all learning a dance while I was shown my staging. We have another rehearsal this weekend, it should be fun. Even though I do sort of feel like a den mother, or girl scout leader, or whatever. I think (but I’m not sure) that all but one of the fairies are in high school. It doesn't matter. But I do sense a sort of distance. I'm the grown-up. If only they knew how much like a 16 year old I feel inside!

At the rehearsal I also got to run through Sposa son Disprezzata with the accompanist. I finally have the timing and tempo correct. I think. There are a few parts where I have to remember to hold back on the breath at first, not to blurt it all out, so I have enough to finish the line. The other singers were coming in (with their parents, some of whom I might be older than…) while I was singing so it was good practice for me to have other people in the room and keep my focus. I did waver a little when I saw them look over. During the performance I focus on the back of the room, sort of toward the point where the wall meets the ceiling. And of course I will become the distraught, betrayed woman in the song, and try to get that emotion into my voice, all without losing my focus. That's the plan, at least.

They’re also doing a few scenes from Magic Flute, in English. I could overhear the 3 spirits singing, 3 girls, they sounded great. I’m looking forward to seeing it all.

Magic Flute & Armida - Two Operas in 24 Hours!

Two adventures to write about - the short version: Both operas were FABULOUS!!

And now to the nitty-gritty details.



Thursday evening was Magic Flute!!! Wow wow and WOW! Ann and I made our way to Lincoln Center and got the requisite photos in front of the fountain and the poster.


Fountain:


Posing with a larger-than-life Papageno:


You can't really tell from the photo but I had my hair in a bun, of all things. I had forgotten my sparkly barrette and it was hot, so I temporarily twisted it up, then decided to leave it. It came out later but I had it up for most of the evening.

The weather was so nice, we canceled our reservation at the Fancy Restaurant and grabbed a take-out dinner from a nearby deli. We had a picnic supper on a low wall with a view of both the front of the Met and the fountain. So here is the photo of my dinner - pesto pasta with chicken. It was quite yummy.



And the front of the Met with the Armida advertisement:




Eventually we made our way in to the Grand Tier Rear. View from the seats:



The music... ahhhh it's just beautiful. To hear it at the Met is like a dream come true. The sound in the Grand Tier is great. Matthew Polenzani was Tamino. His voice is like silk. Just gorgeous. Pamina's voice was so beautiful - beyond words. I fell in love with her as soon as she sang. And Nathan Gunn as Papageno. WOW. He is truly the Best Papageno Ever. He gets the comedy, the music, the timing, all of it. I've seen him in several different roles now and this was by far the best performance of his I've ever seen. The fact that I love the character of Papageno (who doesn't?) doesn't hurt. But he was WOW and there was no problem hearing him (as prior critics have complained) and he was just fab. And oh-so-adorable, especially when his hat was off. The duet he sang with Pamina - yes, I know I seem to cry easily at operas, but that duet did bring tears to my eyes - the beauty of the music, the singing and the words. I just can't help it. I am my mother's daughter. Luckily I was wearing waterproof mascara.

Queen of the Night, Sarastro and everyone - everyone blended together so beautifully. It was a package and it was great. The scenery - holy cow!!! Seeing Julie Taymor's production live, the entire stage, was amazing. It added so much magic to the Magic Flute. The puppetry - WOW!!! The scenery - amazing!! There was one scene with these giant puppet statue people with flaming heads. I mean, giant, like, 30 feet tall. They flanked the door to the temple I think before Tamino and Pamina entered for their trials. Their arms moved and did I mention that their heads were flame? I think it was done with orange cloth and a fan. It looked like real fire!!

What a difference to see the entire stage at once rather than the sections they show in the English TV version. The staging is meant to be seen all at once.

Everyone walked out of there smiling.

Very few tattles to tell:

A couple times there were these crashing sounds from the stage as if things were falling over... oops! Didn't see anything out of place.

Queen of the Night's sails clicked at one point as they were coming down during the aria. If that makes no sense, look here and here. (same production but in English) The costuming was a bit different, just a little. I could swear she was in bright red the whole time instead of the blue. And then audience applauded in the MIDDLE of her 2nd aria, after the first set of amazingly perfect runs up to that high f.

