Yodeling Legato

Wow. Just wow. I must admit I went into last week’s production of Elixir a little jaded, thinking, how could this be any better than what I saw with Juan Diego Florez and Diana Damrau? It wasn’t better, because it was a different. It was equally as wonderful. I remember the very first time I heard Anna Netrebko sing I was moved to tears, back when I saw her in Romeo et Juliette. Subsequently, hearing her in various recordings I’ve thought, what’s the big deal. Then I heard her again on Saturday. And BOOM! Tears.

Backing up, as usual, to the pre-opera activities... Realizing that it would cost approximately the same for the 2 of us to take the train as it would to drive, the Husband and I decided to take the car in. Plus then we wouldn’t be at the mercy of the train schedule. Those late night trains are all locals… putt putt putt between every.single.station.



So here I am, with the angry birds stickers apparently flying out of my head?



And you know, it's a good thing we drove, or we wouldn’t have been able to listen to the cowboy yodeling radio station we picked up somewhere near Newark Airport. I can’t make this stuff up. Well I probably could, but I’m not! We yodeled our way up the New Jersey Turnpike.

We went to the box office as soon as we got there. They had the tickets but “we don’t keep gifts here.” I even showed them the email from the rep saying that the gift and tickets would be at the box office. They had no idea. They took my phone into their little room, it was like handing my baby to a stranger. They returned it and suggested that I check at the shop. The shop people were like, that's not our department. Everyone was very nice, but they had no idea what I was talking about. So the mystery gift remained a mystery! I did email my contact and he said he’d mail the gift out.

Anyway the seats were in the orchestra ROW R!! Right smack dab in the middle. Like, $300 tickets. That is enough of a gift!

For dinner we went, where else, to Café Fiorello. I really need to start going somewhere else for dinner. We were seated on the opposite side as when I was there last week, but somehow we got the same waiter. I kept forgetting to take pictures of the food because I was having too much fun. But here's a picture of my drink, a vodka something-or-other, off their cocktail list.  It had red grapes and I think half a lime in it.

 

Here's what remained of the antipasto plate before I remembered to snap a pic. Still on the plate I see zucchini parmesean, eggplant caponata, shrimp and white beans, grilled sepia (which is like calamari) and potato pie. It was all very yummy.

We also got the fried ravioli, which was ok but I wouldn't get again, and for dessert, the lemon tart, which was fa-bu-lous. No picture but you can imagine. The top was coated with sugar and then burned, to give it a hard crust like creme brulee. Fresh whipped cream on the side. Yum I'm actually drooling while typing this.

And I even had a “star” sighting! Half-way though dinner, Pretty Yende, who had performed in the matinee, walked by with her entourage on their way out, carrying several beautiful bouquets of flowers.



Back to the Met we went, to our seats in row R. Check out this view!



The opera was SO MUCH FUN! Matthew Polenzani was Nemorino. I think he should change his name to Matthew PoLEGATOnzani. I don’t believe I’ve ever heard such beautiful legato, ever. This coming from the person who could listen to the legato pour out of Juan Diego Florez all day… so you know it’s a big deal. Wow. And Anna Netrebko. Her voice had a timbre to it that went right to my insides. Perfect resonance. Together they sounded heavenly.


The other singers were, Mariusz Kwiecien as Belcore, the conceited army sergeant who wanted to marry Adina, and Erwin Schrott, who, by the way, is Anna’s husband! That must be fun… anyway he played Dulcamara, the maker of the magic elixir, which, as we all know, is actually a nice bordeaux. He was so funny!! In last year’s production, the character of Dulcamara was an older, more grandfatherly type guy. This time, he was more like a Barber of Seville guy – he had everything to cure anything, and he always had a woman nearby. Mariusz K was adorable, as usual.

It was weird… I was a little distracted at first. My mind kept wandering to other things… and then suddenly they began singing and that was it. All other things left my mind and I was just there, feeling the music. Maybe it was the seat location, I don’t know. But the singing just resonated through me. It was like a drug. It's why I love live opera. Because when it hits you like that, you want more, more more. But unless I win the $25 ticket drawing again this season, I won't be going again until next season. Technically that could be this calendar year, I suppose. I imagine they'll announce the next season schedule soon.

Meanwhile, I'll announce what at the Special Gift is once I receive it.

Vintage Cherry Rewards

Remember a few months ago when I begged everyone I knew, and many people I didn’t know, to vote daily for my entry in the Met Opera’s “Elixir of Love” contest? And remember how I won!

Not because my drink was the best, but because I nagged the most people to vote. The prize was, two tickets to see Elixir of Love at the Met, plus a “special gift” from the Metropolitan Opera. Well, finally, this coming Saturday, Husband and I will be seeing the opera. It’ll be interesting to see this new production, especially since I saw the other production TWICE last year. This one stars Anna Netrebko and Matthew Polenzani.

So the tickets will be waiting for us at the box office, along with the “special gift.” We have no idea where the seats are, or what the gift is. I will, of course, post again afterwards with all the boring details. Stay tuned!

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.

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.

Inspiring a Friend

One of my friends went to see Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail at the Met earlier this week. After the performance she had to go back in for something she left at her seat. When she tried to leave again, the doors from the house to the lobby were locked, so the ushers directed her to go back stage and out the good old stage door.


So out she went, and who was standing there but tenor Matthew Polenzani. He was surrounded, she said, by, "a bunch of old ladies..." Hmm sound familiar? So she said she remembered what I told her about meeting the singers. Instead of being all gushy and star-struck, she introduced herself, told him that she teaches at Westminster and knows people he's studied with and they had a nice chat, including a "Say hello to so-and-so for me."

She was all shocked: "He's just a regular person." Well duh, we all are. If you treat someone like a "regular person" they will respond in kind.

Then, of course, we talked about what a wonderful voice he has, and I "reminisced" about New Years Eve, when I listened to him sing Romeo while I held a very feverish child on my lap. Ah those were the days. Wait that was like, 5 months ago...

Romeo Still Makes Me Cry

Here I am alone on New Year's Eve... well, not exactly. True, Jim is out overnight at a party that I'd rather not be at... but Alex is here after all... with a fever... and a cold... and what appears to be pinkeye. This leads to opera, I promise...

So he hasn't napped for over a year, but today he took a 90 minute nap, then he asked to go to bed early. He woke up about an hour later and was pretty wide awake, so I sat him on my lap in front of the computer while I played Scrabble on Facebook (it's my other addiction!) and we listened to the Met's live broadcast of Romeo. Alex finally went to bed and I listened to the rest on headphones.

So I've heard this opera dozens of times... yet I still cry at the end.

Tonight Matthew Polenzani was Romeo. I've heard him dozens of times since he's Tamino on that ever-famous English Magic Flute Alex used to watch every day. He was fabulous tonight. What a beautiful voice, like flowing water.

I listed through the curtain call. Most of the cast was gone by then- only 4 or 5 came out for curtain calls. That's odd - I thought they all always did. I guess I was wrong.

I didn't get to hear Nathan Gunn's first aria because the laptop wasn't cooperating... grrr.... Even though I have three different recordings of it, it's just different when you know it's live. It's like watching gymnastics in the Olympics - there's that tension that anything can happen.

My online friend who likes Anna Netrebko flew to NYC from Barcelona to see the performance tonight. I'm sure he had a great time. I'm envious!

If only I had unlimited funds, I'd go to the opera all the time.

Happy New Year to all. It's 11:15 and I'm going to bed.