This is my response to being told that I couldn't enter Freakfest on Saturday because the turnkey that was the gimmick of my wind-up doll costume "could be used as a weapon".
Yes, I was singing this on my way back to the car.
Thursday, October 31, 2013
ANFSTD
A man is sitting in a restaurant and he hears someone say to him, "Hey, that's a nice tie you got there!". The man starts, looks around and sees nobody talking to him, so he brushes it off. A few minutes later, he hears a voice again, this time saying, "I love your jacket!". The man looks around again and sees no one speaking to him. Still later he hears yet another voice saying to him, "I like your hair!". The man is so sure that he is hallucinating by this point. So he turns to the waiter and asks him, "Who keeps talking to me?". "Oh," the waiter says, "it's the peanuts. They're complimentary."
EUGENE ONEGIN Review
I said I would do this, so I will. I must say, however, that I do not have the discerning eyes and ears of a successful theater critic, so what I say here is simply my opinion of the performance.
The opera Eugene Onegin centers around the encounter between the country girl Tatyana Larina, and the bored city sophisticate Eugene Onegin. Tatyana, a shy quiet seventeen-year-old who lives in the world of her romantic novels, falls for the handsome stranger Onegin and writes him a love letter. Unfortunately for her, Onegin is very self-centered doesn't let her down easy. His selfish behavior and attitude lead to even more trouble for Tatyana and especially for him, finally coming to a head when he himself falls for Tatyana six years later. By then she has been married an aristocratic older man who loves her to insanity. Onegin tries to get Tatyana to run away with him, but she tells him that while she still loves him, she cannot and will not abandon her husband and her duties. She leaves Onegin to his despair as the curtain falls.
I have seen women in the role of Tatyana before, but Anna Netrebko was the first soprano who actually looked like she was seventeen. She also really brought out Tatyana's shyness and love of fantasy really well. I had never seen a production of Eugene Onegin that had Tatyana getting sensory overload at her own birthday party.
In the Letter Scene Tatyana writes her letter to Onegin. Netrebko's best performance was in this scene. The shy girl who was pensively reading her novels in the first scene was now flushed with a nervous teenage passion for Onegin. She kept pausing frequently, wondering if she should continue writing or call it off. She thrashed, she rolled on the floor, she went through several sheets of paper before she was satisfied with what she had.
Mariusz Kwieciens very new Onegin for me. I'm more used to the indifferent aloofness that I saw in Dima's and Hyung Yun's portrayals of Onegin. Kwiecien's interpretation was more of the smooth-talking bad boy variety (probably having something to do with his numerous portrayals of the title role in Don Giovanni). Perhaps his best scenes were at the end of Act 1 and all of Act 3. In his aria in Act 1, Kwiecien strutted around snagging an apple in the process. He was very stiff in that scene, but that was pretty much the point. What I loved best was just how he brought out Onegin's treating Tatyana like a five-year-old, right down to the chin chuck as he kissed her.
His Act 3 performance was also a major highlight. When I saw either Dima or Hyung Yun do the role, they just stood brooding while the Polonaise played. Although in those cases, it had to do with the fact that both those productions fused Acts 2 and 3 together.
Kwiecien came onstage during the Polonaise and he was piling on the champagne. When he sings his arietta at the end of the scene, he was thrashing on the floor just like Tatyana had been doing in her Letter Scene, but this time alcohol was involved, so it looked way more careless and wobbly than it did passionate. This same disordered way of moving was also present in the final scene with Tatyana.
Piotr Beczala as Vladimir Lensky? (SQUEE!) I had only seen one of his more naive romantic roles and that was Des Grieux in Massenet's Manon. Beczala brought out the romantic naivete of the young poet who also has an unfortunate little habit of jumping to conclusions without a bungee cord. No where was this more evident than in Act 2, first when he assumes that Olga no longer loves him, and then in the Duel Scene when he laments his actions almost as if he knows he's going to die. And both he and Onegin are too proud to call the duel off.
The other character I'd like to speak of is Gremin. I forget the name of the bass who sang him, but his portrayal was something else. the character was aged down in this production to around forty-something instead of sixty-something. This was the first time I had even seen Gremin actually sing part of his aria to Tatyana. He's not the exotic charmer that Onegin is, but he honest and kind, and that I think is what keeps Tatyana from leaving him at the end of the opera. I think the bass brought out that kindness and honesty very well.
