Handel's "Theodora" was beautifully sung and played on Saturday evening - not for nothing did Handel consider it his finest piece. However, the plot is pretty silly
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i request more of these kind of posts...that way i A) don't have to go watch opera but B) can still pretend like i do becuz i know the plot lines. Bwahahahahaha.
Hee, I'll be happy to oblige. I ought to do "Coriolanus" next, which, while a play and neither oratorio nor opera, is still plenty silly enough to do well in this format :D
YES. You must do this. I had to read "Coriolanus" while I was an undergrad, and I still resent it, all these years later. (Hey, I LIKE Shakespeare and I think "Coriolanus" is ridiculous.)
For heaven's sake, there's so much GOOD Shakespeare? Why do they make us read "Coriolanus" and "Titus Andronicus?" I'm imagining the climactic scene of Cor thus:
Volumnia: Spare Rome for you bland wife and son!
Coriolanus: No way.
Volumnia: Spare Rome FOR ME!
Coriolanus: (twitches) I said, "No way."
Volumnia: DAMN IT!
Coriolanus: Okay, okay, mom. Jeez!
Volscians: Thanks for nothing, asshole! *stabs him*
D: I like "Titus Andronicus." Er... mostly because it's so cracky, and my prof was keen on Shakespeare movies and we watched the version with Sir Anthony Hopkins and it was awesome. I like how he kills the bitch and her hubby at the end after killing her sons. Whoo!
Though, the whole "let me kill my daughter to save my honor" kinda sucks. In a that-was-the-way-it-was-back-then way.
Man, I just knew that was going to get me into trouble. ~rueful~
But yes, okay, it's a lot more fun when you fully appreciate the sheer crackiness of it. I think it was Harold Bloom who suggested that the ideal director for "Titus" would be Mel Brooks.
Which, come to think of it, would be pretty amusing.
Hehe, oh, you're not in trouble. I was just sayin'. It has its pros as well as cons.
Then again, our prof made us watch a version of "Hamlet" in Swedish, I think, with the lead played by a woman. I learned quickly to find redeeming qualities in almost anything. :D
I generally think Harold Bloom is something of a sanctimonious jerk who thinks that everyone should have the same taste as he does, but I kind of love his "Titus" idea. Well played, sir, and well quoted madam!
I have the same opinion of Bloom (his stance against popular literature is just embarrassing), but this is one case where he really has the right idea. I'd giggle mightily at a Mel Brooks version of "Titus."
I've a certain fondness for the Reduced Shakespere Co.'s take on Titus by doing it as a cooking show. Well, that's actually a bit inaccruate, they did it as *Julia Child's* cooking show.
One prof did have an excellent reason for assigning "Titus," but only because he also assigned "The Spanish Tragedy." The other was just dumb. This was the guy who announced that Shakespeare could never be truly appreciated just by seeing it performed- you had to READ it. Would have been funny if he weren't serious.
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Volumnia: Spare Rome for you bland wife and son!
Coriolanus: No way.
Volumnia: Spare Rome FOR ME!
Coriolanus: (twitches) I said, "No way."
Volumnia: DAMN IT!
Coriolanus: Okay, okay, mom. Jeez!
Volscians: Thanks for nothing, asshole! *stabs him*
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Oh, how I wish you'd been in my Classical Republicanism class...
(And there is no good reason to inflict "Titus Andronicus" on anybody. None.)
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D: I like "Titus Andronicus." Er... mostly because it's so cracky, and my prof was keen on Shakespeare movies and we watched the version with Sir Anthony Hopkins and it was awesome. I like how he kills the bitch and her hubby at the end after killing her sons. Whoo!
Though, the whole "let me kill my daughter to save my honor" kinda sucks. In a that-was-the-way-it-was-back-then way.
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But yes, okay, it's a lot more fun when you fully appreciate the sheer crackiness of it. I think it was Harold Bloom who suggested that the ideal director for "Titus" would be Mel Brooks.
Which, come to think of it, would be pretty amusing.
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Then again, our prof made us watch a version of "Hamlet" in Swedish, I think, with the lead played by a woman. I learned quickly to find redeeming qualities in almost anything. :D
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I have the same opinion of Bloom (his stance against popular literature is just embarrassing), but this is one case where he really has the right idea. I'd giggle mightily at a Mel Brooks version of "Titus."
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