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bartist
Posted: Fri May 25, 2012 9:12 am Reply with quote
Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6941 Location: Black Hills
I tend to sit way back. About 1600 miles, to be precise.

BTW,

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/27/theater/jim-parsons-prepares-for-his-lead-role-in-harvey.html?_r=3&pagewanted=all

Big Bang Theory fans who were disappointed by his role in The Normal Heart, may be more in tune with his upcoming gig as Elwood P. Dowd. The article, BTW, was reported by a couple of web news sites as Parsons "coming out" to the NYT, which struck me as sorta funny. I had thought it was common knowledge.

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carrobin
Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2012 1:55 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 7795 Location: NYC
I've been checking the Internet looking for James Corden's Tony acceptance speech, since the friend I saw the show with didn't watch the show, and it seems that he has lots of critics in the UK. The Telegraph's story on his win makes fun of his "weepy" speech, and the comments following it are mostly insults. Interesting reading for someone who saw the show and loved his acceptance speech--and sees him as a smart, funny, talented Brit who seems to enjoy his work almost too much.
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Syd
Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2012 1:36 am Reply with quote
Site Admin Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 12887 Location: Norman, Oklahoma
Our major town theatre (as opposed to the dollar theatre) also does live broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera. Too much Verdi, whose operas I dislike, but Mozart is always welcome, and today's was one of his less-well-known, La clemenza di Tito. This is very late Mozart, composed between the bulk of The Magic Flute and its completion, and either can be considered Mozart's last opera. This isn't one of Mozart's really famous ones, but I enjoyed it thoroughly and I applaud the subtitles. Remember the last opera I saw was in Sanskrit without subtitles (but was compehensible anyway).

Vitellia, the daughter of the previous Roman emperor, thinks that Tito (Titus) is unfair to her and she should be empress, either in her own right or as Tito's wife, so she pressures Tito's friend Sesto, who is in love with her, to assassinate Tito. This is because Tito first wants to marry the foreign princess Berenice (who he loves), and, when he learns the Romans won't accept a foreigner, Sesto's sister Servilia. This makes Vitellia even more jealous so she eggs Sesto to action. However, Servilia and Sesto's friend Annio are in love, about which she courageously and fearfully informs Tito. Tito, being a nice, easy-going sort who loves Servilia more as a friend anyway, praises her for her honesty and general virtue, and chooses his next consort to be ... Vitellia. Since she has just convinced Sesto to kill Tito, and can't find him, she's got a bit of a problem.

Part of the assassination plot is to set fire to the Capitol and kill Tito in the confusion, but Sesto, who is less competent an assassin than a singer, mistakenly attacks someone else rather than the emperor who's one of his closest friends. Sesto is captured easily and Tito has to decide whether to have Sesto executed. Despite anguished arias, we already know the decision by the title of the opera, which should have a spoiler alert.

Although there are five major singing parts, three of them male categories, four of the parts are for sopranos and mezzo-sopranos, and were played by women. (The exception is Tito.) Sesto, indeed, was written to be played either by a woman or a castrato. Despite the title, Sesto is the lead character, and was played by the Latvian Elīna Garanča, who was superb both as singer and actress. My favorite song, however, is "Ah, perdona al primo affetto" sung by Servilia and Annio (Lucy Crowe and Kate Lindsey).

After this, there are two Verdis which I'll skip, then Berlioz's Les Troyens, which I'm totally unfamiliar with, but apparently deals with the fall of Troy and the wanderings of Aeneas.

I'm not a big opera fan, having been traumatized in my first exposure by a production of Il trovatore. If I'd started off with Mozart, it would be a different story.


Last edited by Syd on Sat Oct 24, 2015 9:34 pm; edited 2 times in total

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marantzo
Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2012 9:44 am Reply with quote
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Belioz is one of my favourite composers. I don't think I've heard Les Troyens but I probably heard parts of it. La Damnation des Faust is great so I imagine that Les Troyens is probably, at the least, very good. Belioz, though not as famous, is a much better composer than the bombastic endless Wagner.

I'm not a big fan of Verdi either. I love Puccini's stuff though.

When I was in Nassau years back, I was in line in the pro shop to get our tee time in this tournament that a casino hosts a couple of times a year and the guy ahead of me had the last name, Puccini. I said, "I like your operas." He laughed and told me that Puccini was a grand uncle of his.
Syd
Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2012 10:15 am Reply with quote
Site Admin Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 12887 Location: Norman, Oklahoma
There's Wagner's Parsifal later in the season. No Puccini or Rossini, although there's one by Handel.

