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Urban Shocker's Neighbourhood Watch

Re: More Opera for Cinplex...

Yeah, them cops wasn't exactly the Rockettes, was they?

When I saw the working rehearsal there wasn't that sassy little foxtrot ( or whatever it was ) between the priest and Katerina. Perhaps the slapstick cops evolved during rehearsals too. There was certainly more humour than I expected, over all.

My friend - the Sixty Year Old Opera Virgin - got a fine rush seat in the Grand Ring for $20 by lining up at 10:30 a.m. for the 11 o'clock box office opening.

The sound seems to become tangible and actually inhabit the space, like a three dimensional object. During the loudest orchestral parts I found myself looking up at the ceiling to try and locate it - and I thought I could identify parts of the room where the brass, and the strings, and the woodwinds set up residence. Quite extraordinary, though I've experienced a similar thing at Roy Thomson Hall once or twice. What treasures we have in these spaces - the George Weston Recital Hall is another, and the new theatre at the Conservatory too - I hope.
 
Re: More Opera for Cinplex...

Have you actually sat through any length of performance from the very back? We were darn near at the centre of the very back row of the top ring, and, as I said, the sound was impeccable, though I found myself craving opera glasses. (Suddenly, it all made sense.)

But when the lights were on before the show started, I must say that I started to feel actively claustrophobic up there, because of the way the ceiling descended directly in front of us. It was as if we had spleunked our way into some inadviseable crevice; I felt most vulnerable in case of collapse (always one of my great operagoing fears).
 
Re: More Opera for Cinplex...

I sat in the fourth row of Ring 5 at the Gala in June, a couple of rows behind esteemed opera maven andreapalladio, and the sound was as sublime there as when I've been in different parts of Rings 3, and in Ring 4, and at Orchestra level. Cheap seats or expensive ones, there doesn't appear to be a bad seat in the house when it comes to acoustics.

Though I haven't sat where you were, the hall was designed with a stepped-back "clam shell" ceiling to allow people in the back rows of Ring 5 to have clear views of the stage. In older theatres, with a less democratic design, the cheap seats really are inferior in this respect - and columns sometimes obstruct views.

Still, interchange42 has had problems with sightlines at the side of Ring 4, and I sat in the side arm of Ring 3 during Cosi and for a couple of minutes the action on my side of the stage was impossible to see, due to the arrangement of the set.

From my seat in the second row of Ring 4 during Lady Macbeth, I noticed that the upper "living quarters" of the set ( when they were positioned at the front of the stage ) blocked the view of the stage below and obscured the entrances and exits and stage action at times.

For sightlines, I find that Ring 3 is very good - if you're not at the sides. The higher up you go, the more likely you are to see more of the orchestra pit and less of the full depth of the stage, as in the Lady Macbeth example, if the set design is problammatic. For next season I've renewed my subscription at Orchestra level.
 
Re: More Opera for Cinplex...

I just saw Ledi Makbet yesterday, so time for me to weigh in on the seating and sound and all I suppose...

I didn't find the show schizoid, but my companion and I concurred that the opera did include the largest range of musical styles we have heard in quite a while. The interlude, for instance, before the Keystone "Kopsky" scene sounded like circus music and certainly set the audience up for a bit of fun. The massive crescendo for the sex scene's orgasm was amazing for the amount of sound one was suddely enveloped by, and it produced the mostly startling evidence yet that the Hummingbird was a joke acoustically. They could not have even contemplated filling its volume with such thrilling sound as they are able to produce now.

I must note that the refactory trombone was fabulous, hilarious.

It's on the arms of Ring 3 where we were having trouble seeing some of the action back in Cosi Fan Tutte, our first opera of the year. The left sixth of the stage was out of view from our seats in Row B (312 and 313), and that did not go over well with us. After the intermission when some seats in Row A (316 and 317) were vacated, we moved into those, and they were great: we saw everything, felt ringside to the action, and the sound was marvellous. I think those have been our favourite seats so far. Their annual subscription rate was $690 this year - one row back we payed $390. Next year those $690 seats, with the 7 opera added, are rising to $803. Meanwhile, our Row B seats are dropping to $264, as the COC has admitted by the changes they have made to their seating plan that Row B is not worth what they were charging for it. Our $390 range is going to $425 next year (a bargoon for that 7th show), and we are hoping to find seats somewhere in one of the other sections where that price is applied.

Meanwhile, we have started our schlep around the hall with replacement seats for each opera. For Faust and Ledi Makbet we were given seats on the south arm of the Orchestra ring: AA 186 and 187 for F, and AA 184 and 185 for LM. Those are both great spots, and those seats will be $1,076 each for next year's subscription, although I still prefer the $803s in Ring 3. Next up in April we'll have seats in the middle orchestra for Luisa Miller and up in the gods for Elektra. Replacement seats for La Traviata have not been arranged yet. Incidentally, we saw that nobody was sitting in our B312 and 313 seats yesterday, despite the show being essentially sold out. I believe they all sell out now.