Also, after they unlocked Papageno's mouth, his tumblings caused the pipes to get tangled in the bamboo. Yeah I see that makes no sense either when you read it. Scroll up to the photo or look here. That English version has a section cut ... and the whole time they were singing that cut section, he was trying to untangle the string of the pipes from the piece that pokes up from his left shoulder. All without breaking character and while continuing to sing.

When Papageno ran up the circles (look in about the middle here) he fell and crashed HARD. It looked OUCH painful. His hat flew off. He didn't miss a beat but I bet he's sporting some new bruises.

The woman one seat over from me was worrying a cellophane wrapper during the entire first scene. I'm sure she didn't realize it - Finally I asked her to stop and she did.

And the best part - my own tattle - that morning I had checked the Met website and saw that a section of the front row in front of us in the Grand Tier was unsold. The seats were indeed empty so we moved down during intermission. Great view from the front row of the Grand Tier! Plus you get this little shelf to put your program down, put your feet up (!!!) or whatever.

After the performance Ann and I went back to our hotel and polished off a pint of Ben and Jerry's. I think it's a pattern - we go together to see NG and then eat ice cream in the hotel room. Didn't we do that last year after Rape of Lucretia? And speaking of Lucretia, Tamara Mumford, who was Lucretia, was one of the Three Ladies.

The next day, less than 24 hours later, I jammed myself into an over-packed Path train and went back into the city. I had 40 minutes to make my way to the Met for Armida. Decisions... figure out what subway to take, or hop in a cab? I decided that since my time was short, I was hot and uncomfortable from the crowded train AND I was schlepping my backpack with my overnight stuff that I should treat myself to the cab ride. I'm so glad I did! I opened the window, sat back and relaxed. It was exactly what I needed to relax and enjoy the day. I even thanked the cab driver for the relaxing ride. He said I was the third person that shift to thank him. I think it made his day!

I wove in and out of the various groups of schoolchildren and picked up my ticket at the box office. Look!!




Do you see? Orchestra Row E!! Like, right smack in the middle of the fifth row!! HOLY COW! I sat with John's talented and beautiful wife and adorable daughter. And then during intermission before Act 3, when John's wife and daughter were away from the seats, this other woman joined the row and immediately asked, "Are you friends with Renee? We're all friends with Renee. This entire section." Um... ok. "No, I'm friends with John Osborn." She replied, "Who's that?" I told her he was one of the tenors - the guy in the first act. She brushed that off with, "Oh, I got here late. Better late than never!" and she laughed. Um... ok. She was tall and expensive looking - long, gorgeous hair, designer head-to-toe, your typical NYC upper east side wife who was late probably because she was either out planning for a charity, having a private pilates session or possibly both. I complimented her earrings and she said that the woman in charge of the children's chorus made them. Turns out her that her teenage daughter, who was there for the entire performance, is in the children's chorus. She was very nice but also amusingly stereotypical. But enough about her.

I was next to a herd of photographers.



The constant clicking didn't bother me at all - I found it interesting - whenever the action changed, whenever the characters moved or interacted, there'd be a flurry of shutter clicks. Combined they must have taken over a thousand photos. I, personally, took about 10. Here's one looking straight up at the ceiling:



And a view of the curtain from my seat:


And the performance itself:

I had never heard of this opera before so I was going in fresh. So what I could figure out from the sort of mushy plot was, Armida is a sorceress out to prevent the army from their goal of capturing Zion. She's a soprano and there are 6 tenors!! The performance opened with a dancer suspended from a ribbon and spinning down to the stage. It was beautiful. She looked about 10 but I learned later that she's actually 25. She was Armida's niece and she represented love. Armida also had a sprite or spirit who represented vengeance. Onto the plot - the army is burying their guy-in-charge when Armida shows up and pretends to be a princess in distress. She begs the general (John Osborn) to give her ten soldiers to help her regain her kingdom. She charms the army and everyone falls for it except for the general himself, but he goes against his instinct and agrees to help her because everyone else wants to. The men then promote Rinaldo (Lawrence Brownlee) as their new captain. Of course Rinaldo and Armida have met before when she saved him, they fell in love and then he had to leave. Somehow her uncle holds some sort of grudge against him. The mean spirit or sprite "infects" the soldiers and then this other guy who thought that he himself should have been chosen to lead gets all huffy and acts like a big bad loser. He's busy badmouthing Rinaldo, who overhears and fights the dude for his own honor. Of course he kills him, then the general comes back and is all mad, and then I'm not quite sure what happens except that Rinaldo is charmed by Armida and they run off.

