#26
Posted: 1/14/13 at 5:24pm
I knew PETER GRIMES well before I saw it live. (I had written a grad school paper on its dramatic structure.) But perhaps because I didn't have to work too hard to understand the text, I had an experience similar to that which Joey describes.
The music washed over me and I thought I was moved. Then I made it about 10 steps out the exit door before I began to sob uncontrollably for several minutes. That hasn't happened to me in too many musicals.
I'll also never forget Renata Scotto doing Desdemona's death scene with her head draped off the bed, literally singing at the top of her register while upside down. If that ain't acting, then I think we need to invent a word for it!
Finally, I want to pay tribute to Beverly Sills as head of the NYC Opera. They experimented with some of the lesser known works such as MARIA STUARDA and ANNA BOLEYNA, and did them as if they were musical dramas. (No current calls at the end of Act I!) The stagings were modern but not gimmicky, the excitement among the resident company was palpable and the audience was given a glimpse of what opera can be without a few of the unfortunate conventions it has a acquired along the way.
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newintown, very few musical theater numbers are like "A Weekend in the Country" and move the dramatic action forward with giant steps. Far more common are songs like "Now/Soon/Later" or "Send in the Clowns" where a great deal of singing about feelings is done in return for a tiny movement in the action.
Opera isn't all that different. True, MADAMA BUTTERFLY has an entire second act in which no one does anything, but that inaction is really active in its way because "waiting" is so germane to the story.
The music washed over me and I thought I was moved. Then I made it about 10 steps out the exit door before I began to sob uncontrollably for several minutes. That hasn't happened to me in too many musicals.
I'll also never forget Renata Scotto doing Desdemona's death scene with her head draped off the bed, literally singing at the top of her register while upside down. If that ain't acting, then I think we need to invent a word for it!
Finally, I want to pay tribute to Beverly Sills as head of the NYC Opera. They experimented with some of the lesser known works such as MARIA STUARDA and ANNA BOLEYNA, and did them as if they were musical dramas. (No current calls at the end of Act I!) The stagings were modern but not gimmicky, the excitement among the resident company was palpable and the audience was given a glimpse of what opera can be without a few of the unfortunate conventions it has a acquired along the way.
***
newintown, very few musical theater numbers are like "A Weekend in the Country" and move the dramatic action forward with giant steps. Far more common are songs like "Now/Soon/Later" or "Send in the Clowns" where a great deal of singing about feelings is done in return for a tiny movement in the action.
Opera isn't all that different. True, MADAMA BUTTERFLY has an entire second act in which no one does anything, but that inaction is really active in its way because "waiting" is so germane to the story.
Updated On: 1/14/13 at 05:24 PM