I am enjoying sitting around the place. I am not enjoying all the work it is taking to arrange the alternate accommodations.

We normally have been arriving in time to see the Opera Talks up in the 3rd floor Bradshaw Amphitheatre beforehand. This was the first time for us that the City Room's shades were lowered for the talk, as the sun was out and they did not want to cook us or blind the speaker or something. It gave quite a different feeling to the space; more room than city. When the talk was over, the shades went up; more city than room. I love that space, which works on so many levels, painful pun intended.

opera-buff-in-training 42
 
Re: More Opera for Cinplex...

From my perch slightly to the right of centre in ring four I have an excellent view, except that I can't see the conductor.

When we sat in ring three for the Faust rehersal I noticed that claustrophobic effect of the ceiling. I don't experience it in ring 4. I think ring 5 is either higher or set further back, I can't decide which.

The other night, there was some poor pitiable young man there dress up in a puffy shirt and lacy cravat. He looked like he's dressed himself at Prince's yard sale, poor lamb.
 
Re: More Opera for Cinplex...

There are considerably more seats in Ring 5 than in the other Rings, so I assume it is set back further towards University Avenue. But maybe it overhangs Ring 4 a bit too?

Except for the front row of each Ring - they feel cramped - there is certainly more leg room up in the Rings than in the Mezzanine and Balcony in Roy Thomson Hall.

I wish they'd hurry up with the entrance from the subway though. Does anyone know why it is taking so long?

Wearing the foppish, lacy, Romantic era look might work well to the right opera, if done with style. But it is a look that can only work for the relentlessly slim. Whether dressing conservatively to fit in, or dressing expressively to stand out, I go with whatever mood I'm in on the night. It felt right to wear my Rasputin-like mammoth wooly to Ledi Makbet for instance. Only the Rupert Bear Guy - rushing into Ring 4 to catch the first act - looked momentarily startled.
 
Re: More Opera for Cinplex...

I hear the Met will be doing Die Walkure next season - with the same critically acclaimed combination of Adrianne Pieczonka as Sieglinde and Clifton Forbis as Siegmund that we enjoyed at the COC last fall.

Good for them.
 
Re: More Opera for Cinplex...

I think that's the final outing for the Met's late '80s production, and they are building a new one for 2012ish.
 
Re: More Opera for Cinplex...

I saw Eugene Onegin at the Scotiabank Theatre yesterday afternoon - all the seats were sold out as usual, and it was showing in a second theatre there. The manager told me they've added several new theatres for these live transmissions, and all are selling out. Will all this opera frenzy ever abate?

Great production. Dmitri's a doll. How could she not drop her wrinkly old Prince of a husband and run off with him at the end? Honestly, some girls have no idea ...

Yannick was a doll too, at the Bach B-Minor Mass on Friday night. He practically sculpted the sound and made it tangible. Another full house, natch. He said a few words at the reception about excellence and joy and stuff, and praised the Bach Consort for their fundraising concerts over the past 15 years, saying how much he enjoys working with them. All the musicians - several of whom are TSO members - and the vocal soloists, conductor and choir provide their services for free. Brett Polegato was particularly good, I thought. Yannick's coming back to conduct them in early 2008.

Last night Gunther Herbig conducted the TSO in Bruckner's 3rd. The band was as technically excellent as ever, though the performance didn't achieve quite the level of emotional lift-off I was hoping for. The strings, and Wagnerian-sounding horns were especially good, I thought. Angela Hewitt did Mozart in the first half - a late piece, subdued and rather melancholy.
 
Re: More Opera for Cinplex...

... and I see that they're rebroadcasting Eugene Onegin on April 7th at 13 locations in Ontario, including Scotiabank theatre ... and Silver City Burlington, just so tudararms can catch it.
 
Re: More Opera for Cinplex...

yeahbut not in Owen Sound, which has a very nice Galaxy multi-screen Cinema. If I end up at my parents' place over Easter Weekend, that would be the only way I'd get to see it. OWEN SOUND people!

42
 
Re: More Opera for Cinplex...

I believe that PBS will broadcast Onegin on April 21st, though I don't know which stations.

Wasn't it nice of them to give us free tickets again?
 
Re: More Opera for Cinplex...

Yes, it was an unexpected treat. Hooray for minor technical glitches!

(Patrons at the Yonge-Eglinton SilverCity, who also experienced the glitches, were not given free tickets.)

Thanks for the PBS Onegin scoop - I'll look for the broadcast info online.

42
 
Re: More Opera for Cinplex...

The Scotiabank Theatre staff obviously go in fear of displeasing anyone over 40 - they hand out free tickets to appease our misanticipated displeasure.

Quite a nice community is forming at these Saturday events. I'm going back on the 7th with my baritone friend.
 
Re: More Opera for Cinplex...

WGBH is showing Onegin on April 21st at 2 p.m.

What we lose in the acoustics we gain in the closeups at these big screen broadcasts. Hence, perhaps, Gelb's emphasis on pretty performers who can act - despite arguments that some of them can't sing.
 
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