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Saturday, February 06, 2010Cosi fan tutte
I saw Portland Opera's production of Cosi fan tutte last night. The title roughly translates as "thus do they all." Who are they? Women. What exactly are they doing? Being unfaithful and fickle. Really, what better show to take a date to during Valentines?
That's not to say that the men in Cosi fan tutte are any better. The premise: two officers, Ferrando and Guglielmo, make the mistake of boasting about the faithfulness of their fiancees in front of a cynical bachelor named Don Alfonso. He lays down a wager of a 100 lire. As a test of the women's devotion, the two officers will pretend to go off to war but return in disguise to seduce the other's lover. Urged on by a world-weary maid named Dorabella and these two "mysterious strangers," the fiancees' resolve quickly begins to crumble. It's a farce and the music, written by Mozart, is both whimsical and melodramatic at times, perhaps to offer a further satirical commentary on the plights these characters are putting themselves through. The reflective Plexiglas set is gorgeous and splits apart, serving as a parlor in the first act and both a garden and a chapel in the second.  Angela Niederloh and Robert Orth liven things up as Alfonso and Dorabella but, ultimately, the opera's premise isn't enough to sustain its three hour running time. Despite the vibrant score, there isn't enough plot to go along with it. There are several sections during the opera where the electronic translator over the stage goes off for minutes at a time, as the cast repeats the same lines over and over again. This one's a mixed bag, I'm sorry to say. The production and cast are fantastic but the source material could have used some trimming. Taking scissors to Mozart?!! Just being honest here...
Labels: opera
Monday, May 11, 2009Questo articolo รจ piuttosto prolisso
"Toi, toi, toi!"
According to what I learned backstage at the Keller Auditorium on Friday night, opera singers don't wish each other good luck. They use phrases like "toi, toi, toi," which, according to the internet, comes from the custom of spitting three times over someone's shoulder for good luck. Another common expression translates into "in the mouth of the wolf." If someone says these words to you before you head on stage you're supposed to respond with "break the wolf." In Italian, of course.  Six Portland bloggers, myself included, attended Blogger Night at the Opera. We went on a backstage tour, we walked around the set, we peeked in the green room and the staff kept bringing us complimentary alcohol and chocolate chip cookies. All in all, I think I made the wise decision to head down there instead of staying home to watch the series finale of Dollhouse. Among the things we learned: operas around the country trade sets, most American opera singers are conversational in Italian, three weeks is considered a long rehearsal period for the average opera, the Portland Opera decides which shows will go into production at least three years in advance, the singers aren't miked, the subtitles that appear over the stage are called "super titles" and they operate on Apple Keynote. A crew member manually hits a button to make each line appear as the performers on stage hit their queues.  Even in the perpetually casual city of Portland, opera attendees wear their finest. I was probably the most poorly dressed human being in the building, although wearing a shirt with any sort of collar is typically what I consider "dressing up." My hair refuses to stay combed for longer than two minutes so, by the time Joe Smith and his cameraman headed over for the Live @ 7 broadcast on KGW, I was looking like I'd just wandered in off the street wearing Homer Simpson's work duds. There's a reason why I don't go around posting photos of myself on the internet and all the free wine did not help matters. Here's the clip, compliments of KGW's website. I start babbling at Joe at the 1:10 mark. The six of us blogged in the lobby before the performance began, during the two intermissions and after the final curtain dropped. Honestly, it's impossible to type anything semi-coherent with dozens of people dressed in tuxedos and cocktail dresses gawking at you like bored 3rd graders on a trip to the penguin exhibit at the Oregon Zoo. Or least that's how it was for me.  Those attendees that did speak with us were all polite, curious and nothing like the Veruca Salt-esque goblins I was expecting. Most wanted to know what we were typing and if we were saying nasty things about them. The highlight was a dapper older gent dressed in a tuxedo. He couldn't quite grasp the concept of blogs but was completely well versed in the world of computers and discussed at length the wiki he recently created. He ended our conversation by saying he built his first computer in the early 70s. I have no idea who this guy is or to what extent he was screwing with me. I suspect he may be a retired higher-up from Tektronix or Intel. What a character. During the second intermission, a tenor stopped by to answer questions and shake hands. He'll be performing in a series of productions when the Portland Opera begins its next season in the fall. I had to think of questions on the spot. The first that sprang to mind was how he got into this businesses (he began acting in high school productions and went on to perform theater at Yale) and how many calories the average opera singer burns during a 3-hour show (plenty and some of them insist on going on stage with a full stomach).  There was also the opera itself, a stunning production of Rigoletto, which follows the tragedy of a cursed court jester and the perils of unrequited love in Renaissance-era Italy. Mark Rucker did a bang up job in the title role and it was surprising to learn that Sarah Coburn, who played Gilda, performed while six months pregnant. Not to give anything away, but Gilda spends much of the third act getting dragged across the stage in a burlap sack. It was great to see Dieselboi's truly impressive sideburns up close and to meet several local bloggers who's stuff I've been reading for years but who I had never met in person. Mike Russell not only live-blogged the event, he also live-illustrated it. I hope he posts the contents of his sketchpad over at Culture Pulp sometime soon. In the meantime, several of the pages are viewable on his Twitter account. A thanks and a tip of the hat go out to the Portland Opera and Publicity and Publications Manager Julia Sheridan for organizing the event. It truly was a wonderful evening. Thanks, everybody. Rigoletto continues through May 16th at the Keller Auditorium. Tickets, info and more can be found here.
Friday, May 08, 2009Finale
Well, the squirming kid made it through the show and he only kicked me once. Just wrapping things up here at the Keller. Poor, poor Rigoletto. The curse only had enough kick to ruin his life but the nefarious duke escapes unscathed? Booooo!
One last bit of trivia: Sarah Coburn, the performer who played Gilda, is currently six months pregnant. She spends a good portion of the third act in a burlap sack. Wow. Now that's what I call dedication to one's craft. Labels: opera
Act two intermission
Just spoke with a tenor named Ryan will be here for a production in October. He talked about the diet of the average opera singer. I had to think of questions on the spot and the first thing that came to mind was James Brown's insane dietary needs to get through three hours of doing the splits on stage. Ryan says it depends on the singer. Some insist on going on stage with a full belly. He'll be heading to Dublin from here before returning in the fall.
Back inside for act three. Labels: opera
Act one intermission
So the set and singing are great. The lady sitting in front of me with the huge hair and the squirming kid sitting next to me? Not so great. His parents have dressed him in a suit and at one point he looked he was about to pass out. He's acting like opera is his Kryptonite.
Some random thoughts as we're getting gawked at by the crowd..... Labels: opera
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