It's like "Little Mermaid" except it ends miserably for everyone. So, you know, better
As usual, muckefuck and I broadly agree on an opera, so I'll stick to a few observations:
Go see it. It is, in my opinion, the best opera they've had this season. I think it will also be good for the occasional opera-goer. The music is late Romantic and sweeping (It's Dvořák, you need me to paint you a picture?). The direction is also extremely well thought-out, both reinforcing the immediate theme ("Men are assholes") and the larger theme ("Men are assholes toward Nature"). The sets and costumes are great, and the dancing continues the winning streak its had all season. It is also the most Gothic (in both old and new senses of the word) of any opera I've ever seen on the Lyric stage. The only potential drawback is the length. Thanks to two half-hour intermissions, the performance lasts three and half hours.
I want one of those creepy crow-men costumes for Halloween.
I loved the play-within-a-play (or, more accurately, the ballet-within-an-opera) which simultaneously reinforced the theme, contrasted how humans conceive of nature spirits with how they actually are, and showed Rusalka's growing confusion with the human world. If only every ballet could be like that.
In short, a great night out.
Go see it. It is, in my opinion, the best opera they've had this season. I think it will also be good for the occasional opera-goer. The music is late Romantic and sweeping (It's Dvořák, you need me to paint you a picture?). The direction is also extremely well thought-out, both reinforcing the immediate theme ("Men are assholes") and the larger theme ("Men are assholes toward Nature"). The sets and costumes are great, and the dancing continues the winning streak its had all season. It is also the most Gothic (in both old and new senses of the word) of any opera I've ever seen on the Lyric stage. The only potential drawback is the length. Thanks to two half-hour intermissions, the performance lasts three and half hours.
I want one of those creepy crow-men costumes for Halloween.
I loved the play-within-a-play (or, more accurately, the ballet-within-an-opera) which simultaneously reinforced the theme, contrasted how humans conceive of nature spirits with how they actually are, and showed Rusalka's growing confusion with the human world. If only every ballet could be like that.
In short, a great night out.