There was only one weak point in the opera and that was the Peasants' Dance. I don't get it; instead of the traditional circle dances, they had the dance rendered as four guys chasing one girl. Eh? Do you care to explain that Deborah Warner? It did not fit at all. Where did you even get the idea in the first place? It's supposed to a rustic harvest dance, not a Frat-Boys-Harassing-A-Girl moment!
I hope that the Met does this again. And can they please come up with something traditional for the Peasant's Dance?
The opera Eugene Onegin centers around the encounter between the country girl Tatyana Larina, and the bored city sophisticate Eugene Onegin. Tatyana, a shy quiet seventeen-year-old who lives in the world of her romantic novels, falls for the handsome stranger Onegin and writes him a love letter. Unfortunately for her, Onegin is very self-centered doesn't let her down easy. His selfish behavior and attitude lead to even more trouble for Tatyana and especially for him, finally coming to a head when he himself falls for Tatyana six years later. By then she has been married an aristocratic older man who loves her to insanity. Onegin tries to get Tatyana to run away with him, but she tells him that while she still loves him, she cannot and will not abandon her husband and her duties. She leaves Onegin to his despair as the curtain falls.
I have seen women in the role of Tatyana before, but Anna Netrebko was the first soprano who actually looked like she was seventeen. She also really brought out Tatyana's shyness and love of fantasy really well. I had never seen a production of Eugene Onegin that had Tatyana getting sensory overload at her own birthday party.
In the Letter Scene Tatyana writes her letter to Onegin. Netrebko's best performance was in this scene. The shy girl who was pensively reading her novels in the first scene was now flushed with a nervous teenage passion for Onegin. She kept pausing frequently, wondering if she should continue writing or call it off. She thrashed, she rolled on the floor, she went through several sheets of paper before she was satisfied with what she had.
Mariusz Kwieciens very new Onegin for me. I'm more used to the indifferent aloofness that I saw in Dima's and Hyung Yun's portrayals of Onegin. Kwiecien's interpretation was more of the smooth-talking bad boy variety (probably having something to do with his numerous portrayals of the title role in Don Giovanni). Perhaps his best scenes were at the end of Act 1 and all of Act 3. In his aria in Act 1, Kwiecien strutted around snagging an apple in the process. He was very stiff in that scene, but that was pretty much the point. What I loved best was just how he brought out Onegin's treating Tatyana like a five-year-old, right down to the chin chuck as he kissed her.
His Act 3 performance was also a major highlight. When I saw either Dima or Hyung Yun do the role, they just stood brooding while the Polonaise played. Although in those cases, it had to do with the fact that both those productions fused Acts 2 and 3 together.
Kwiecien came onstage during the Polonaise and he was piling on the champagne. When he sings his arietta at the end of the scene, he was thrashing on the floor just like Tatyana had been doing in her Letter Scene, but this time alcohol was involved, so it looked way more careless and wobbly than it did passionate. This same disordered way of moving was also present in the final scene with Tatyana.
Piotr Beczala as Vladimir Lensky? (SQUEE!) I had only seen one of his more naive romantic roles and that was Des Grieux in Massenet's Manon. Beczala brought out the romantic naivete of the young poet who also has an unfortunate little habit of jumping to conclusions without a bungee cord. No where was this more evident than in Act 2, first when he assumes that Olga no longer loves him, and then in the Duel Scene when he laments his actions almost as if he knows he's going to die. And both he and Onegin are too proud to call the duel off.
The other character I'd like to speak of is Gremin. I forget the name of the bass who sang him, but his portrayal was something else. the character was aged down in this production to around forty-something instead of sixty-something. This was the first time I had even seen Gremin actually sing part of his aria to Tatyana. He's not the exotic charmer that Onegin is, but he honest and kind, and that I think is what keeps Tatyana from leaving him at the end of the opera. I think the bass brought out that kindness and honesty very well.
There was only one weak point in the opera and that was the Peasants' Dance. I don't get it; instead of the traditional circle dances, they had the dance rendered as four guys chasing one girl. Eh? Do you care to explain that Deborah Warner? It did not fit at all. Where did you even get the idea in the first place? It's supposed to a rustic harvest dance, not a Frat-Boys-Harassing-A-Girl moment!
I hope that the Met does this again. And can they please come up with something traditional for the Peasant's Dance?
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Dima Turns 51 Tomorrow!
I can't believe it. Dmitri Hvorostovsky is more than half a century old is still sexy hot with an even hotter voice. He just keeps on getting better and better.
