Tag: Charles Theater

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Verdi hits the jackpot in Vegas

Last Saturday, I attended the Metropolitan Opera’s HD broadcast of Rigoletto at the Charles Theater. I was delighted to see that there wasn’t an empty seat in the room and the audience demographic ranged from high school to retirement age. As a fan of Rat Pack-era design, I was pretty excited about seeing this production, which is set in early 1960’s Las Vegas, and it not only met my expectations, it exceeded them.

The cast is fabulous, both vocally and theatrically. Piotr Beczala is so suave and charming as the Duke that one could easily see why all of the women in Mantua – er, Vegas – would fall for him. Diana Damrau is lovely as the pure, innocent Gilda, who longs to be a good daughter to her father, yet also wishes to be loved as a woman. Zelko Lucic’s Rigoletto is tragic, yet never pathetic, even when his desire for revenge leads to disaster.

Some theater-goers aren’t fans of “concept” productions –  stagings that remove a piece from its original setting and/or historical context. I think they can be great as long as the concept is well thought out and has something to do with the plot and characters of the show. That said, I very much dislike the fact that some critics seem to believe updating certain theatrical genres (usually opera or Shakespeare) should practically be mandatory. When a review dismisses a production merely for being “traditional”, I roll my eyes.

The Met’s Rat Pack Rigoletto succeeds because it’s as strong musically as it is theatrically; as such, the drastic change of setting and period seems daring rather than gimmicky. Visually, it’s a stunningly beautiful show. Many members of the production staff, notably stage director Michael Mayer, set designer Christine Jones, and costumer Susan Hilferty, have considerable experience working on Broadway, yet the flashy staging doesn’t take away from Verdi’s music for a moment. Rigoletto runs through May 1 at the Met, but just two performances featuring the aforementioned cast remain.

Here’s Piotr Beczala singing Questa o Quella in Act 1 of Rigoletto. 

metvegasrigoletto

 

 

 

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Une Voyageuse Fabuleux

 

 

The Charles Theater is presenting The Metropolitan Opera’s live HD broadcast of Massenet’s Manon tomorrow & I’ll be on hand to greet audience members, hand out “swag”, & enjoy the show. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday, right? It gets better. Sara Stewart, a wonderful, talented woman who’s a member of the Met’s regular chorus  – & a longtime friend of Jim’s & mine – has a solo in this opera.

We first met Sara during Young Victorian Theatre Company’s 2001 production of  H.M.S. Pinafore. If you saw that show, Sara was Josephine, I was Cousin Hebe, & Jim was The Handsome Dark-Haired Guy in the Chorus. Jim & I know a lot of extremely talented singers, but even so, Sara’s voice always impressed us. We’re all too aware that there are no guarantees in any business, especially in the arts, yet we (& many others) had a feeling she’d go on to do great things.

From 2002-2009, Sara & I sang in the Baltimore Opera Chorus together; she also had several small roles with the company during that time. In 2009, Baltimore Opera went bankrupt, which was devastating to everyone who’d worked there, both artistically & financially, but far more so to someone at Sara’s level.

In 2010, Sara announced that she’d auditioned for the regular chorus at the Metropolitan Opera… & that she’d gotten the job! To put this in perspective: if you’re a professional opera chorister, the Met is the best gig in the country. It’s the only company I know of at which such work pays enough to make a living – no office job, teaching, retail, or restaurant work required. Compensation aside, hello, it’s the Met.

Once a season, the Met, like other professional companies, has auditions for chorus members who wish to be considered for small roles. The character Sara is portraying in Manon is referred to simply as “Une Voyageuse” in the score, but Ms. Stewart, with the sense of humor I recall so well from our many productions together, has re-named her “La Voyageuse avec les Oiseaux Morts.” Apparently the props department has given her a birdcage to tote around the stage & its fine, feathered inhabitants are on their backs at the bottom of said cage. I do hope the “deceased” critters are clearly visible on the big screen tomorrow!

Singing in the Met Chorus is nice work if you can get it, true, but it’s also hard work, & the schedule can be somewhat erratic. One’s workload during a given week depends largely on casting. No chorus member sings in every show that happens in the season. Some operas have no chorus, others just men, others a smaller chorus. The small chorus operas get divided up among the regular choristers so that the work/pay is fairly close to even. Staging rehearsals typically begin at 10 or 10:30AM, with more music or staging work possible in the afternoon; the rehearsal day typically ends around 5PM. If a singer is in rehearsal for one show & simultaneously performing in another, which is not uncommon, they will need to be back at the theater around 7PM. The Met presents 7 performances a week, Monday through Friday and two on Saturday; there are usually four productions running concurrently. In Sara’s words, “Bottom line, it takes a master’s degree just to understand the schedule!”

