Urban Shocker
Doyenne
The food was dreadful, too. They got nothing right. I never did figure out where they came from either. Not our galaxy I hope - that would be a disgrace.
TonyV's seeing Tosca tonight.
The reviews haven't been too good, so far.
Eh! Tony! Let us know!
i42: Meet at 7-ish on Saturday by the Henry Moore in the opera house?
My friend Ron may be there too, if he can get a rush seat. He'll move heaven and earth to see a few naked men singing, will that boy.
Jan 17: TSO / Oundjian all Mozart
Jan 29: COC - Tosca
Feb 2 : TSO / Dutoit & Capucon brothers
Feb 5 : COC - Janacek - House of the Dead
Feb 7 : TSO / J-P Saraste, Mahler 9th (and I do miss Jukka-Pekka, never did think I would)
I enjoyed it! I thought that the production was gorgeous. It is true that Eszter Sümegi did not come up to full throttle until about halfway through. I wanted more out of her voice, but when she finally presented it, wow. The Star was unkind to her acting, and I think that was unjustified. That's usually an easy critic, too; I was surprised to read him trashing something.
Of the two male leads, the bad guy, Scarpia, was excellent (Alan Opie) while Cavaradosi (Mikhail Agafanov) was good through most of it, but blew the prison scene. Actually, his singing was unsteady in that. Again the Star critic was pretty harsh; Scarpia was actually good.
I think the conductor (Buckley) has vicegrips on the score of this thing; something to behold.
Best of all was a gi-normous chorus and orchestra passage that ends the first act, a feast of sound that I won't forget for a while.
I love Puccini.