I remember when I first heard him. My mom and I were driving home from the Arlington Tack Sale and we were listening to the opera. The opera was Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. It was the first time I had even heard of an opera by the same man who did my favorite ballet (The Nutcracker for those of you who don't know). It was Dmitri Hvorostovsky who was singing the title role, although I didn't quite fully know who he was at the time*. I did, however, recognize Renee Flemming. It wasn't until about a couple years ago, that I started fully appreciating Dima's talent. And now look! I think he's the hottest most talented baritone ever to come out of Russia.
And so Happy Birthday, Dmitri Hvorostovsky!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*And I was still obsessing over Orlando Bloom, who by the way, doesn't even come close to matching Dima when it comes to talent or looks.
I remember when I first heard him. My mom and I were driving home from the Arlington Tack Sale and we were listening to the opera. The opera was Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. It was the first time I had even heard of an opera by the same man who did my favorite ballet (The Nutcracker for those of you who don't know). It was Dmitri Hvorostovsky who was singing the title role, although I didn't quite fully know who he was at the time*. I did, however, recognize Renee Flemming. It wasn't until about a couple years ago, that I started fully appreciating Dima's talent. And now look! I think he's the hottest most talented baritone ever to come out of Russia.
And so Happy Birthday, Dmitri Hvorostovsky!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*And I was still obsessing over Orlando Bloom, who by the way, doesn't even come close to matching Dima when it comes to talent or looks.
Saturday, October 5, 2013
EUGENE ONEGIN: A Comparison Of The Two Productions I saw Live
WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS! IF YOU WISH TO FIND OUT THE STORY FOR YOURSELF, DO NOT CONTINUE ANY FURTHER!
For my mother's birthday today, I decided to take her to the opera. It was a new Metropolitan Opera production of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's most famous opera Eugene Onegin. I have already written about the full plot line of the opera, but since this was my second time seeing it live (abiet simulcasted in movie theater), I figured I'd compare and contrast the Madison Opera production, and the new Met production.
First of all, how are they similar? Here's one: The chorus in Act 3 were wearing mostly the same colors. The idea is that high society, while opulent and glamorous, is ultimately pointless. And the clothes reflect that. The aging Prince Gremin says that the reason he married Tatyana in the first place was because she was different from all the phonies he's surrounded by all the time. Tatyana doesn't play all the social games that are associated with the aristocracy; thus she is a breath of fresh air for Gremin.
Secondly, the baritones who sang the role of Onegin were very good, not to mention utterly sexy. I was up in the nosebleed section at the Overture Center in Madison when I saw this two Novembers ago, so it was a little hard to see Hyung Yun's face. Nonetheless, I was still able to see how he portrayed Onegin, especially in the duel scene and the final act. I thought Yun did a splendid job showing the effects of Onegin's self-centered behavior. Mariusz Kwiecien, who has performed the role of Onegin throughout Europe, also brought out Onegin's selfish and entitled attitude towards life.
Heck, both productions featured amazingly talented performers. I don't think there's any sort of difference in quality between Maria Kanyova's Tatyana and Anna Netrebko's interpretation of the role. And both productions had Vladamir Lensky wearing glasses, though in the one I saw today, he only put them on to read and to duel.
Third off and finally, both had birch trees on the Larin estate. I don't know if that particular species is common in Russia, or if it was easy to draw. Whatever the reason, both had birch trees.
Now on to the differences, of which their are many. I will only mention three very notable ones.
Number 1: The setting was updated from the 1820'whatever to 1890 for the simulcast production. The sets were extremely spacious given the fact that it is Tchaikovsky opera; if you'll recall, Tchaikovsky was the premier writer of dance music is Russian musical history (seriously, is there a single ballet company in the Western Hemisphere that does not perform The Nutcracker every Christmas?). The clothes were all from the Victorian period in history.
Number 2: Tatyana's birthday party is always done differently, but usually productions feature nonstop dancing throughout the waltz sequence. The production at Overture Center had people sitting at tables, dancing, feasting, that sort of thing. The Met production opened Act 2 with Tatyana and her neighbors reenacting the martyrdom of Saint Tatiana of Rome,* then onto some dancing.
Also, Mousier Triquet, usually short and plump(ish), was tall, skinny, and very awkward. I'm guessing the tenor had some sort of leg injury because they used a brace as part of the costume (the director could have also planned to have Triquet walk with a slight limp). You know, short and fat or tall and skinny, Mousier Triquet is always portrayed as incredibly over the top and ridiculous.
