Audra McDonald at Houston grand opera

[helloagain]

Posted: 2/24/06 at 4:08pm

I decided to start a new thread on this, I’m flying into Houston next month to see this double bill, La vox, and the Michel john LaChuisa opera Send.
I’m a big Michel john fan, and a huge Audra fan

Has any one herd anything about this? I took a chance and decided to go.
Thanx

[children&art]

Posted: 2/24/06 at 4:30pm

im going, march 12th - i cant wait!

[helloagain]

Posted: 2/24/06 at 4:45pm

I've herd it's almost completly sold out
Updated On: 2/24/06 at 04:45 PM

[Caroline-Q-or-TBoo]

Posted: 2/24/06 at 8:04pm

i'm supposed to be going!

but than again, i was SUPPOSED to be going to the Strokes... which never happened. DAMNIT

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 2/24/06 at 11:19pm

I know Ted Sperling is directing, and his Direction of SEE WHAT I WANNA SEE was terrific!

[neomystyk29]

Posted: 2/24/06 at 11:22pm

It seems so often that even living near New York you get the shaft more times than not.

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 2/25/06 at 12:49am

And there are sort of weird complications in taking it to other cities, which makes me unhappy.

[iliketheater]

Posted: 2/25/06 at 3:25am

I'm so jealous of you who get to see this! I haven't read any official reviews, but IMO anything Audra (or MJL for that matter) is fantastic. Enjoy the show & be sure to post your review!

[Nothatsmrt]

Posted: 3/7/06 at 11:33am

I've been reading Audra's rehearsal blog on operanews.com, so I was eager to hear how opening night went. This is the only review I've seen so far:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/3704689.html

Has anyone else read anything? Anyone at opening night?

[BSoBW3]

Posted: 3/7/06 at 11:42am

houstongrandopera.org has a few video clips.

[RustyRocketteBoy]

Posted: 3/7/06 at 1:14pm

wow, not that great of a review....

[JBSinger]

Posted: 3/7/06 at 2:49pm

Review at this link.
Just copy and paste into browser:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/3704689.html

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 3/7/06 at 2:54pm

ummm...that's the same review as above.

That's interesting. I wonder what his background is. He went in to review an opera and the only issues he had were the acting of the piece. It's not really detailed either. I wonder how big this guy is in Houston. Is he the big reviewer? ANyone from Texas know?

Updated On: 3/7/06 at 02:54 PM

Posted: 3/7/06 at 3:03pm

Yep---he is THE reveiwer in Houston. Houston use to have 2 major papers, but one folded so Charles Ward does all the major music events. He is usually pretty right on, so having not seen this, I would not take to much of what he said as wrong.

[zbigner]

Posted: 3/7/06 at 6:14pm

Ward is the classical music reviewer, but they have another person who does theatre reviews. I would be curious to know how the theatre critic sees things although I doubt they will publish a 2nd review. It seemed like this review had a slight air of snobbishness about it. It was kind of like "how dare these Broadway people try to do opera."

That doesn't mean he's not accurate, but it could be a case of a critic reviewing what they thought should have been done instead of reviewing what was actually done. I'm seeing the Sunday matinee, so I'll chime back in with my opinion after that. I was also surprised to read that the house was not close to full. Even without big promotion, they should have been able to see a bunch of tickets to their large subscriber base.

[gustof777]

Posted: 3/7/06 at 6:58pm

Gosh I wish I could see this! Audra is soo amazing and if Texans can't appreciate an evening w/her i know TONS of us in Chicago seriously craving some Audra!

[apdarcey]

Posted: 3/7/06 at 7:08pm

zbinger, i'm going to have to disagree with you. the reviewer was a lot more positive towards lachiusa's work than poulenc's. he said that they put a lot more thought and effort into his work and that it deserves a better life than poulenc's. so he's doubting the standarad by an opera name and applauding the new work from a broadway talent.

[zbigner]

Posted: 3/7/06 at 7:28pm

You have a point. I guess I took it like he was saying this is good for the theatre, but it's not good enough for the opera house. Maybe I'm overly sensitive. The review was so short it's kind of hard to tell what he thought of Audra's performance itself which is really the reason for the whole deal.

I wouldn't be surprised if he wrote a longer review, and it got edited significantly for space. I'll try to check my paper to see if the printed version has more information.

[zbigner]

Posted: 3/12/06 at 7:40pm

Well, I'm just back from today's matinee, and now I understand exactly what the Chronicle reviewer meant. I felt like I had gone to watch Barry Bonds play, and the other team kept pitching around him, so I never got to see him really swing the bat. Nothing in the performance made me doubt that I was seeing one of the greatest performers of her generation, but I couldn't help but think that she didn't have much to work with.

This was especially true in the Poulenc piece. I will admit that I'm not an opera buff, but I just didn't get it. This woman has a 45 minute phone conversation with a man who just dumped her? Did I miss something?

The LaChiusa piece was actually quite good once they got the sound adjusted so you could hear Audra over the orchestra. It allowed her to show a much greater range of emotions and use her acting ability. The unfortunate irony is that having this piece first highlighted the shortcomings of the Poulenc.

For those who might be thinking of coming to the show, there were plenty of empty seats, and I think they may even have some discount tickets for some shows. If you do come to see Audra, I would highly recommend making time to see Journey's End as the Alley Theatre across the street. I don't think you will see a better set of performances anywhere this year.

For those who asked, they are recording the performance for NPR's World of Opera.

[BSoBW3]

Posted: 3/12/06 at 8:01pm

"For those who asked, they are recording the performance for NPR's World of Opera."

Tha nks for the info. Is that the same they did with her Seven Deadly Sins Concert? IE: you can only use real player?

Glad to hear the LaChiusa piece is good.