This week on Rhode Island Public television,
WSBE: (Comcast 294, Cox 808, Full Channel 109, and Verizon 478)
DON GIOVANNI
Great Performances at the Met
|
Saturday, March 22 -- 8:00pm; Sunday, March 23 -- 3:00am; Monday, March 24 -- 12:00am
Don Giovanni
Baritone Mariusz Kwiecien stars as the serial seducer "Don Giovanni," who swaggers his way to eternal damnation in this production of Mozart's 1787 masterpiece, which costars soprano Barbara Frittoli as the fiery Donna Elvira.
DURATION: 180 MIN
DETAILS: [CC] [STEREO]
GENRE: PARENTS PICKS
SYNOPSIS: http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/season/synopsis/don-giovanni
Luca Pisaroni sings "Madamina"
from Don Giovanni; to hear, click here:
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Why do these things happen RIGHT AFTER I post the blog??
Rosie’s Corner
I turned on the radio in time to hear Terry Gross, host of
Fresh Air, say that she has recently fallen in love with opera and that she was
interviewing dramatic soprano Dolora Zajick.
It won't be on podcast until tonight but if you can catch
today's (Wednesday's, March 19) Fresh Air on the radio, it is on today.
http://www.npr.org/programs/fresh-air/
 |
| Dolora Zajick as the princess, Amneris, in AIDA |
Let
Sippy Cups Into the Metropolitan Opera
By
Manuela Hoelterhoff Feb 28, 2014 12:00
AM ET
Could
attending the Metropolitan Opera be made a bit more pleasant?
Not for
the first time, I wondered about this possibility the other night when winter
winds mowed down frailer ticketholders as they shivered in the narrow strip
that passes for a lobby.
The Met
is huge. On that rare sold-out night, almost 4000 people squeeze past the “have
your tickets ready” phalanx of doormen who funnel us through the ticket-control
people.
Why is
there no lobby? Because the architect forgot to build one! Yes, that oversight
happened some 60 years ago and might have been addressed by now -- after all,
Lincoln Center was imaginatively reconceived quite recently at the cost of
billions. But no.
It’s
not a bad idea to wear a nice hat like Brunnhilde when you go to the Met during
a polar vortex.
Or
secrete a screw-top split of wine into a muff like Mimi’s, since the Met’s few
bars exist to thwart you from drinking. The lines are ridiculous. A friend
claims they are really run by a secret outpost of AA.
This is
so strange. If the performance is less than wonderful, you might need the
solace of a drink. If Jonas Kaufmann has just made you delirious with his
rendition of Werther’s ode to nature, you might want to celebrate with a glass
of champagne. Why is this difficult to arrange?
The
dingiest crush bar in London lets you reserve drinks for intermission.
Hungry
folks don’t fare well either. Who makes these huge sandwiches? Godzilla? You
need claws to unwrap the cellophane.
Perhaps
the Met, which collaborates on productions with the classy Bayerische
Staatsoper, could borrow their caterers as well? In Munich, every ticket holder
is made to feel special.
The
place glitters at intermission. The champagne bar gets pretty crowded, but
elegant little sandwich plates are handed over quickly. Those ice-cream ladies
ladling raspberry sauce over lovely scoops of smooth vanilla. Heaven!
Back at
the Met, you can trudge down to the dismally lit coffee place downstairs near
the car park and have a giant cookie. Couldn’t an effort be made to provide
something a little less ordinary?
The
Bathrooms
And
what is that tacky souvenir table doing right smack in the middle of the stairs
leading to the orchestra seating? How smart is that? I don’t want a blouse
right now, thank you.
En
route, the carpet is worn and patched with duct tape.
Money
of course would solve a lot of problems, along with a little flair, better
lighting and more bathrooms.
How
many more years do women have to spend inching toward the bathrooms? Can’t a
rich female sponsor associated with promoting women take up the cause? Adrienne
Arsht comes to mind.
The Met
spent millions on rebuilding the stage to support the “Ring” cycle sets. How
about doing some renovations out front?