Bravissima, Sara; we are so proud of you & can’t wait to catch your performance on the big screen tomorrow! For those who are planning to join us at The Charles, we’ll be there at 11AM; the opera begins at 12 Noon.

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Opera on-screen!

While skimming friends’ Facebook posts this morning, I came across a few comments relating to Placido Domingo & Stephen Colbert having sung Verdi’s La Donna e Mobile on last night’s “Colbert Report.” Having missed the broadcast, I immediately Googled the performance & was delighted with the video I found. Both men sound great & look as if they’re having a blast! Of course, I was well aware of Mr. Domingo’s musical credentials,  but not of Mr. Colbert’s. Turns out he majored in theater at Northwestern University & originally intended to perform on the stage, not the small screen. He also performed in Stephen Sondheim’s “Company” at Lincoln Center last year – at the composer’s invitation! You can read more about that adventure here:   http://www.npr.org/2011/06/14/137109384/stephen-colbert-in-good-company-on-broadway

I’ve posted before about all of the hand-wringing in the opera biz re: the future of the art form & am sure I will do so again. It’s not unjustified, but I think perhaps it gets out of hand (or at least is handled poorly) on occasion. Judging from the studio audience’s reaction to Mr. Domingo’s & Mr. Colbert’s performance,  opera isn’t dead yet. If pop culture audiences were exposed to more opera, would they actually buy tickets to live performances? Hmm.

Speaking of opera in a pop culture venue, Jonathan Palevsky & I will be at the Charles Theater tomorrow to welcome the audience for the Met’s Live in HD broadcast of Verdi’s “Ernani.” Showtime is 12:55 pm; hope to see you there!

To see the video of “La Donna e Mobile”, visit www.colbertnation.com

 

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Adventures of a Mezzo in Manhattan

Greetings! It’s great to be back on the air. Jim & I took a trip to New York over the weekend, mostly to see Verdi’s Ernani at the Metropolitan Opera. We also got to visit with several friends, one of whom sings in the Met chorus (local opera fans may remember her: Sara Stewart, soprano extraordinaire.) Dating from 1844, Ernani is early Verdi  – the 5th of his 28 operas, to be exact – & is based on Victor Hugo’s drama Hernani, ou L’Honneur Castillan.  The opera anticipates Il Trovatore  not only in terms of plot (historic setting, doomed lovers, etc.) but also in its energetic melodies. Of course, Verdi’s writing for the voice was always exquisite; to my mind, the musical highlight of this performance was Dmitri Hvorostovsky’s stunning rendition of the Act 3 cavatina, Oh, di verd’anni miei (“Oh, the dreams & deceits of my youth.”) Overall, however, the strongest performance of the evening came from Ferruccio Furlanetto as Don Ruy Gomez de Silva, an aging Spanish grandee. Silva isn’t the most sympathetic character – among other things, he’s plotting a forced marriage to his niece, Elvira – but Furlanetto’s marvelous voice & top-notch acting kept him from turning into a cartoon villain, even for a second. So much for that old saw about opera singers not being able to act!

There were at least seven movie cameras in the theater that night, but the performance wasn’t being filmed; it was a dry run for this coming Saturday’s live HD broadcast of the matinee, which you can view locally at the Charles Theater. If you prefer to stay home & listen,  of course you may do so on WBJC-FM; the broadcast will begin at 1:00. Having worked on a few film & TV sets in my time, I’m always intrigued by the technical side of such work, & it was great fun to watch the three cameras at the front of the house (one boom-mounted on either side of the stage, one running along the footlights) moving about in a most unobtrusive fashion.

Delightful as it is, one cannot live by opera alone. Aside from our evening at the Met, last weekend’s Manhattan visit included a great deal of wonderful food & wine (& lots of running & walking to mitigate the effects of same!) We indulged in Italian fare at I Coppi & Eataly, Middle Eastern cuisine at Shalal, bought decadent sweets at Maison du Chocolat, & had my favorite savory breakfast – two days in a row! – at Bagel Boss. Shopping-wise, we visited a couple of our favorite vintage & resale haunts (La Boutique & the Garage Flea Market) & discovered a new one, Cobblestones, very near I Coppi. Apparently there’s a new Coen brothers movie being shot on the Lower East Side; we had to do a bit of negotiating with their film crew to get from the shop to dinner. I’ve no idea what the film is about, but it seems to be a period piece; there were antique cars from various eras parked along 9th Street last Friday evening & we spotted an actor in mid-20th-century clothing hanging around, waiting for his next call. By Sunday evening, when we boarded the train to come home, we were low on funds, exhausted, & already thinking about our next visit to the city.