Il dolce suono
Tonight I saw "Lucia di Lammermoor" (Donizetti) at McCaw Hall. I have to say, I really enjoyed it. I don't think I've seen any other of Donizetti's operas, and I only really knew the one aria. (Ahem. I felt a little silly when I realized that I knew the famous "mad scene" aria from the movie "The 5th Element." But hey, at least when I first saw the movie, I knew it for a real aria, even if I didn't know which opera it was from.) I went with Lara, since Mr. Sweetie is in Columbus at World Fantasy. I *was* going to World Fantasy this year as well, but with the sudden plane fare payout in September, it just felt like I couldn't afford it after all. So instead I got to see a famous opera that I'd never seen before, with one of my best friends. OK, that works for me.
The evening began as a comedy of errors, perpetrated by me, as I'd prepared ever-so-diligently ahead of time, so I could change at work and go directly to Belltown. Er, except there's one very important element one must always remember to bring when one is going to attend a performance of this type: tickets. Well, crap. It's so ridiculous, because usually I'm the one saying to everyone "You have the tickets, right?" and I'm the one who has the litany of lists I say to myself as I exit the door in the morning, or any time. And yet, at 515, I realized that I forgot the tickets at home. So I raced (as much as anyone *can* race in 4 inch heeled awesome boots that are not so much made for the racing) to my car, and raced home, mildly breaking speed laws, and raced back, except for when I was stuck sitting in traffic, texting (only when sitting at red lights or stuck not moving) Lara all the while saying, hey, go ahead and eat without me, oh, sure, order me some phad thai, um, I'm still 5 blocks away but I'll be there Real Soon Now (tm). Luckily, I remembered about the tickets at 515, and not later than, so I did actually get to the restaurant in time to eat something and relax a little before we headed over to the concert hall.
The plot is your standard tragedy opera plot, with crossed lovers, a forced marriage, misunderstandings, madness, and bloody death. With a ghost thrown in for good measure (a nice Halloween-y addition). The music has an odd tendency to go into major descending third arpeggios when any given soloist is declaring how very, very unhappy or frightened or upset they are, which I found disconcerting. Oh, we're sad now? So why the happy music? At least for the first two-thirds of the opera, anyway. And I have to agree with Robin McKinley, who at some point said that Lucia is possibly the wettest of all wet heroines in the opera business. But she does have the best mad scene EVAH, so now I understand why it's Ms. McKinley's favorite opera (I think. if memory serves.) I don't think it's my favorite, but I do think it's my favorite operatic mad scene I've witnessed thus far. And considering how many operas use the "Heroine/female protag is forced to be unhappy, and therefore goes MAD" playbook, there are a lot to choose from.
The cast and musicians did an AWESOME job. I did feel that the orchestra had a tendency to drown out some of the soloists in the big chorus numbers, which I think they might want to watch, but that only came up occasionally. And the singers - we had the 2nd cast, I think. They were wonderful. Gorgeous voices. The staging was great for the most part, and I can't really quibble with their choices. Oh, except for one unintentionally funny part in the beginning, where the brother Enrico is pissed in general and rips the bible from the priest's hand saying "Don't speak to me of mercy" or something, and then the priest kneels down to pick it up and Enrico pushes him and kicks the book away. Well, in theory. In practice it looks like they had a playground spat over the bible, and then Enrico kind of stomps on/pouty kicks the bible. I think maybe they were too close to the front of the stage or something. I leaned over and whispered "Did he just kick the bible?" Yep, looks that way. I also thought it was kind of hysterical that while the men are singing about how Lucia had better not be sneaking around with Edgardo, all facing front and shouty, Lucia sort of skirts around the back of them and runs behind them out the gate. I snorted. It was funny.
The low-key ghost thing was sort of corny at the beginning, but got full-on creepy at the end, so I give full props for that. And I really liked the mist blowing effect they had over the front screen. All in all, I'd say it was a very good production. Lara and I had a good time, and spent the intermissions debating other good and not-so-good productions of other operas, and randomly got the woman in front of us involved in the discussion, which was kind of neat. And I ate a brownie, because they have really awesome brownies for sale at these things. Mmmmm, brownie.
Now it is late, and I must hie me off to sleep. Rather. The cats think so, too.
The evening began as a comedy of errors, perpetrated by me, as I'd prepared ever-so-diligently ahead of time, so I could change at work and go directly to Belltown. Er, except there's one very important element one must always remember to bring when one is going to attend a performance of this type: tickets. Well, crap. It's so ridiculous, because usually I'm the one saying to everyone "You have the tickets, right?" and I'm the one who has the litany of lists I say to myself as I exit the door in the morning, or any time. And yet, at 515, I realized that I forgot the tickets at home. So I raced (as much as anyone *can* race in 4 inch heeled awesome boots that are not so much made for the racing) to my car, and raced home, mildly breaking speed laws, and raced back, except for when I was stuck sitting in traffic, texting (only when sitting at red lights or stuck not moving) Lara all the while saying, hey, go ahead and eat without me, oh, sure, order me some phad thai, um, I'm still 5 blocks away but I'll be there Real Soon Now (tm). Luckily, I remembered about the tickets at 515, and not later than, so I did actually get to the restaurant in time to eat something and relax a little before we headed over to the concert hall.
The plot is your standard tragedy opera plot, with crossed lovers, a forced marriage, misunderstandings, madness, and bloody death. With a ghost thrown in for good measure (a nice Halloween-y addition). The music has an odd tendency to go into major descending third arpeggios when any given soloist is declaring how very, very unhappy or frightened or upset they are, which I found disconcerting. Oh, we're sad now? So why the happy music? At least for the first two-thirds of the opera, anyway. And I have to agree with Robin McKinley, who at some point said that Lucia is possibly the wettest of all wet heroines in the opera business. But she does have the best mad scene EVAH, so now I understand why it's Ms. McKinley's favorite opera (I think. if memory serves.) I don't think it's my favorite, but I do think it's my favorite operatic mad scene I've witnessed thus far. And considering how many operas use the "Heroine/female protag is forced to be unhappy, and therefore goes MAD" playbook, there are a lot to choose from.
The cast and musicians did an AWESOME job. I did feel that the orchestra had a tendency to drown out some of the soloists in the big chorus numbers, which I think they might want to watch, but that only came up occasionally. And the singers - we had the 2nd cast, I think. They were wonderful. Gorgeous voices. The staging was great for the most part, and I can't really quibble with their choices. Oh, except for one unintentionally funny part in the beginning, where the brother Enrico is pissed in general and rips the bible from the priest's hand saying "Don't speak to me of mercy" or something, and then the priest kneels down to pick it up and Enrico pushes him and kicks the book away. Well, in theory. In practice it looks like they had a playground spat over the bible, and then Enrico kind of stomps on/pouty kicks the bible. I think maybe they were too close to the front of the stage or something. I leaned over and whispered "Did he just kick the bible?" Yep, looks that way. I also thought it was kind of hysterical that while the men are singing about how Lucia had better not be sneaking around with Edgardo, all facing front and shouty, Lucia sort of skirts around the back of them and runs behind them out the gate. I snorted. It was funny.
The low-key ghost thing was sort of corny at the beginning, but got full-on creepy at the end, so I give full props for that. And I really liked the mist blowing effect they had over the front screen. All in all, I'd say it was a very good production. Lara and I had a good time, and spent the intermissions debating other good and not-so-good productions of other operas, and randomly got the woman in front of us involved in the discussion, which was kind of neat. And I ate a brownie, because they have really awesome brownies for sale at these things. Mmmmm, brownie.
Now it is late, and I must hie me off to sleep. Rather. The cats think so, too.