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

[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?