One thing about watching the promenade at the opera is that you'll easily identify the individuals who stand out. (Sadly, no one else wove a tree tableau in her hair as I did. I was a lonely woodland princess.) Many others stood out. The man in the white robes. The woman in the pink dress and green shoes. And especially, the man in the black and gold brocade.
The man in brocade was walking by my seat when a woman nearby called out "Damien!" (I noticed she was wearing the red version of the high-low number I'm wearing next weekend for Tosca.)
Damien (in brocade) turned around and stopped right in front of me, but I didn't listen in on their conversation. I might have if I'd known he was the composer who revised Scott Joplin's opera into a presentable work. He and Karen Chilton composed and wrote two acts that bookend the original opera. (I don't know what she was wearing but she looks vaguely familiar in another article.)
It's a little odd, because the new acts are clearly written by someone else. The music sounds reminiscent of the popular Scott Joplin music, while the original music in the middle of the opera is really soaring and beautiful. The lyrics for the bookends do not match the middle at all. The middle ... well, I kept thinking it was a poor translation.
But, the dancing was delightful, and the choral pieces had wonderful trills and runs. Some parts were very fresh and funny. And the female lead was just spectacular.
If I were to see it again I would go to one of the pre-opera lectures they give under the picnic tents. This one requires some homework.
Many things, but not all, are improved by doing the homework. But usually they aren't marked by "this one will improve with further knowledge!" vs. "this one will be near-ruined with further knowledge" so that is a mite inconvenient (although I suspect some of the bifurcation is also personal and dependent on the quality and content of the further knowledge)(sometimes it's better to be bemused and perplexed and surprised than to know what was meant to be being communicated, because you just want to kick the artists for doing such a *terrible* and exclusively self-indulgent job at communication, for me, but probably this is not the same for all)(and then there's the "this beautiful, soul-inspiring, hope-giving work was produced by a child molester" sort of info). I'm not sure what the percentages are, overall, for opera.
Posted by: KC | May 22, 2023 at 11:56 AM
KC - Both Anne and I tried to keep away from spoilers - and that might have been a mistake.
Posted by: theQueen | May 22, 2023 at 10:07 PM