(no subject)

[cahn]

Hey, google (which knows way too much about me) just informed me of the following:

a) next week is the last week of free Met broadcasts (whatever else you might say about the Met -- and you might say a lot -- I really admired them for the free broadcasts)

b) on Thurs July 22 they are broadcasting the Contes d'Hoffman I keep raving about -- the one with Grigolo, Lindsey, and Hampson, which I just love because all three of them are amazingly great performers. (Also, I have a tremendous crush on Kate Lindsey after watching it, and I already had a tremendous crush on Hampson, and I'd probably have an equally large crush on Grigolo (who is really good) except that he's a tenor, so...) So you (particularly zdenka because I keep obsessing to you about it, and also iberiandoctor because Hampson, but everyone else too) should watch it and then come back and talk to me about it!

I should also note that (1) Hampson is getting older and his voice is not quite as beautiful as it once was, but he's just such a great performer I don't even care (2) the staging includes 100% too many random scantily-clad women for as far as I can tell no purpose whatsoever except to inform you that This Is The Met, Bastion of Anti-Progressiveness. So there is that.

My favorite thing about it is that Lindsey and Hampson do this interplay that I adore where they're always very aware of each other, sometimes as enemies, sometimes as allies (they both don't want Hoffman to get the girl), sometimes as... idk... supernatural colleagues where they are the only ones who understand how creepy the both of them are. And I really want someone to write me fic telling me what the heck is going on with them :D

c) Sun July 25 they are re-running the Ballo in Maschera I mentioned here which you should also all watch if you like semi-regie (so maybe not zdenka, haha).

Comments

[iberiandoctor]

Thanks for the recc! You know how much I love Hampson, and I'm keen to get out there to watch this one! And I admire the Met unreservedly: they've been through a lot, and their dedication to quality is SO admirable <3

[cahn]

yesss I think you will really like it!

Well, google has also been offering me lots of articles over the past year on the Met's bargaining (with the orchestra, primarily). Which you probably have more educated thoughts on; I assume it's way more complicated and less one-sided than the articles made it sound, but my first instinct, as a former instrumentalist, is to side with the orchestra :)

[kore]

The last week? Aww. But that Hoffman!

[cahn]

It does seem like the end of an era, a bit. That Hoffman, though, as you say! Have you watched it?

[zdenka]

Noted on both counts. ;) Thanks for the heads-up!

[cahn]

:D I don't think there's any way we could watch the Contes in tandem (I just have a lot of time constraints, particularly on weekdays, that don't play well with time zones, ugh) but I wish we could, I miss doing that with you!

I don't think I have a super good idea of how much regie is "too much," and I think the Ballo miiiiight be on the side of the line that isn't too much (they all wear suits and the staging is very spare, it's not at all a period drama, but on the other hand I didn't feel like it was trying to do anything against the text like other regie productions I've watched) but I'm not sure?

[zdenka]

I miss doing that too!

Modern dress/spare staging doesn't automatically make me dislike a production--I've seen some very good productions that were done that way--but if I have the choice, I'll always choose the shiny colorful period drama version. :) I don't know if I'll watch the Ballo or not, but I will try to watch the Hoffmann! I'm definitely curious to see it from what you've told me, and of course Hampson is awesome. It will be interesting to see this different arrangement from Offenbach's manuscripts, too.

[cahn]

<3 I hope you are able to check it out, I really think it is a very interesting production with really excellent singer-performers and I'd love to talk to you about it afterwards about how it differs from other arrangements :D

(For starters, it's got Giuletta last of the three ladies, which I think is different than some arrangements? And I think the end is different too. I also wonder whether there is more duet-trio-etc. than with other arrangements, e.g. the trio of the eyes I linked you to before? Which is a plus for me in general, but also these guys can really handle ensemble work, which not all opera singers can, sadly.)

[cenozoicsynapsid]

A bit off-topic, but I just finished the new Katherine Addison book, Witness for the Dead, which is a sort-of-sequel to The Goblin Emperor. It centers on the murder of an opera singer, and there's a lot of opera discourse; Our Hero doesn't care about opera in a musical sense, but there is a lot of description of the various personalities of the company, its day-to-day business and its repertory, so I wondered if you had any thoughts about it as an opera fan. I suspect there are some allusions that go over my head.

[cahn]

...right, I see what I'm going to be reading in the near future! Sort-of-sequel to Goblin Emperor and also lots of opera discourse?? I am there. (Well, I may be sort of sucked into this Sandman morass right now, but after I pull free of that :) )