Act two is a reenactment of the story in ballet, presented to Rinaldo and Armida as entertainment. These demons come out and create a beautiful palace and garden, then these nymphs come out and in the ballet they all seduce the dancer Rinaldo. I have never been so close to professional ballet dancers. These men jump 5 feet into the air and land silently. They are all muscle. It was amazing. The women were great too. The demons and the nymphs included the chorus as well as dancers. The demons were in these wacky costumes with horns and tails. I took one blurry photo of them during the curtain call, using one hand and no flash, so it's hard to see, but you get the idea:




That guy to the left wearing what looks like knee pads had a very form-fitting costume. As in, I think everyone in the room was looking at his ... manliness. It was outlined in great detail. Had to avert my eyes to keep from staring. I'm sure I wasn't the only one. He was I think the main demon or devil from the underworld. The dancers interacted with him a lot - they carried him around, and he climbed on them to sing, so his outlined bits were displayed prominently. Not like me to go on and on about some guy's privates but there they were, pretty much in everyone's face!!

So anyway during the dance there's a part where they tempt Rinaldo with fruit, and then the nymph dancers are teasing the dancer Rinaldo and playing a sort of monkey-in-the-middle with him, throwing the fruit back and forth over him while he tries in vain to catch it. At some point the dancer is replaced with the real Rinaldo. There is a gorgeous love-duet in there somewhere. You see the little girl in red in that blurry photo? That's the 25 year old dancer. Anyway back to the opera...

Scene three, two of the soldiers (and the final two tenors) find their way into the enchanted forest and find Rinaldo. They help him realize that he has been charmed by magic and lead him back to battle, bravery, courage and so on. Armida tries in vain to keep him there with her. Then the demon/vengeance spirit and the love spirit battle (via ballet of course) around her and the bad spirit wins. Armida vows that she will seek vengeance and the curtain drops.

The music was full of Rossini's coloratura runs and vocal gymnastics. It was really really pretty.

John Osborn was absolutely awesome. Rossini coloratura is his friend. It seems to come effortlessly for him. The singing, the acting, etc - he was the character and the music flowed out of him.

Lawrence Brownlee has the most unbelievable voice. Except of course I was there so I do believe it. Like John, the coloratura just flows out. It was like beauty flowing out over the audience.

One of the other tenors stood out for me too, it was one of the two soldiers who saved Rinaldo in Act 3, but I don't remember who it was. It was hard to keep track of who was who.

Renee Fleming was Armida. She is so beautiful. She didn't really sing out in the first two acts. Her voice was very pretty but I was like, what's the big deal? Until the third act, when she SANG. And then I was like, Oh, I get it now. At first I was star-struck that I was seeing her, but she was such a good actor that I got totally into it and forgot it was her. If that makes sense. I guess that's the point!

After the performance I wanted to hang out but even more I wanted to get back to my boys - over 24 hours away from them and my arms ached to hug Alex! All the moms out there will understand what I mean!! So I trekked down to Penn Station (remind me NEVER to do that in my little boots again, ever!!) and hopped on the express train to get home to my boys.

Today I listened to the Saturday Afternoon Broadcast of Magic Flute. It was great to hear it all again so soon after seeing it. At one point I put on the English version video and tried to match it up for Alex to see and hear. It worked pretty well for some parts, like when the three ladies find Tamino, but then I had to pause the video for the cut parts and was too much trouble and he got bored with it so I turned off the video.

Now my little spot on the shelf where I keep all my tickets is empty. It looks so sad, all empty. But I'm sure it won't be empty for long.

This Week

Another adventurous week coming up!

Will be spending some time in NYC this week - I was lucky enough to be offered a ticket for the final dress rehearsal of Armida at the Met. If I can figure out how to actually obtain the ticket (that part was unclear, but I'll figure it out...) I'll go. Also seeing Die Zauberflote one day this week. Banawoman will be out East for that. I anticipate lots of laughter, yummy food and beautiful Mozart.

Now I will use the rest of this blank window to brag about my kid.

Alex has a weekly private music lesson with a very good teacher at Westminster. She uses these music note cards to teach rhythm, pitch and so on. She plays games with the cards and also teaches him patterns with each hand on the piano while singing along. She always tells me he's coming along very well.

