Mtropolitan Opera Instead of Broadway- Page 3

[Mooo]

Posted: 1/17/07 at 6:59am

The Met production is no relation to the SF Opera production. It was put together by the Piazza creative team.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 1/17/07 at 1:18pm

MMajer: The original Nixon was, I think, supposed to be stagnant -- the director (and I could be wrong, but I think it was Sellars) was approaching the characters as monuments and statues, which is what makes Pat Nixon's interference into the ballet so wonderfully bizarre. But I love that final scene of the four beds: amazing stagework.

Fenchurch: I'd dearly, dearly love to see Menotti's The Last Savage, which premiered at the Met in 1962. I've heard a few things from it, which are absolutely charming, and the story, especially the ending, is wonderful. As far as I know, the score isnt published, which is a shame, but there's a children's book version that was written by Menotti and illustrated by Ben Montressor, who did the set and costume designs for the original production. You can find it sometimes on eBay.

[Eos]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 1:34am

Just a quick update- I just got back from "La Traviata". Beautiful score with some really haunting arias. Thanks for everyone's suggestions! (Although I've decided to see "The Mikado" as well.)
Here's to the Opera Theatre of St. Louis for a job well done!

[Fenchurch]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 1:54am

Seanmartin, I've never heard of the Last savage, and now I'm intrigued. Several of his arias from Goya are included on the new American Aria book that Schirmer just put out, along with some excellent aria's from Daniel Catan's Florencia en el Amazonas and Rappacini's Daughter.

The forbidden site (lambada.com?) has several clips of Domingo singing from Goya, interesting stuff.

[AC126748]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 7:55am

Anyone have other ideas of favorite opera in English?

Personal favorites of mine include:

SUSANNAH by Carlisle Floyd
PETER GRIMES by Benjamin Britten
THE RAKE'S PROGRESS by Igor Stravinsky
WUTHERING HEIGHTS by Bernard Hermann (beautiful music, criminally underrated)
VANESSA by Samuel Barber

Great modern works:
AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY (best new opera in 20 years easily)
COLD SASSY TREE
A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE
DEAD MAN WALKING
THE GREAT GATSBY (not great, but certainly commendable)
THE END OF THE AFFAIR

And basically every opera Fenchurch mentioned. Your taste is impeccable!

[keen on kean]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 11:35am

I love Peter Grimes but I am nervous about seeing anyone other than Jon Vickers in the title role. But John Doyle is directing the production next season so I'll have to get used to the idea.

I am a huge fan of Billy Budd. The MET production is overwhelming. At one point the stage elevator rises and you can see all the levels of the English warship, as though in cross section. I saw Peter Pears as Vere, and also Graham Clarke, who was an astonishing singer and actor in the role.

I didn't care much for GATSBY but thought Dwayne Croft was fabulous. I tend to appreciate singers who are good actors, and Croft is that.

[jochang621]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 12:02pm

Did anyone notice that for Barber of Seville, the sets looked awfully familiar as the same doors for the rooms used in Awake and Sing? Awake and Sing was also directed by Sher - I may be wrong about the doors, but was wondering if anyone else noticed that as well.

Juan Diego Florez was amazing in Barber. His voice was like opera pyrotechnics.

[misschung]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 12:08pm

Isn't Doyle working on Peter Grimes? I will be one happy girl if I get to see that.


I also recommend Carmen if you're new to opera, that's one of my favorites

[Fenchurch]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 12:14pm

Neil Schicoff and Anthony Dean Griffey (who was phenomenal in Of Mice and Men) are going to split playing Peter Grimes, I can't imagine anything better than those two.

JOn Vickers/Pears were great singers, but I have to defer to what Ian Bostridge said in opera news recently, which is that people just don't sing like that anymore.

[antonijan]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 12:36pm

this might belong to another thread but have you seen or heard of a cross-over from singers from Opera to Broadway Musical and vice versa?

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 1:36pm

Wow, thanks for bumping this thread. I wish I had found it last semester as I embarked on my first opera.

Though amusingly enough, my first opera also ended up being La Traviata, and I too loved it. I sat in the balcony box for $16, and then the chandeliers rose above me, and our optional subtitle boxes...it was just magical. The aria at the end of act 1 was breathtaking, and it was fun finding where Moulin Rouge got some points from in this opera.

It's funny, at first I didn't realize this was an old thread, and I kept checking the Met website and couldn't find this La Boheme you all were talking about...

But on another note, I did find La Boheme next week at the Met at the Park. Has anyone attended any of these park performances? What are they like? Would you recommend them? Are they anything like Shakespeare in the park where I have to show up hours before if I want to get in?

[keen on kean]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 2:00pm

Fenchurch - I love Neil Shicoff but in the interests of full disclosure, I have not had a very good track record of having him show up when I have tickets for his performances. And I can't really picture him as Grimes - I don't have my tickets yet, so I don't know who is singing my night.

I wonder if Doyle will change the "dark scene" - as currently played at the MET, when Grimes is alone and tormented by the voices, all of the lights in the house are turned off (except the exit signs) including the orchestra's. It is the eeriest thing, especially if you are seated up high, to have the entire auditorium that dark. I hope that is preserved.

[jochang621]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 2:05pm

one crossover: kristin chenoweth

[misschung]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 2:06pm

Kean - do you know the dates for Grimes? I have not seen that, only heard it, but I'm hoping and expecting that Doyle's adaptation will be great. I have only seen his work in Company, unfortunately

[AC126748]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 3:27pm

I think Griffey is perfect for GRIMES and I wish he was doing the entire run. Shicoff always leaves me cold--vocally perfect but boring as hell. He sings with no passion. Just listen to his Luigi on the recording of IL TABARRO. Either way, I'll take any chance I get to see Patricia Racette, and she pretty much owns Ellen Orford right now.

Another future crossover is Audra McDonald, who's doing DR. ATOMIC in two seasons.

Updated On: 6/2/07 at 03:27 PM

[keen on kean]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 3:41pm

Grimes premieres on February 28, 2008, with additional performances on March 3, 7, 11, 15 (mat), 20, and 24.

Shicoff also seems physically small for the part, as I have a mental image of Grimes carrying in the body of the apprentice. It is impressive when the Grimes is a big hulking man, as Vickers was. Updated On: 6/2/07 at 03:41 PM

[GClef2]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 3:41pm

Keep your eyes and ears open for Diana Damrau...she will be singing Pamina AND The Queen of the Night on alternating nights in the up coming season at the Met. Reveiwers have called her the perfect queen of the night. Her coleratura is STUNNING and she looks like a young meryl streep.

[GClef2]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 3:43pm

Oh and I must add that I just saw a recent production of Der Rosenkavalier by Strauss and it is quickly becoming one of my favorites.

another beautiful one to watch out for is The Ballad of Baby Doe.

[AC126748]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 3:43pm

Yeah, go to the forbidden site and watch her "Der holle rache". It's incredible. She's the best dramatic coloratura alive.

[AC126748]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 3:46pm

Anthony Dean Griffey, on the other hand, is definitely a big guy, Keen.

[keen on kean]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 3:52pm

I notice that the MET subscription brochure used a photo of Griffey to illustrate the new peoduction of Grimes, too. Definitely fits the part physically! His name is familiar but I can't recall if I have ever seen him. I do recall the good reviews he got for OF MICE AND MEN.

You know, the more I think about the MET orchestra and chorus in GRIMES, the more excited I get to see this. I must have seen Vickers a good 20 years ago!