What opera have you been watching lately?

[Ann Lander (sospiro)]

Having another break from Verdi and watched this today



But I prefer this one with Jonas in a leopard suit

[MAuer]

As of the latest notice from Amazon, I won't get to see Jonas in the leopard suit until sometime in mid-July.

[Ann Lander (sospiro)]

As of the latest notice from Amazon, I won'y get to see Jonas in the leopard suit until sometime in mid-July.

I watched it on YouTube but it's been removed

[Soave_Fanciulla]

Well that was a surprise. I watched the La Boheme from the Met - you know, the one where Kristine Opolais einsprang at a few hours' notice after singing Butterfly the previous night - wasn't expecting much but I was blown away by her performance, weeping like a baby, and I thought I didn't even really like Boheme. Vittorio Grigolo on the other hand, well, he has a nice voice and can sing, but he's a bit like a hyperactive prairie dog, bouncing around all over the place emoting excessively. Less is more, man, less is more.

[Ann Lander (sospiro)]

Well that was a surprise. I watched the La Boheme from the Met - you know, the one where Kristine Opolais einsprang at a few hours' notice after singing Butterfly the previous night - wasn't expecting much but I was blown away by her performance, weeping like a baby, and I thought I didn't even really like Boheme. Vittorio Grigolo on the other hand, well, he has a nice voice and can sing, but he's a bit like a hyperactive prairie dog, bouncing around all over the place emoting excessively. Less is more, man, less is more.

Kristine Opolais was Jenůfa in Zurich & although I hated the production, she was excellent. I'll never forget your saying Grigolo had three styles - ardent, ardent and ardent. Will add hyperactive prairie dog to this

[Soave_Fanciulla]

Somebody really raided the Bumper Book of Stock Opera Gestures for this Verdi trovatore Dull dull dull production, shame on you La Scala. Singing was OK though (Marcello Álvarez, Maria Agresta, Franco Vassallo, Ekaterina Semenchuk, Kwangchul Youn).

[Hoffmann]

Well that was a surprise. I watched the La Boheme from the Met - you know, the one where Kristine Opolais einsprang at a few hours' notice after singing Butterfly the previous night - wasn't expecting much but I was blown away by her performance, weeping like a baby, and I thought I didn't even really like Boheme. Vittorio Grigolo on the other hand, well, he has a nice voice and can sing, but he's a bit like a hyperactive prairie dog, bouncing around all over the place emoting excessively. Less is more, man, less is more.

I saw Opolais sing Mimi in Vienna last year with Piotr Beczala, and they also left me teary. La Boheme seems so cheesy on paper, but is always irresistible when I see it in person.

My favorite Boheme production was one done here in DC some years ago that was set in an awesome big city loft apartment, with Grigolo, that was really well sung, and a rare contemporary take on a classic for WNO (I don't recall whether he did his prairie dog thing or not). It was laughable, however, when they were freezing cold in the last act, and decided they had to set a fire in the middle of the apartment's living room floor.

[MAuer]

Des McAnuff's production doesn't do a whole lot for me, though it's not annoying, either (and I guess that counts for a lot these days). With a cast like this, I'm focused on the fabulous singing, anyway. Of course, there's the Jonas and René Pape, but I was also very impressed with Russell Braun's Valentin. And what a pleasant surprise to see Wendy White in the role of Marthe -- I remember her from the early '80s when she was a member of one of the Cincinnati Opera's young artist programs. Poplavskaya is fine as Marguerite.

[Soave_Fanciulla]

I'm glad I got this and re-watched ( had seen it on YouTube and thought the production rather ho-hum). Don Carlo is definitely my very favourite Verdi and in this version you get pretty much everything he wrote for it, superbly conducted by Pappano, with a very strong cast.

[Amfortas]

Did you end up feeling any better about the production?

[Dark_Angel]

Did you end up feeling any better about the production?

Too much black, black, black..............

That is a fine cast except I think Princess Eboli is the weak link, Kaufmann and Harteros should do more Verdi

[Soave_Fanciulla]

Too much black, black, black..............

There was a quite a lot of colour among the women:



The black seemed appropriate for a traditional production set in the historic period: if you look at contemporary paintings you will see that the court of Spain was a fairly sombre one:



And you would'nt expect peasants and woodcutters to be wearing bright colours because they couldn't afford the pigments.

That is a fine cast except I think Princess Eboli is the weak link, Kaufmann and Harteros should do more Verdi

I thought the Eboli was a fine package - good if not top notch singing, but excellent acting, and of course looked attractive which is important when she has to carry off "O don fatale".

Overall after watching it I thought that the production didn't get in the way of the acting. Kaufmann by the way brilliantly brought out the twitchy unhinged aspect of Carlo which you read about in histories but which is optional in the opera. Basically you knew that if he had been allowed to marry Elisabetta he would have probably been OK, but as soon as that denied him he was in a downward spiral of unfocused desperate search for SOMETHING to do or to think about. Posa's cause of Flanders doesn't really matter to Carlo, it's just a vehicle for getting back at Daddy.

[Clayton]

Yes, there was apparently less colour five hundred years ago. Now, though, this is twenty-first century.

This is MY Princess Eboli with a bit of colour.

Waddya think?



Employable in the theatre?

[Dark_Angel]

There was a quite a lot of colour among the women:

I love that scence's vivid colorful visual contrast, adds some real excitement that can be exploited by the music and singing

Such a dramatic fashion visual mash-up, could be runway Paul Gaultier haute couture today

[Soave_Fanciulla]

I love that scence's vivid colorful visual contrast, adds some real excitement that can be exploited by the music and singing

It also makes a good contrast between Elisabetta's light-hearted and hopeful life as a French princess and her living entombment in the court of Spain.

- - - Updated - - -

Yes, there was apparently less colour five hundred years ago. Now, though, this is twenty-first century.

This is MY Princess Eboli with a bit of colour.

Waddya think?



Employable in the theatre?

Can't take him anywhere.