Le Comte Ory tonight

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 4/2/11 at 11:47pm

Walked out of the Met all smiles tonight thanks to Bartlett Sher and company. The plot was silly and fun and the cast gave themselves over to the frivolity of it all. When I read in the program beforehand that Bartlett had turned it into a play within a play I was a little worried, but it worked very well and the concept never detracted from the piece.

Juan Diego Florez was charming and mischievous as the title character. Joyce DiDonato was great in the trouser role as the page, and Diana Damrau was absolutely winning as the countess. I saw Florez and Damrau last year in La Fille du Regiment and their chemistry has only continued to grow.

The bedroom trio they shared in act 2 was wonderful and they had the audience in the palm of their hands. They not only gave wonderful vocal performances, but acted the comedy with flair I rarely see at the opera. I liked all the gender bending that was going on in the bed. Bartlett clearly was having a lot of fun playing around with the different pairings. It was almost like he was letting the other characters know that DiDonato as the page was actually a woman playing a male (remember it's a play within a play) and she is being just as deceitful as Florez playing the count disguised as a nun.

I must make last special mention to Catherine Zuber's spot on costumes, especially the chorus outfits in act one. They reminded of something out of a fairytale. I don't know why, but they evoked the Lesley Ann Warren Cinderella to me, but that could be my own weirdness.

[uncageg]

Posted: 4/3/11 at 12:46am

I need to get to the Met once I am settled. I just went to look for balcony seats for this and it is sold out for the dates I was looking at. Thanks for posting your thoughts on the performance.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 4/3/11 at 8:27am

uncageg, I don't know if you're opposed to standing, but I'm sure you'd be able to get those tickets, even at the last minute. Whenever I go to the Met I always do the Family Circle standing room. It's only $19 and I think the sound is great up there. There is also standing room behind the orchestra; it's a few dollars more and I still think the sound carries better up top.

The standing room goes on sale when the box office opens, but I walked up at 7:35 last night and they still had spots available.

When I go to the theater alone I don't usually strike up conversations with strangers, but I have met some very interesting people in the standing room. The intermissions can be 20-30 min so there is a lot of downtime to sit and chat/read a book.