(no subject)
Took myself out on a date last night to go see Minnesota Opera's L'Italiana in Algeri, starring Vivica Genaux. Despite transportation disasters both to and from the opera, I had a good time.
(Incidentally, I'm starting to work out the mathematical relationship between the uncomfortableness of the shoes I've chosen to wear, and the distance that the failure of the bus system will force me to walk in a given evening. If I'm wearing my comfiest, most broken-in mary jane heels, everything will go smoothly. If I'm wearing sexier, higher-heeled pumps, something will go wrong and I'll have to walk many blocks and change buses several times. If I'm wearing killer gorgeous sandal stilettos with the too-tight straps, I'll end up somewhere in a cornfield in Wisconsin with no battery in my cellphone and only a cow for companionship/assistance. Never fails. Does this stop me from wearing sexy heels? No. ...And please note that if someone decides now would be a good time to make a sexist joke, keep in mind that these stilletos reportedly also function admirably as a weapon of disembowelment.)
Anyway. Opera.
Was amusing. Totally fluffy, meaningless, kitschy, stereotypical, and over-the-top, but that's instrinsic to the score itself, and I thought this particular production was right to take that and run with it, even if sometimes it got a little stupid. The set looked a little bit like a popup book, and the direction was very Gilbert-and-Sullivan. I liked the costumes, except for Elvira's, which looked like it came off the the Halloween costume rack at Walgreen's.
As for the singers... Vivica Genaux has got to be one of the most physically beautiful mezzos currently living. No, really, she's drop-dead gorgeous. And she's a wonderful actress. I just wish I knew what to make of her totally weird vocal technique. She articulates runs by sticking in little 'v' things with her lips... and her jaw shakes likewoah when she's singing any kind of sustained note. See what I mean? It's incredibly distracting, and goes against almost everything I'm being told about keeping my jaw and lips relaxed. How does she do it? Are there other singers that do this? Any of the several people on my friendslist who know this stuff better than I do want to give me a clue?
I love rumbly bass villains, so I enjoyed Wojtek Gierlach's voice (incidentally, isn't that a wonderful name for a bass?), although he was a shameless ham as the Mustafà, too much so at times. Kenneth Tarver as Lindoro impressed me a lot with the beauty of his voice for the first ten minutes, and then all of a sudden he seemed to get tired, and for the rest of the evening all his high notes sounded like he was hurting himself trying to force them up. Painful to hear. Ow. Andrew Wilkowske was pretty good as Taddeo. Alison Bates made the annoying and thankless character of Elvira (really, Rossini, this is a Turkish name? WTF, dude?) even more annoying than it had to be, I thought... she's one of the MN Opera's Young Artists, so I think I remember her from a couple of comprimario parts in previous productions. It really seems like she has only one or two facial expressions, and both of them are peculiarly... rabbity. She also has fabulously penetrating high notes. So much so that, frankly, when she's singing in ensembles, you can't hear anyone else... and then when she's back down on the staff, you can't hear her. Oops.
Anyway. It was a good time, overall. One thing that made me happy was that the house was almost sold out; there might have been fifteen empty seats in the whole place. And at least half of the audience appeared to be under the age of forty. Opera-going, in Minnesota at least, is clearly alive and well.
In other news, I'm once again showing disturbing signs of sprouting an actual social life. This must be stamped out, and quickly. I don't mean for it to happen, I swear... I'm just humming along and then all of a sudden I realize I've spent the last four evenings in a row hanging out with actual people until ungodly hours. What nonsense. Where do all these people come from, anyway, and what business do they have being so sweet and smart and fun to spend time with? Pfffft.
(Incidentally, I'm starting to work out the mathematical relationship between the uncomfortableness of the shoes I've chosen to wear, and the distance that the failure of the bus system will force me to walk in a given evening. If I'm wearing my comfiest, most broken-in mary jane heels, everything will go smoothly. If I'm wearing sexier, higher-heeled pumps, something will go wrong and I'll have to walk many blocks and change buses several times. If I'm wearing killer gorgeous sandal stilettos with the too-tight straps, I'll end up somewhere in a cornfield in Wisconsin with no battery in my cellphone and only a cow for companionship/assistance. Never fails. Does this stop me from wearing sexy heels? No. ...And please note that if someone decides now would be a good time to make a sexist joke, keep in mind that these stilletos reportedly also function admirably as a weapon of disembowelment.)
Anyway. Opera.
Was amusing. Totally fluffy, meaningless, kitschy, stereotypical, and over-the-top, but that's instrinsic to the score itself, and I thought this particular production was right to take that and run with it, even if sometimes it got a little stupid. The set looked a little bit like a popup book, and the direction was very Gilbert-and-Sullivan. I liked the costumes, except for Elvira's, which looked like it came off the the Halloween costume rack at Walgreen's.
As for the singers... Vivica Genaux has got to be one of the most physically beautiful mezzos currently living. No, really, she's drop-dead gorgeous. And she's a wonderful actress. I just wish I knew what to make of her totally weird vocal technique. She articulates runs by sticking in little 'v' things with her lips... and her jaw shakes likewoah when she's singing any kind of sustained note. See what I mean? It's incredibly distracting, and goes against almost everything I'm being told about keeping my jaw and lips relaxed. How does she do it? Are there other singers that do this? Any of the several people on my friendslist who know this stuff better than I do want to give me a clue?
I love rumbly bass villains, so I enjoyed Wojtek Gierlach's voice (incidentally, isn't that a wonderful name for a bass?), although he was a shameless ham as the Mustafà, too much so at times. Kenneth Tarver as Lindoro impressed me a lot with the beauty of his voice for the first ten minutes, and then all of a sudden he seemed to get tired, and for the rest of the evening all his high notes sounded like he was hurting himself trying to force them up. Painful to hear. Ow. Andrew Wilkowske was pretty good as Taddeo. Alison Bates made the annoying and thankless character of Elvira (really, Rossini, this is a Turkish name? WTF, dude?) even more annoying than it had to be, I thought... she's one of the MN Opera's Young Artists, so I think I remember her from a couple of comprimario parts in previous productions. It really seems like she has only one or two facial expressions, and both of them are peculiarly... rabbity. She also has fabulously penetrating high notes. So much so that, frankly, when she's singing in ensembles, you can't hear anyone else... and then when she's back down on the staff, you can't hear her. Oops.
Anyway. It was a good time, overall. One thing that made me happy was that the house was almost sold out; there might have been fifteen empty seats in the whole place. And at least half of the audience appeared to be under the age of forty. Opera-going, in Minnesota at least, is clearly alive and well.
In other news, I'm once again showing disturbing signs of sprouting an actual social life. This must be stamped out, and quickly. I don't mean for it to happen, I swear... I'm just humming along and then all of a sudden I realize I've spent the last four evenings in a row hanging out with actual people until ungodly hours. What nonsense. Where do all these people come from, anyway, and what business do they have being so sweet and smart and fun to spend time with? Pfffft.