(no subject)
Last night was opera with the Handsome Bear. We got ourselves all dolled up and downtown to find the theater closed. HuhWhat? The theater, where we've been going with our season tickets for a couple of years now, was closed. Quickly check the tickets - right day, right time, right month... wait, location? Ack! Crap! This one is for no apparent reason actually at a theater about 25 blocks away. Where all things arty happen. On a Saturday night. Which means there will be no parking. And it all starts in about 18 minutes. Gah! But we got down there and found a (ridiculously expensive) parking spot and got ourselves into the theater with about 4 minutes to spare. Yay!
Well, opera was downright disappointing. It had the overall feeling of Community Theater or a college production. Not sure why the folks in charge of casting had two women in two of the male leads - it didn't add to the story any. It wasn't necessarily a problem, just... odd. And one of those women had a nice enough voice but no power whatsoever to it. The other woman, who was in the title role, had a great voice and some near-drag king acting. The special effects came off as cheap. The "whirlwinds" sounded like jacked-up dustbusters, the "thunder" *sounded* like cardboard or tin wobbling, and too often the banks of lights were obvious - to the point where it felt like they were almost featured. The set could have been better constructed as well. There was supposed to be a hidden door at the back, but when the title character rushed up to find a way through the back wall, all I could think was "um, the door is right there. see the crack of light?"
The acting and singing overall were okay. I kinda got into the minimalist set - aside from that "hidden door" business and the wall tiling that made me think of the video game "Brick Breaker". Oh, and the inexplicable dirty bathroom sink and the absurdly tall showerhead that I think might also have doubled as a street light at one point. As for staging - I was not aware "Rinaldo" was a comedy. Turns out no one else but the director was either.
I was also quite surprised to find the audience in decidedly more casual dress than I'm used to seeing for opera.
Still, all in all, it was a good night out. The music was lovely (Yay, Portland Baroque Orchestra!), the smaller theater was more intimate, and I always have a good time with the Handsome Bear.
Well, opera was downright disappointing. It had the overall feeling of Community Theater or a college production. Not sure why the folks in charge of casting had two women in two of the male leads - it didn't add to the story any. It wasn't necessarily a problem, just... odd. And one of those women had a nice enough voice but no power whatsoever to it. The other woman, who was in the title role, had a great voice and some near-drag king acting. The special effects came off as cheap. The "whirlwinds" sounded like jacked-up dustbusters, the "thunder" *sounded* like cardboard or tin wobbling, and too often the banks of lights were obvious - to the point where it felt like they were almost featured. The set could have been better constructed as well. There was supposed to be a hidden door at the back, but when the title character rushed up to find a way through the back wall, all I could think was "um, the door is right there. see the crack of light?"
The acting and singing overall were okay. I kinda got into the minimalist set - aside from that "hidden door" business and the wall tiling that made me think of the video game "Brick Breaker". Oh, and the inexplicable dirty bathroom sink and the absurdly tall showerhead that I think might also have doubled as a street light at one point. As for staging - I was not aware "Rinaldo" was a comedy. Turns out no one else but the director was either.
I was also quite surprised to find the audience in decidedly more casual dress than I'm used to seeing for opera.
Still, all in all, it was a good night out. The music was lovely (Yay, Portland Baroque Orchestra!), the smaller theater was more intimate, and I always have a good time with the Handsome Bear.