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Syd
Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2012 1:31 am Reply with quote
Site Admin Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 12887 Location: Norman, Oklahoma
Les Troyens is five-and-a half hours long, including intermission, so it depends on how ambitious I'm feeling. Parsifal is even longer. The Handel is Giulio Cesare, which is about Julius Caesar and Cleopatra.

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marantzo
Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2012 10:33 am Reply with quote
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Now I know why I've only heard some parts of Les Troyens. I have the LP's of La Damnation De Faust. Two 12 inch discs and it runs at least 2 hours. I think it's the entire piece.
bartist
Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2012 12:38 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6941 Location: Black Hills
I remember La Clemenza di Tito as having a beautiful duet. Probably the one you mentioned. Those livecasts from the Met are helping opera survive in the 21 century - bravo. Someone told me that the mystery opera in "Raising Arizona" (being watched on the tv by the convicts when Edwina bursts in) is an excerpt from Clemenza, but I'm not sure about that.

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knox
Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2012 12:46 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 18 Mar 2010 Posts: 1245 Location: St. Louis
""Ah, perdona al primo affetto" is exquisite - I also like the "Parto, Parto" from LCdT.
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inlareviewer
Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2013 5:29 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 05 Jul 2004 Posts: 1949 Location: Lawrence, KS
Wouldn't miss Saturday's Les Troyens for anything. It's a glorious work, with a very good cast this time out.

Speaking of good casts, Backstage enlisted me to do the L.A. edition of their annual 10 Standout Performances List. Here 'tis:

Backstage: 2012 Standout NY and L.A. Theater Performances

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marantzo
Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2013 6:48 pm Reply with quote
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Great. I don't think I knew your name was David Nichols.
inlareviewer
Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2013 1:33 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 05 Jul 2004 Posts: 1949 Location: Lawrence, KS
marantzo, thanks heaps, and now you do. Exercise discretion. LOL

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Syd
Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2013 1:38 am Reply with quote
Site Admin Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 12887 Location: Norman, Oklahoma
I did skip Les Troyens, but I'll probably see Maria Stuarda tomorrow, which is one of Donizetti's. I wasn't familiar with that name, so I listend to one of his other operas, Lucia di Lammermoor and was startled when they started singing the famous sextet, which of course I'd heard before, most notably in The Departed (and a Bugs Bunny cartoon). Now I know where it comes from. I've probably heard Lucia's mad scene before, too.

I've been avoiding hearing Maria Stuarda, although I do know I'll get to hear Elizabeth I really sing. And Mary, Queen of Scots as well.

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Syd
Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2013 6:41 pm Reply with quote
Site Admin Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 12887 Location: Norman, Oklahoma
Maria Stuarda suffered a bit because I didn't much like the soprano (Elza van den Heever) who plays Elizabeth I. She's nice off-stage, though. Elizabeth looks pretty scary by 1587.

I liked most of the rest of the cast, which include Jocelyn DiDonato as Mary, Queen of Scots; Matthew Polenzani as Dudley, Earl of Leicester; Joshua Hopkins as William Cecil, Elizabeth's chief advisor who want Mary gotten rid of for the kingdom's stability; and Matthew Rose as Mary's sympathetic warden, George Talbot. There aren't any famous songs in the opera, and, really, all the best ones are in the last half, including a premature requiem and Mary's last song in her prison and her finale.

Elizabeth is the cold and unforgiving villain, but really my problem is that van den Heever does too much coloratura and I hate coloratura. She's also rather homely in stage makeup, which makes it odd when people talk about how fair she is. She has one of those high soprano voices.

DiDonato is, I believe, a mezzo-soprano, (I'm never sure which is which), and really has a rich, beautiful voice. She's also a fine actress, and pretty famous, so I hope to see a lot more of her. Mary is, of course tragic, and it's often commented on how innocent she is, although she's not all that innocent a victim. There's a reason she expects to be haunted by the ghost of her first husband. The opera expects you to know something of the story of her life going in.

EDIT: DiDonato is indeed a mezzo-soprano, so now I know. Maria was originally written as a soprano, but is often performed by mezzo-sopranos for which I am thankful. Wikipedia says that sometimes Elizabeth is the mezzo-soprano part, but I think it works better for Mary.


Last edited by Syd on Sat Jan 19, 2013 7:38 pm; edited 2 times in total

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Syd
Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2013 6:45 pm Reply with quote
Site Admin Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 12887 Location: Norman, Oklahoma
The Met's production of Rigoletto sounds so interesting that I may overcome my aversion to Verdi to see it. It's set in Las Vegas and looks like something from a Frank Sinatra movie. This is deliberate and was commented on by the actors being interviewed. It looks like it may work very well.

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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament
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