Because of behavioral and social issues associated with PDD-NOS, he has a paraprofessional assigned just to him at school. One day before school started they were in the music room and he was showing his para what he can do on the piano. She was surprised, and then while he was doing this the school music teacher entered the room. Well, she was REALLY surprised! She was very, very impressed and amazed at what he was able to do. He was playing piano with both hands and singing along. I think that was the point that he was unofficially excused from the kindergarten music class. It's more a music experience than a music lesson, very chaotic and noisy - not an ideal situation for him anyway. The music teacher has asked to see his piano book but in my opinion it's the games and exercises with the cards that allowed him to learn the songs he plays on the piano. Well, it's all of it, but the cards make a huge difference. They're in spring break now, but I'll contact her next week to see if she and I can meet. The school also has a gifted and talented program for music, so I'll find out more about that. I'd have to apply by the end of April. How cool and brag-worthy would that be? I'll answer that question myself. Very cool. And very VERY bragworthy!

When it Rains... It Snows!

That was today's weather... rain... then snow!

Had a voice lesson this morning. After the vocalises my teacher asked if I would sing Zerlina for her, Batti Batti. Um, sure, ok. So I did, then she told me that the Conservatory was holding a recital on the main campus to showcase the students of the satellite campus. Each teacher is allowed to send one student over for the recital and she offered the opportunity to me! To sing that aria! It's at the end of January. I'm excited to have another opportunity to perform, even if, like last May, the audience will consist mostly of the parents of the other students. Most of them are kids, studying all sorts of instruments - piano, flute, violin, etc. But I don't care. I'm thrilled at the idea of performing again so soon and I sure can use the practice! One of the things we talked about was how much I move about when I sing. She kept telling me "less is more" and that she could see me doing the hunchy thing in the video from last month. So I will practice standing still, keeping my shoulders down and taking the emotion of our my actions and into my voice. She didn't tell me to do that last thing, but I'll see if I can do it. I think I saw someone do that at a masterclass once. The one masterclass I ever went to. I was bored out of my mind at the time because I had no idea I'd later go on to study voice myself. So it's a great feeling to have something to prepare for, and then hopefully I'll feel comfortable enough to sing that at the next Opera Project recital in March. So the title of my post - when it rains, it pours? Or snows, since that what it did today - I feel like, now that I've had a little experience, more opportunities are suddenly rolling in. Well, I have my umbrella - bring on the precipitation! (I realize how much of a dork I am as I wrote that, so go ahead and make fun of me. I'm used to it.)

After lunch we went on an errand. I turned on the Saturday Afternoon Broadcast and realized I was hearing American Tragedy. I had learned earlier in the day via an email that it was going to be broadcast, but when I turned on the radio I was expecting to get the Met broadcast. But as soon as I heard the singing in English I knew what it was.

It took us about 10 minutes to get where we were going. That was enough time for me to realize that I'm just not that into modern opera. Perhaps being there and seeing it would make a difference. But on the radio I had a hard time with the music. We heard a bit on the way home and I actually turned it off. Yes, I turned off the radio while Our Favorite Baritone was singing. I hope they don't kick me out of the fan club. Heh. I made up for it later by watching the Magic Flute from the Met, DVR'd way back when it was on Great Performances on PBS. Alex sat with me and watched (almost) the entire thing. Husband did too. Then he (Husband) said he would have gone to see this with me at the Met. I told him I would go twice if he wanted to go, but we'd have to sit in the Family Circle, up near the ceiling. He didn't want to risk a concussion when he stood up so he declined.

$2 Toys!

Went to a rummage sale at a local church yesterday. I got there soon after it opened so I had first pick at all the goodies.

The CD rack was at the back of this table in the corner of the dimly lit basement, and there were boxes of books on the floor in front, so I could barely see the titles. But look what I got!! $2 each!!!


All I could make out on this one was "Mozart" and "Operatic Moments" so I grabbed it.



It wasn't until I put it on the table to pay that I saw the list of singers!! Netrebko! Florez! Bartoli! Fleming! And singers NOT listed on the cover... like, Natalie Dessay ...uh oh I just dropped it on the floor trying to look at the booklet... oops... it's ok... whew. So she and Juan Diego Florez each sing an aria from an opera I've never heard of (which doesn't surprise me as I've really only heard of the famous ones) called Mitridate. Oooh look at the link - he was 14 when he wrote it!! Click on that link above the photo to get to the Amazon listing with all the details and audio clips. It's so nice to have an opera highlight CD that doesn't have overtures. I mean, I like overtures, but not mixed in a track listing of various arias from various operas.