This production put a twist on Lensky's challenging Onegin to a duel. The Madison Opera production did the usual Throw-Down-The-Glove-When-You-Challenge-Someone-To-A-Duel business with Madame Larina picking up the glove when she begs the two men not to fight in her house. In the Met production, Lensky threw down his poetry book as the challenge. Onegin did not pick it up,but accepted Lensky's challenge (can someone please explain why they used hunting rifles for Duel Scene rather than pistols?).
Number 3: The final scene was way different in that the Met production set the scene just outside the palace instead of Tatyana's boudoir. In this scene, Onegin, who spent much of the previous scene drinking, came onstage and threw himself at Tatyana's feet. He was much more disheveled than in most productions. Hyung Yun's portrayal showed an impulsive young man who was still in control of his senses when he tried to get Tatyana to run away with him. So that was very interesting.
I would like to say a few words about Mariusz Kweicien's portrayal of Onegin, and Anna Netrebko's portrayal of Tatyana. In her letter scene, Tatyana thrashes about when she thinks about her passion for Onegin and whether or not she should write her letter to him. She is an impulsive teenager, but she is also very much honest in her confession. In Act 3, after Tatyana has been married to Prince Gremin, Onegin finds himself besotted by the woman, and thrashes about the same way Tatyana did, except that he's been drinking quite a bit and so his thrashing looks a lot more like it's from clumsiness rather than from excited passion.
In the scene where he gives Tatyana his famous lecture, he snarfs an apple from a crate of produce that the peasant women brought in. He also condescendingly kisses Tatyana on the mouth before he leaves. Kwiecien said in the interview following Act 1 that Onegin kisses Tatyana because she is a beautiful girl and he can't resist lovely women (he was also still eating the apple he took from the crate). In the final scene, just before she leaves him forever, Tatyana kisses Onegin on the mouth as well. But this time around she's saying, "I still love you, but I'm not leaving my husband."
I would also like to indulge in a fangirl moment. Piotr Beczala as Lensky--I just can't say enough about him. He was so darn hot with those nerd glasses he had for the role. He splendidly captured the eighteen-year-old poet's wide-eyed romantic idealism and and impulsive jealousy, not to mention a very well performed death scene at the end of Act 2. And Mariusz Kwiecien, even he can make a stuck-up, self-absorbed jerk who thinks the world exists solely for his own personal entertainment look awesome.
Special mention goes to mezzo-soprano Elena Zaremba who was our Madame Larina this season. Last time she sang Eugene Onegin at the Met back in '07, she sang the role of Tatyana's sister Olga. And Okasna Volkova was perfect as Olga this year.
The folks at the Met have said that Eugene Onegin a tragedy of mistimed love. That is not correct. Instead the tragedy stems from a rich young man's It's-All-About-Me attitude toward life and toward other people. Even by the final scene he has still not learned his lesson and tries to make Tatyana throw away her respectability and her marriage for him. Why? Because it's all about him he thinks. It has nothing to do with timing.
For more information about the Madison opera production, read the post from November 2011. A review of the Met performance is next.
_______________________________________________________________________ *Actually, I didn't even know that the Russian Orthodox Church had feast days for saints. I thought that was strictly a Catholic trademark!
For my mother's birthday today, I decided to take her to the opera. It was a new Metropolitan Opera production of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's most famous opera Eugene Onegin. I have already written about the full plot line of the opera, but since this was my second time seeing it live (abiet simulcasted in movie theater), I figured I'd compare and contrast the Madison Opera production, and the new Met production.
First of all, how are they similar? Here's one: The chorus in Act 3 were wearing mostly the same colors. The idea is that high society, while opulent and glamorous, is ultimately pointless. And the clothes reflect that. The aging Prince Gremin says that the reason he married Tatyana in the first place was because she was different from all the phonies he's surrounded by all the time. Tatyana doesn't play all the social games that are associated with the aristocracy; thus she is a breath of fresh air for Gremin.
Secondly, the baritones who sang the role of Onegin were very good, not to mention utterly sexy. I was up in the nosebleed section at the Overture Center in Madison when I saw this two Novembers ago, so it was a little hard to see Hyung Yun's face. Nonetheless, I was still able to see how he portrayed Onegin, especially in the duel scene and the final act. I thought Yun did a splendid job showing the effects of Onegin's self-centered behavior. Mariusz Kwiecien, who has performed the role of Onegin throughout Europe, also brought out Onegin's selfish and entitled attitude towards life.
Heck, both productions featured amazingly talented performers. I don't think there's any sort of difference in quality between Maria Kanyova's Tatyana and Anna Netrebko's interpretation of the role. And both productions had Vladamir Lensky wearing glasses, though in the one I saw today, he only put them on to read and to duel.
