Wow.

[darcydodo]

We went to see the Baz Luhrmann production of La Bohème tonight, which meant that I missed "Angel." Hopefully the VCR actually recorded it, and I'm currently attempting to download it as well. The opera was amazing, though, far more than even expected. That, that, is how to do an opera. The acting of all the characters was incredible, and it was matched by the singing. Mimi was perhaps not quite as good a singer as the others (my mother kept complaining that she was sharping on crescendoed notes), but even she was very good, and her acting was flawless. And the staging, of course, was beautiful and awe-inspiring and very, very evoking of 1950s Paris (when/where it was set). The supertitles were also effective, in that they'd done a somewhat looser (though still faithful) translation of the lyrics, which allowed humor where there should be humor.

Anyway, all I can say is, if you can get tickets you should go.

Comments

[sampiano.livejournal.com]

La Boheme is a great show. I always cry when Mimi dies, even though I've seen it a hundred times and so I know she's going to.

I haven't got round to it yet (since I was here last year anyway), but in Italy I should be able to see plenty of good productions of Italian operas. And maybe sometime I'll even be able to understand them!

I've played at least one of the arias from La Boheme with you, haven't I?

[darcydodo]

I always cry when Mimi dies, even though I've seen it a hundred times and so I know she's going to.

I never had seen it (I missed the production at LA Opera a few years ago because it was sold out, but people said it wasn't a very good production anyway), but I knew she was going to die too. I also think that if it had been a typical staging, with older people playing the parts, etc., I wouldn't have cried at the end. Opera usually seems very artificial in certain ways. But I definitely was teary at the end here.

in Italy I should be able to see plenty of good productions of Italian operas.

You so have to.

I've played at least one of the arias from La Boheme with you, haven't I?

Actually, no, don't think so. 'Cause I'd never listened to it either, so even if you wanted to, I probably would have said no.

[whiskeypants.livejournal.com]

yes, i did enjoy baz's production quite a bit, even if i largely felt like i was watching moulin rouge on stage. i'm still tempted to try and get tickets for jet girl, because she hasn't seen it yet.

[darcydodo]

When did you see it?

even if i largely felt like i was watching moulin rouge on stage.

Whereas I didn't at all, at least partially because my mother wasn't radiating I-don't-like-this-movie vibes, which always puts me off, but also because I didn't care much for the script of Moulin Rouge. (This may have been to a certain extent attributable to the afforementioned vibes, but it was probably more than that.) The staging was somewhat reminiscent of MR, it's true, but the opera is (or has the potential to be) fantastic even on its own, and Baz really brought it to life.

[whiskeypants.livejournal.com]

i saw it while it was playing in sf.
the story, and that of moulin rouge...more than just similar. but i love ml.

[darcydodo]

Basic storyline, yes. Script, and the music to accompany it, and the abilities of the singers, not at all. (Which isn't to say that there weren't some pretty decent singers in MR, but opera and musical are really two different worlds, as are the singers who perform them. Which is why I growl when people call G&S stuff musicals. Even though operettas can certainly be performed in a more musical-esque fashion.)

I did think it might have been in SF at one point, just from the program notes, but I completely missed its actual presence there. When was it?

[tzeentch.livejournal.com]

Have you seen RENT by any chance? It's supposed to be a modernized version of La Boheme, and the production I saw at the Orpheum was really good. I still would like to see La Boheme some time. I'm just not a big fan of opera in general.