Nixon in China?
Nixon in China?
romgitsean
Broadway Star Joined: 4/7/08
#1Nixon in China?
Posted: 2/18/11 at 5:07pmSo, I saw some ads for it...gotta say it looks pretty ridiculous. Beautifully staged...but ridiculous. Has anyone seen this?
Recent Broadway and Off-Broadway:: Carrie, Merrily, Ionescopade
Next On The List :: Clybourne Park, Once, Streetcar, BOM
Next On The List :: Clybourne Park, Once, Streetcar, BOM
#2Nixon in China?
Posted: 2/18/11 at 5:18pm
Ridiculous in what way? Its a modern opera based on contemporary subject matter but while parts of it are over the top - its no more ridiculous a concept than say EVITA or FELA and in execution is often just as thrilling.
The production at the MET is excellent. It was a treat seeing John Adamas conduct his own opera and the principal performances (especially Janis Kelly who also does a lot of musical theatre in the UK) were all outstanding.
If you are curious about the opera itself, the original production 25 years ago in Houston (that this production is based on) was broadcast on PBS and is available to watch on youtuble
#2Nixon in China?
Posted: 2/18/11 at 5:19pmI saw the original production in the 80s, which was televised on PBS. It is an extraordinary piece of work. It was the inaugural performance for the Wortham Theatre Center in Houston and the Houston Grand Opera's production of it was epic and I believe it is considered something of a milestone in contemporary opera.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
#3Nixon in China?
Posted: 2/19/11 at 5:00amAgreed. It's a brilliant piece. It's one of the few modern operas to enter the standard repetory world-wide.
Faced with these Loreleis, what man can moralize!
#4Nixon in China?
Posted: 2/19/11 at 11:11am
can't wait to see it tonight.
It's a little bit historic that John Adams is conducting this himself.
#5Nixon in China?
Posted: 2/19/11 at 11:51amI'm seeing it tonight, too.
Cheyenne Jackson tickled me. AFTER ordering SoMMS a drink but NOT tickling him, and hanging out with Girly in his dressing room (where he DIDN'T tickle her) but BEFORE we got married. To others. And then he tweeted Boobs. He also tweeted he's good friends with some chick on "The Voice" who just happens to be good friends with Tink's ex. And I'm still married. Oh, and this just in: "Pettiness, spite, malice ....Such ugly emotions... So sad." - After Eight, talking about MEEEEEEEE!!! I'm so honored! :-)
#6Nixon in China?
Posted: 2/19/11 at 12:48pm
I've met the librettist - one of the loveliest ladies you could ever meet. Thrilled by the renewed interest in the piece.
Updated On: 2/20/11 at 12:48 PM
#7Nixon in China?
Posted: 2/19/11 at 12:53pm
Nixon in China is being presented by the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto this month, as well.
http://www.coc.ca/PerformancesAndTickets/1011Season/NixonInChina.aspx
Coach Bob knew it all along: you've got to get obsessed and stay obsessed. You have to keep passing the open windows. (John Irving, The Hotel New Hampshire)
#8Nixon in China?
Posted: 2/20/11 at 8:35am
HistoryBoy2, Alice Goodman's libretto for Nixon in China is the BEST libretto I have encountered in opera, certainly in the English language. So many moments remain riveted in my memory because of her words - the scene with Richard and Pat before they attend the banquet, his nostalgia for his youth as he sits on the bed, the brilliant long scene with Nixon, Mao and Henry Kissinger. It's all genius.
In this great opera the words are the equal of the music and that's saying something.
Faced with these Loreleis, what man can moralize!
PitPro2004
Broadway Star Joined: 2/15/04
#9Nixon in China?
Posted: 2/20/11 at 10:21amI listened to this courtesy of Sirius Satellite last weekend and was blown away by the vocals. Yeah, it's a bit...um...out there, but it's worth every minute!!
"Sticks and stones, sister. Here, have a Valium!"
#10Nixon in China?
Posted: 2/20/11 at 11:08amIt's a thrilling concept, and I appreciate the work, but I can't call it one of my favorites. I'm more at home with Carlisle Floyd.
#11Nixon in China?
Posted: 2/20/11 at 11:39amI saw it last week. It was friggin awesome.... it actually gave me nightmares i was so haunted by it. And yeah, it was epic seeing John Adams conduct his own opera.... imagine saying you saw Wagner conduct the ring cycle... unbelievable.....
iluvtheatertrash
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/9/04
#12Nixon in China?
Posted: 2/20/11 at 11:51amHow was 'This is Prophetic'? The show-stopper it's meant to be?
"I know now that theatre saved my life." - Susan Stroman
#13Nixon in China?
Posted: 2/20/11 at 11:56am
oh my gosh. YES.
PS you can youtube the PBS version from the 80's... it's on there... it's the main reason I decided to go. I heard that lush music and I was like ... damn I betta check that out at the MET. I checked out his other music too. Now I'm a huge John Adams fan, I have to say... he also wrote this piece for 9/11 which he won a pulizter for.... he's pretty epic. I've decided.
#14Nixon in China?
Posted: 2/20/11 at 5:47pm
If anyone is interested, some first night reviews can be found here:
http://familycircle.typepad.com/family-circle/2011/02/nixon-in-china-at-the-metropolitan-opera-first-night-reviews.html
#15Nixon in China?
Posted: 2/20/11 at 7:29pmIt's worth seeing just to hear Adams conduct the score, but the cast the Met has assembled is top-notch. Kathleen Kim, a young soprano who's been on the rise at the Met these last few seasons, sings the S-H-I-T out of Madame Mao.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
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