Cenerentola - Small Glitch, Large Fun!

Cenerentola in HD was so much fun!! What a great production. It's the same production I watched last week during the free Met Player weekend, only, of course, with an entirely different cast. It was kind of cool to see it with all different people because that meant that, in spite of the music, the scenery and the costumes being the same, it was still very different because each singer brings his or her own self to the part.

The small glitch was that the people who worked in the theater didn't seem to know what they were doing. Usually during an HD broadcast, the screen is on about 30 minutes before showtime. The people in the movie theaters can watch the people find their seats at the Met, we can watch the orchestra tune up and they also show little trivia questions and ads for other HD productions. This time... nothing. At about 12:25 the lights went out completely for approximately 30 seconds, then came back up. The sound was on and then.. it began. Blank screen. Brightly lit theater. Then we got the sound. We could hear Thomas Hampson introduce the production and then he introduced the Maestro and then... it started... and still... blank screen, bright room. About 3 people went out (including me because I can move fast compared to the rest of the crowd there) to find out what was going on. There was one youngish girl on a walkie talkie trying to reach a manager... a manager type finally showed up behind the popcorn counter and said, "It's a live feed. We're waiting for it." And we were like, "Uh, it's here. Turn on your projector and shut the lights..." Finally someone got a clue and suddenly in the middle of the overture the screen came alive and the house lights went down. Hooray!

I love watching the orchestra. Usually you don't get such a close-up view of the individual musicians. I love seeing how totally absorbed they get with the music, swaying, making faces as they play and so on. I love seeing all the bowed instruments move together like a dance. This particular overture has plucky parts and it was really cool to see them all pluck at the same time. It sounds silly as I reread it but it was cool to see.

The performance was so much fun. Everyone was fabulous. Elīna Garanča (yeah I pasted her name in from wikipedia because I have no idea how to type those characters over the i and c) was so cute!! She was so pleasant to watch. And she sounded wonderful. The two sisters were HILARIOUS!!! Perfect - great sense of timing, beautiful singing, silly but not too silly - perfect.

The guys were all great too - the stepfather was ridiculous. During the intermission interview he said that he takes the ridiculous characters seriously because the characters take themselves seriously. They don't know they appear ridiculous. He was awesome.

Dandini and then of course the Prince - WOW! The Prince - Lawrence Brownlee - WOW WOW WOW! What a voice! Beautiful, like sweet liquid flowing out of him and into your ears. The moment he first sang I regretting not seeing him live in Philadelphia last fall. I'm sure I'll have other opportunities to see him live though. Gotta save my pennies and sell more earrings. And the fairy-godmother character... he's the Prince's advisor, and also, apparently, an angel come to save C. from her wretched life - that was John Relyea. He was great. We've all seen him before - he was the music teacher in the HD Barbiere with Joyce DD and JDF. Basses fascinate me - how do they sing sooooo looowww??????

I was a little distracted during the performance - see my most recent posts where I discuss feeling blue and so on - but the beautiful sounds did finally draw me out of my funk and into their crazy world. Oh and I almost forgot - things caught on fire!! On purpose, that is. Don't get all freaked out! During the thunderstorm scene the house gets struck by lightning. The rain had been leaking in the roof so C. gave the stepfather an umbrella... and... BOOM! FLASH! Umbrella ablaze! The walls caught too. You could hear the entire audience, both at the Met and in the theater, gasp. Love it! Fire. Very exciting moment. And then silly of course because the characters didn't seem to care.

Then today I had a fantabulous day with Husband and Alex - picnic in a park, hike in the woods, we saw lots of people on horseback, played on a cool playground that had a fence-maze, played in the backyard, I had a nap (hooray!!), we grilled chicken and shrimp and then we roasted marshmallows over the coals and made s'mores with spicy chocolate! YUM!!!

Next event: Vocal evaluation, this Wednesday. So far I feel pretty good about it but ask me again on Wednesday afternoon...

Stuck in an Expensive Rut?

I love surprises. I guess that's why I love the "all songs - random shuffle" feature of the iPod. However since some of the songs I have on there are entire acts (or more) of operas, it can be kind of dare I say, annoying, when, say, the next song is Acts 3&4 of Romeo et Juliette. On the other hand, it sort of forces you (unless you advance to the next track) to listen to something you might not ordinarily just listen to part of. Like for me, Romeo is such an emotional roller-coaster that I can't always just jump right into the middle. But today, no doubt due to my hormonal makeup, I immediately fell into the bittersweet tragic mood appropriate for the piece. Then later I watched some of the HD/PBS broadcast. Amazing how the music and the singing is so evocative.

On a related note, Johnny O, also known as John Osborn, recently sang Romeo at the Salzburg Festival in Austria and got rave reviews. I'd link to the review but I don't subscribe to the Opera Critic website. However, someone else does so I can paste the review here:

"On this evening, Roméo was sung by the American tenor John Osborn (Rolando Villazon otherwise scheduled for the remaining eight performances). Not only did the newcomer seem completely at ease with the production, but gave a performance which spontaneously brought him ovations from all parts of the house, including the orchestra. Osborn's background in Mozart and the bel canto repertoire form an ideal foundation for his undertaking in roles such as Roméo. His tone is full and appealing, his phrasing generous, and his attack immaculate - with a style and technique most reminiscent of Nicolai Gedda. Latin looks and a good stage presence complete the picture." The Opera critic, Aug 19, 2008

Yay Johnny, way to go!

Rumor has it that Mr. Osborn is back in Europe somewhere recording Clari for a DVD. Rumor also has it that he has not one but two CDs coming out very soon. I will, of course, post more rumors as they wend their way to me.

So to get back to Romeo, am I stuck in a rut of listening to the same operas over and over? Romeo, Barber, Marriage, Cosi, Carmen, Magic Flute, Traviata... I need to expand my opera horizons.

This season I'm going to two I've never seen before. Can't decide if I should read up and learn as much as I can about them beforehand or go in cold. Any thoughts or advice, Dear Readers?

Another thought was that I'd go see The Italian Girl in Algiers at Opera Philly. But tickets are so darn expensive. On the other hand, Lawrence Brownlee is in it and I'd love to see him perform live. But I'd also like to go with Husband which means doubling the price of the ticket since they probably wouldn't look favorably on me sitting on his lap. Plus a babysitter, and the prices have gone way up since I had my regular babysitting gigs in the early 80s.

I guess I just have to face it: I cannot afford to be an opera lover.

Hmm, maybe I can go alone to a matinee. Oh Husband...