What opera have you been watching lately?

[JohnGerald]

Having helped the SO through a bit of surgery and 6 months of chemotherapy has lessened both opera and posting. Since all seems well, we jumped back into opera a couple of days ago. She has greatly enjoyed watching the (not so) historical series on both the Borgias and the Tudors while she was on the mend so we wallowed in Lucrezia Borgia, courtesy of the SFO, and all three of the Donizetti Tudor queens, from the Met. The historical accuracy may be questioned, but the operas are dandy!

One last thing: regular colonoscopies save lives!!

[Soave_Fanciulla]

Very happy for you that your wife is better and you are both enjoying the good things in life.

[Amfortas]

Absolutely! Here's to many more years of history, opera, or both.

[Ann Lander (sospiro)]

Excellent news JohnGerald!

[MAuer]

Watched this again yesterday evening, chiefly for JK's Johnson/Ramerrez. While the updated setting generally works, I do have a few problems with it (aside from that hideous red wig that Nina Stemme is required to wear). In Act II, Minnie is angered by Ramerrez' deception because she has fallen in love with him and his lies are more painful to her as a result. In particular, she refers to the fact that he has given and received her first kiss. That would be entirely believable in an 1850s setting, but would any modern woman really be that inexperienced? (And Stemme's Minnie is no young girl.) I can understand a director's desire to avoid what I'd call "cowboy kitsch" with this opera, and that's a challenge since Belasco's original play included plenty of it -- i.e., that "doo-da day" business. The character of Minnie is typical of the heroines of the late 19th/early 20th centuries: the virtuous young woman of modest means who reforms a ne'er-do-well with her love, and lives happily (and in many cases, very wealthy) ever after. It would be interesting to see a production left in 1850s Gold Rush California that reflects the impoverished, hardscrabble existence most of the prospectors lived. It could keep the kitsch to a minimum and still have the gritty reality that modern directors and audiences would like.

[Hoffmann]

Having helped the SO through a bit of surgery and 6 months of chemotherapy has lessened both opera and posting. Since all seems well, we jumped back into opera a couple of days ago. She has greatly enjoyed watching the (not so) historical series on both the Borgias and the Tudors while she was on the mend so we wallowed in Lucrezia Borgia, courtesy of the SFO, and all three of the Donizetti Tudor queens, from the Met. The historical accuracy may be questioned, but the operas are dandy!

One last thing: regular colonoscopies save lives!!

Great to see you back, JG, and happy to hear that your wife is doing well!

[JohnGerald]

Thanks to all who responded.

Now as to that new Norma with Radvanovsky ... stay tuned!

[Florestan]

This turns out to be quite a nice production, very traditional though set in a more modern time than the composer had envisioned. Wikipedia says L'elisir d'amore is set in the end of the 18th Century, but his one has a telegraph pole suggesting a later time. A reviewer on Amazon says it is set in the 1930s. Other than that is is old fashioned/traditional in dress and staging, except that while all the women are wearing dresses, Adina wears pants for the first half of Act 1.

A surprise blooper occurs at 1:26:46 right after the music and singing stop and there is dead silence with Giannetta the center of attention, she hiccups. She reflexively throws her hand over her mouth and pauses like that. There is slight laughter but quickly applause follows. She recovers beautifully as if it never happened and goes on with the opera.

[Florestan]

The barber had to do his opening number twice because the audience loved it so much:

[Soave_Fanciulla]

Macbeth from La Monnaie, set in a hotel for some obscure reason (as Annie says, it's Regie innit), Distinctly uninvolving despite some spectacular Rocky Horror Show type witches.

Samson et Dalila with from Paris; pretty violent stuff and the take being that Dalila is somehow coerced into tricking Samson (who cuts off his own hair)

[Florestan]

[Soave_Fanciulla]

Don Giovanni from the Met with Simon Keenlyside. I think Simon has lost a bit of beauty of tone since his illness, but he was absolutely brilliant in terms of acting.

[MAuer]

Conductor: Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Director: Des McAnuff
Cast: Jonas Kaufmann Faust), René Pape (Méphistophélès), Marina Poplavskaya (Marguerite), Russell Braun (Valentin), Jonathan Beyer (Wagner), Michèle Losier (Siébel), Wendy White (Marthe)

We're a little past both Halloween and All Souls' Day/Dia de los Muertos, but the scenes in the church and on the Brocken (Walpurgisnacht) in the second act of Faust can be quite spooky. In this case, Gounod's music is more atmospheric than Des McAnuff's staging, which for me sometimes works and sometimes doesn't so much. But what a cast, especially der Jonas and Pape!

[Soave_Fanciulla]

Conductor: Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Director: Des McAnuff
Cast: Jonas Kaufmann Faust), René Pape (Méphistophélès), Marina Poplavskaya (Marguerite), Russell Braun (Valentin), Jonathan Beyer (Wagner), Michèle Losier (Siébel), Wendy White (Marthe)

We're a little past both Halloween and All Souls' Day/Dia de los Muertos, but the scenes in the church and on the Brocken (Walpurgisnacht) in the second act of Faust can be quite spooky. In this case, Gounod's music is more atmospheric than Des McAnuff's staging, which for me sometimes works and sometimes doesn't so much. But what a cast, especially der Jonas and Pape!

That wonderful Veau d'Or - best staging and singing ever! Pape's dance moves at the end are such fun.

[Florestan]