I also grabbed this - Mozart's Magic Fantasy.



I've heard this before - I got it out of the library - but I think that particular copy was scratched and skippy.

If I didn't have Alex tugging at me (Mommy can we get this? Can we get that?) I would have looked for more! The entire sale was a success for us - For Alex I got what I thought was a toy car for 10 cents, turns out it's a transformer - it has a little motorcycle inside AND it twists into a robot. Got some other great toys too, all under $1. But these CDs... they're MY toys!

A Strange Bird (or Two)

I think there are two birds... I don't think the first bird is the same bird as the subsequent bird. The crazy costume makes it hard to tell. The birdsong doesn't sound right though. I'm pretty sure I recognize the song and the face of the bird that flies in at about 2 minutes in.

I actually wasn't too sure about the last one either, until the Signature Move that those of us in the know, know about. (That would be Banawoman and Maria. Anyone else who wants to know, post a comment and I'll tell) On the other hand, it still might be the other guy, in spite of the Signature Move.



Whooosh Queen of the Night looks like a combination of the Tin Man and the Wicked Witch of the West. I hope the entire cast got a discount on makeup remover and soap.

Spreading It

Spreading what? The joy, of course.

Remember the person who went out and bought Magic Flute after seeing the clips I posted to YouTube? Well she finally had a chance to get together with her friends and watch it. She sent me a great note which, with her permission, I am sharing with you.

The tale actually starts yesterday morning in my italian language lab. We were playing a game where the TA types your favorite song or artist into youtube's search function, and then the class guesses who picked that song or person.

Normally I have halfway-decent control over my actions, but when Francesca typed in "Nathan Gunn," I lost it completely. I couldn't help grinning and correcting everybody, "no, e una opera". . . "il flauto magico". . . "don't stop the clip!" And besides the fact that my behavior was ridiculous, everybody already knew that I liked opera, and a few remembered that I had mentioned (well, shouted) his name in class a couple of times before, so no one had ANY trouble figuring out that he was my favorite singer. Whether they managed to say so with correct italian grammar is another matter entirely.

Then that evening was Glee Club's first Friday Night Fun, where we were supposed to meet to watch "The Magic Flute." Unfortunately, only four people showed up, including myself. But we all enjoyed it thoroughly, and once again I displayed my geekdom to an unbelievable degree, gushing over the singers' diction, resonance, vibrato, and perfect cutoffs. And since my friends are also voice-studying choir geeks themselves, they agreed with me heartily. Oh, and we were suitably amazed by the puppets, costumes, and set. Holy God. Normally I don't notice those things very much, but I was blown away.

After we watched, of course, I asked everyone if they were now Nathan Gunn fans, and while their responses were not quite as enthusiastic as I had hoped, they were all impressed and agreed that he sounded beautiful and was probably quite good-looking without the feathers, strange makeup, and bird hat.

In other spreading-the-fandom-of-Nathan-Gunn news, I sent two clips to my new
opera-loving friend (C'est Moi and Au Fond du Temple Saint), and she is definitely now a fan, although probably not quite as rabid as others I might mention. And there will be many more group viewings of "The Magic Flute," because I have talked it up to everyone I know, and most expressed interest. Personally, I would like to watch it again tonight, but I had a rehearsal and concert that took up all day, plus two papers to write and another rehearsal tomorrow, so I will have to postpone it. But I am sure that I will watch it at least a couple dozen more times this year.

*********************

Just laughing because suddenly I feel like some bizarre cult leader. People come to me for gunninfo (and I don't have it!!nor do I want it) and also to jump and squeal with excitement when they "discover" him. I can relate - I've been there - but I'm well beyond the jumping and squealing stage (plus jumping would be dangerous these days without the right kind of sports top...) so I just smile and nod until they calm down.

Funny too, this evening I was thinking that I wanted to write in the blog but really had nothing to say. Then *poof* three minutes later Amanda's message arrived. I wonder if I can work that (magic flute) magic with anything else?

Bells, Bells, Bells

Lest we lose our perspective, here's some pretty Mozart, pretty faces and pretty voices to remind us what it's all about.