Third off and finally, both had birch trees on the Larin estate. I don't know if that particular species is common in Russia, or if it was easy to draw. Whatever the reason, both had birch trees.
Now on to the differences, of which their are many. I will only mention three very notable ones.
Number 1: The setting was updated from the 1820'whatever to 1890 for the simulcast production. The sets were extremely spacious given the fact that it is Tchaikovsky opera; if you'll recall, Tchaikovsky was the premier writer of dance music is Russian musical history (seriously, is there a single ballet company in the Western Hemisphere that does not perform The Nutcracker every Christmas?). The clothes were all from the Victorian period in history.
Number 2: Tatyana's birthday party is always done differently, but usually productions feature nonstop dancing throughout the waltz sequence. The production at Overture Center had people sitting at tables, dancing, feasting, that sort of thing. The Met production opened Act 2 with Tatyana and her neighbors reenacting the martyrdom of Saint Tatiana of Rome,* then onto some dancing.
Also, Mousier Triquet, usually short and plump(ish), was tall, skinny, and very awkward. I'm guessing the tenor had some sort of leg injury because they used a brace as part of the costume (the director could have also planned to have Triquet walk with a slight limp). You know, short and fat or tall and skinny, Mousier Triquet is always portrayed as incredibly over the top and ridiculous.
This production put a twist on Lensky's challenging Onegin to a duel. The Madison Opera production did the usual Throw-Down-The-Glove-When-You-Challenge-Someone-To-A-Duel business with Madame Larina picking up the glove when she begs the two men not to fight in her house. In the Met production, Lensky threw down his poetry book as the challenge. Onegin did not pick it up,but accepted Lensky's challenge (can someone please explain why they used hunting rifles for Duel Scene rather than pistols?).
Number 3: The final scene was way different in that the Met production set the scene just outside the palace instead of Tatyana's boudoir. In this scene, Onegin, who spent much of the previous scene drinking, came onstage and threw himself at Tatyana's feet. He was much more disheveled than in most productions. Hyung Yun's portrayal showed an impulsive young man who was still in control of his senses when he tried to get Tatyana to run away with him. So that was very interesting.
I would like to say a few words about Mariusz Kweicien's portrayal of Onegin, and Anna Netrebko's portrayal of Tatyana. In her letter scene, Tatyana thrashes about when she thinks about her passion for Onegin and whether or not she should write her letter to him. She is an impulsive teenager, but she is also very much honest in her confession. In Act 3, after Tatyana has been married to Prince Gremin, Onegin finds himself besotted by the woman, and thrashes about the same way Tatyana did, except that he's been drinking quite a bit and so his thrashing looks a lot more like it's from clumsiness rather than from excited passion.
In the scene where he gives Tatyana his famous lecture, he snarfs an apple from a crate of produce that the peasant women brought in. He also condescendingly kisses Tatyana on the mouth before he leaves. Kwiecien said in the interview following Act 1 that Onegin kisses Tatyana because she is a beautiful girl and he can't resist lovely women (he was also still eating the apple he took from the crate). In the final scene, just before she leaves him forever, Tatyana kisses Onegin on the mouth as well. But this time around she's saying, "I still love you, but I'm not leaving my husband."
I would also like to indulge in a fangirl moment. Piotr Beczala as Lensky--I just can't say enough about him. He was so darn hot with those nerd glasses he had for the role. He splendidly captured the eighteen-year-old poet's wide-eyed romantic idealism and and impulsive jealousy, not to mention a very well performed death scene at the end of Act 2. And Mariusz Kwiecien, even he can make a stuck-up, self-absorbed jerk who thinks the world exists solely for his own personal entertainment look awesome.
Special mention goes to mezzo-soprano Elena Zaremba who was our Madame Larina this season. Last time she sang Eugene Onegin at the Met back in '07, she sang the role of Tatyana's sister Olga. And Okasna Volkova was perfect as Olga this year.
The folks at the Met have said that Eugene Onegin a tragedy of mistimed love. That is not correct. Instead the tragedy stems from a rich young man's It's-All-About-Me attitude toward life and toward other people. Even by the final scene he has still not learned his lesson and tries to make Tatyana throw away her respectability and her marriage for him. Why? Because it's all about him he thinks. It has nothing to do with timing.
For more information about the Madison opera production, read the post from November 2011. A review of the Met performance is next.
_______________________________________________________________________ *Actually, I didn't even know that the Russian Orthodox Church had feast days for saints. I thought that was strictly a Catholic trademark!
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