Ticket
sales are down. There are many reasons for that, but changing audiences are
surely one. The place needs to get a buzz going and reinvent itself the way the
Public Theater recently did with a new lobby, sparkling bathrooms, and a
cocktail bar and supper club which stays open outside performance hours.
Looking
Ahead
My
ideas:
1. Open
the Met an hour before, not half an hour, so people can mingle.
2.
Morph the useless and unloved gallery into a bar.
3. Turn
the souvenir shop into a media center showcasing material from the company’s
huge archives and information on new productions. Move the press room from its
dim hole by the bathrooms and provide seating for visitors to tweet. There’s
hardly any old-style press left anyway.
4. Get
rid of the overpriced Grand Tier restaurant, which blights a huge swathe of
territory underneath one of the two murals by Chagall. Have designer David
Rockwell and Chef Marcus Samuelsson create a casual dining space with bar
tables and sofas that flows across to the other Chagall.
5. Drop
that pompous “no seating once the performance starts” ukase. This is a place of
entertainment. Every act has a moment that is less sacred than others.
Sippy
Cup
6.
Permit drinks inside like the Brooklyn Academy of Music and most New York
theaters. For a long show in cramped seats, a sippy cup can be your friend.
7.
Expand and encourage the use of a free coat check. The auditorium often looks
like a refugee center.
8. In
nice weather, fill that loggia with bars on both ends and students from
Juilliard next door playing operatic transcriptions that drift enticingly to
pedestrians below.
9.
Start performing on Sundays. Is there another opera company or theater that
shuts down on Sunday to please unions?
10.
Hire a charismatic music director to articulate a vision for the future and
excite a new generation. James Levine, here since 1971, has never become a
public personality identified with New York. What is wrong with “emeritus”? The
Met needs a visible, socially engaged leader to supplement general manager
Peter Gelb. We need someone like Gustavo Dudamel in Los Angeles or Riccardo
Muti in Chicago. It’s time for a change.
(Manuela
Hoelterhoff is an executive editor at Bloomberg News. All opinions are her
own.)
To
contact the reporter on this story: Manuela Hoelterhoff in New York at
mhoelterhoff@bloomberg.net
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OPERA ON THE INTERNET
WITH
DAVE D' AGUANNO
This coming Saturday (March 22), on many internet radio
stations, the LIVE performance from the Met of Berg's "Wozzeck" can
be heard. Appearing in the 2 major roles of Wozzeck and Marie will be baritone
Thomas Hampson and soprano Deborah Voigt.
If the music of "Wozzeck" may be considered to be a
little too "modern" for some opera fans, they can no doubt take
pleasure in the other offerings on Saturday, chief among them being
the broadcast (from March 8) of Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro."
The performance comes to us from Vienna and can be heard on ORF.
Also, an interesting and infrequently performed work appears on French
Radio: It's Rameau's 1747 opera-ballet "Les Fetes de l'Hymen & de
l'Amour" in a performance from Paris which took place on March 11.
How about a little Rossini to brighten things up even more? The
popularity of his comedy "Le Comte Ory" may not exactly rival that of
his earlier "Barber of Seville" or "Cenerentola" but this
particular work seems to be popping up everywhere as of late. The performance
being broadcast this weekend is from Lyons and took place on February 21 of
this year.
Appearing on Swedish Radio is an all-time Puccini favorite --
"La Boheme" -- in a LIVE performance from Malmo.
And let's not forget the Met's free LIVE audio-stream, which has
Giordano's "Andrea Chenier" on its schedule for Monday evening
(March 24). It's the season premiere broadcast of the opera with tenor Marcelo
Alvarez and soprano Patricia Racette in two of the leading roles.
Enjoy!
DAVE
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The Met
Saturday afternoon radio broadcast
Berg's
Wozzeck
March 22, 2014 1:00 pm ET
Levine; voigt, o'Neill, Hoare, Hampson, Bayley
Synopsis:
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NO OPERA ON WGBH TV
THIS WEEK!
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