It Happened Again

The YouTube person who alerted me to the Vanishing Video of the previous post just moments ago left this comment on my profile there:

Thank you sooooo much for posting the Magic Flute playlist! I was so enchanted that I bought the dvd from Amazon immediately. Nathan Gunn (whom your videos introduced me to) fans of the world unite!

Edited to add: Got another comment from the same person:

Oh, by the way, I have shared the fact that I bought the dvd with my school's opera club and glee club, so there will be a lot more NG fans soon!

Not sure why I'm sharing this. But there it is. Go see all the videos before they all vanish!

Triplets, Quadruplets, Vanishings and More

Voice lesson tonight. Guess what? Those sets of notes I was calling triplets, and loving, well... ha they're not! Duh. I'm not loving triplets. I'm loving two 16th notes and an 8th note, apparently. Attached. With a bar. And a little curve. Well, whatever you call them, I'm still loving them. Worked on not sneaking that "h" sound in, on caressing the notes, on what (meaning, who) to think about while singing. Choices, choices, so many choices! Hahahaha. Anyway... I wonder how many other errors I'll make in postings about this song?

Next week I'll be in Florida and the week after that is Spring Break for the music school, so no lesson until mid-April!! And we're going to start a Schubert song. Don't ask me which one. It's on page 76 of the book so go look yourself. Heh.

On to the Vanishing - One of the Magic Flute videos!! Vanished!! From YouTube!! With no explanation!! Look!!



What a shame. I liked that one a lot. If I find the clip on my computer I'll alter it a little and try to repost. Otherwise I won't be able to get to it until after I return from Florida. But that green frame is nice, no?

Radio Magic

Why is it that when we hear something on the radio that not only have we heard countless times before, but we own several recordings of it, we still get excited? I think it's because it's fun to know that someone else out there likes the same music and has chosen to play it for everyone to hear.

Yesterday while driving from Here to There I was listening to a classical music station's beg oops I mean, pledge drive. The reward for donating x dollars was a box set of recordings of all Mozart's music. Like, a huge box. So they did their begging and then played something from the box - think of all the great music they had to choose from - and they chose the overture from Die Zauberflote! I've heard it countless times, I've seen the opera live in the theater and on television and video, yet I got so excited to hear it on the radio. Someone else was choosing to listen and play it for me! Ok not just for me, but who cares? That particular drive was just the right length to hear the entire thing without having to hear them beg again at the end. (actually I turned the radio off... no donation ... is that bad? Probably. Oh well.) I was so excited to hear it, I was singing along and conducting in the car. It was like a special treat. I was having one of those days, and hearing the MF Overture really perked me up and put me in a good mood. Wow now I feel like I should give them money. Well I'm sure the feeling will pass, and more quickly than it should. (thanks Jane Austen for that line.)

Variations on Papageno

Papageno has always been a huge favorite around the I'd Rather Be Sleeping household. Like, before That Performance I saw live in HD.

Someone on YouTube posted this "Papageno Variations" video in response to one of my Papageno videos. It's cool, no?

Cluck Cluck

While I was gone, these photos from the San Fran Flute appeared, along with the reviews. Who cares about the reviews. Look at these crazy photos! Ahh! I just got frightened, for a moment.







Which came first? The chicken or the egg? Or... the bewb? Eep.

Why Why Why

Today's Saturday Afternoon Broadcast from the Met was the English family version of Mozart's Magic Flute. Ahh what memories. Only, the cast was of course totally different from the version I've seen about 500 times. And the dude who sang Papageno... What were they thinking? English is not his first language, which doesn't really matter, except that his diction was terrible. And his delivery.... Booooorrrriiiiinnnngggg!!!!!! Flat. No sense of timing, no expression in the voice, no, I don't know. Something was missing. Certainly there are plenty of baritones out there who can excel at Papageno. Our Favorite Baritone can't possibly be the only one. Why did the Met pick this guy? I don't know his name and I'm too lazy to look it up.

The Pamina was good, but they cut a huge chunk out of the only aria of hers they left in the production! They just chopped out the whole, "looook Tamino, I am weeping, but you turn and walk away...." part. The entire thing was like 2 minutes long. I think Pamina was Nicole Cabell, who was in Pearl Fishers in Chicago this season with those other guys I've been known to mention here on the blog. It's so not fair to take away most of Pamina's singing.

