Opera Small Talk

[Aksel]

This staging is no good.

Of course, having seen a three and a half minute trailer is the best way of finding out whether a staging is good or not.

[Anne of Green Gables]

Of course, having seen a three and a half minute trailer is the best way of finding out whether a staging is good or not.

Well, it's not one scene from one act all the time that they show there so I guess it provides some insight, in this case especially because it shows how little changes between diffrent scenes. How could it be any diffrent when there's almost nothing to change though.

Not to mention that Romeo wearing top hat makes the staging bad in advance, no matter how wonderful the rest would be (not that I would expect anything wonderful in that production).

[Aksel]

Well, it's not one scene from one act all the time that they show there so I guess it provides some insight, in this case especially because it shows how little changes between diffrent scenes. How could it be any diffrent when there's almost nothing to change though.

Not to mention that Romeo wearing top hat makes the staging bad in advance, no matter how wonderful the rest would be (not that I would expect anything wonderful in that production).

I like context. And top hats. That is all.

[Almaviva]

In principle I like this staging. It's minimalistic, non-intrusive, updated but without anything outrageous. It's atmospheric enough but allows the focus to remain on the music and the characters. Not bad. I'd be curious to watch the whole thing.

[Anne of Green Gables]

So I watched that old movie about Bellini, Casta Diva. It's pretty poor, extreme infidelity to facts - Casta Diva is one of first pieces he ever wrote and he had ensamble ending Norma already written as a student, Donizetti was jealous for his relations with Pasta so he wrote Lucia di Lammermoor just to bring Bellini down, Pasta at the other hand retired and got back to singing just to revive Norma which was failure because Bellini was mad at the other girl and didn't write any love-inspired melodies, so they had to add Casta Diva to the score... stuff like that. I could stand all of it if it would serve purpose of building good plot. But it doesn't the plot is poor, there is no strong idea for melodramatism which they tried to create - they did, but it's poor melodramatism, failing to draw you in, move you, it's just one big nothing.

Someone make better movie on Bellini, please. I can play him myself, just gonna need some good curling-pin.

[Elektra]

Wicked

[Aksel]

Wicked

That is really cool. But really, ROH? A myspace page? What is this, 2003?

[Almaviva]

Other than for the blunder of myspace, this is the best opera ad I've ever seen! Wow!

[CountessAdele]

Older video of opera singers having fun. Cute and Funny.

[Almaviva]

Yes, very nice, this is part of the bonus material that is in their Traviata blu-ray, and I love it. The whole thing is very entertaining and also informative about stage direction, set design, concept, etc. I highly recommend it.

This also matches what her colleagues say of Anna - we heard from Matthew Polenzani and Piotr Beczala that Anna is friendly and nice to peers in rehearsals, another reason why I admire her - definitely not the conceited prima donna.

[MAuer]

The March issue of Opera has finally made it to the shelves of the local Barnes & Noble here. There is an interesting item in its "Newsdesk" section regarding the demise of Opera Boston. It seems that financial problems were not the cause of the closing -- or at least not in the usual sense. Rather, reports in the Boston Globe indicated that one of the company's primary donors, Randolph Fuller (who was also among its founders), withdrew his financial backing because of some sort of disagreement with the new General Director, Lesley Koenig, who he claimed was "incompetent." Fuller's action apparently caused panic among the company's board members, and that led to the closing. According to Opera, even Boston's mayor was caught off guard by the board's sudden action. The magazine also references a quote in the report attributed to Jim Marko, the company's Development Director, who claimed that "it was dysfunction rather than debt that killed the company."

[Almaviva]

Wow! So, I guess, soon we'll have this as part of your press clippings for this issue, right?

[MAuer]

I wasn't certain whether I should prepare a summary for this issue or not, given that it's almost three months old. As the old journalism cliché goes, old news is no news.

[Anne of Green Gables]

I just read in description of certain DVD cycle: among the singers here one may find renowed names, like: Plácido Domingo, Kiri Te Kanawa, Joan Sutherland, José Cura, Barbara Frittoli, Edita Gruberová, Weselina Kacarowa, but also others, less known artists such as Diana Damrau (...)

THE WORLD HAS CHANGED

[MAuer]

I just read in description of certain DVD cycle: among the singers here one may find renowed names, like: Plácido Domingo, Kiri Te Kanawa, Joan Sutherland, José Cura, Barbara Frittoli, Edita Gruberová, Weselina Kacarowa, but also others, less known artists such as Diana Damrau (...)

THE WORLD HAS CHANGED

Yes, you wonder what bone-headed PR hack come up with that description.