Tamino, too... don't know who it was but I wasn't thrilled. Perhaps he sounded better live. I could swear he was flat at one point.

Seriously, the only parts that sounded better than the version I know were the ones with the three spirit boys. The audience probably thought so too, since the boys got the loudest applause after each appearance.

I didn't catch Queen of the Night. Wish I did but we were out running errands and were in and out of the car.

So all in all I was not pleased with the performance for a variety of reasons.

Better luck with the casting next time, Met Opera!

*by the way, the title of this post is a also link to a video.

Papageno Rescues Pamina

"A wondrous maiden fair, as pale and pure as moonlight."

Deleted!

Argh! All the Magic Flute and Romeo videos have been removed from my YouTube account. The opera house finally caught up with me. Here's hoping YouTube doesn't delete my account all together...

Hmm. Nathan Gunn refers to the Magic Flute videos on his website. Maybe I should let him know... Hmm... Love and Other Demons opens tonight... not the best timing...

*thinking, thinking*

Pa Pa... Pa?

Recently came across this silly gem on YouTube. According to the viewer comments, and we all know how accurate they always are, this guy is a tv talk show host type person. Looks to me like he's familiar with the duet but is seeing and singing the music for the first time. Not a bad effort!

So get ready for the silly with a healthy heaping side of Cecilia's amazing voice!

Have I Mentioned Lately That I Love the Internet?

Yes the Internet is a cool, cool place.

About a year ago, possibly more, there was one person who commented on all the Magic Flute videos I posted to YouTube. We had these little comment conversations, and soon he began commenting here on the blog. Then, I don't remember when exactly, we found each other on one of the Social Networking Sites and became friends. We've exchanged emails, chatted online and even spoke on the phone once. Well guess what? He's coming to see Traviata next week!

Now before your mind wanders off in the wrong direction: This is not a romantic attachment. Besides the fact that he has a girlfriend and I have a husband, I'm old enough to be his mother. But thanks to the Internet, we found that we have a similar sense of silly humor and we like much of the same music. He normally lives in Another Country although he's from the states. He's coming back for a visit. He'll be in a Nearby Large City from where it's an easy train ride to the theater. So we're going to meet In Real Life. I've spoken on the phone with a couple of Internet Friends but this will by my first Actual Encounter.

So thanks, YouTube, thanks Magic Flute and of course, thanks Mozart.

Imitation

So cool... Alex has really begun to imitate the opera we listen to. Of course Magic Flute... of course Papageno... I have to get a video up here somehow of him totally imitating Papageno's countdown when he's hoping Papagena will show up. "How 'bout I count from one to three..."
He imitates Nathan Gunn's intonation perfectly, the way he's all hopeful on "one," singsong on "two" and sad and downtrodden on "three." He imitates the sound but does his own "acting" or whatever you'd call it- he looks around like he's looking for her in between "two" and "three." It's great! He's learning more and more of the words in both English and German.

We've been watching the Barber DVD a little. He likes the scene where the musicians are asking to get paid and thanking the Count and saying what a great guy he is, getting louder and louder, while the Count keeps saying, "Basta, basta!" Enough, enough! Be quiet! I quite like it too!

The Kindness of Friends

A few weeks ago, Denise commissioned me to make her a pair of earrings for an upcoming wedding. I made these (I think) pretty cool earrings with green and diamond rhinestones on top, and gold "disco ball" beads and other shiny beads dangling down. She absolutely loved them. Then this week she mentioned that she wished she had a bracelet to match, but she knows I don't make bracelets. Who says I don't? That night I made a bracelet to match the earrings, using the same beads. She loved it! I refused to accept any money from her. They were fun to make and she already paid me too much ($40) for the earrings. (She came up with that figure and forced the money on me.) I told her that her enjoyment of the jewelry is payment enough. Anyway... today she gave me a really cool CD that she got when her opera trivia question was used on the air during a Saturday afternoon broadcast. The CD is, "More Growing Up With Opera." It has 18 different arias and a really nice booklet that has a bio of each composer, a synopsis of the opera and the setting where the aria is sung. There are lyrics in the original language and in English. There's even a pronunciation guide! Good stuff.

Last month I gave her a glitzy necklace and matching earrings to wear to the opera. Hey, at least my jewelry is going to the Met! She brought Alex a Magic Flute storybook that included a CD.

We are really Magic-Fluted out in this house. Will I ever get tired of it?