Playing the Peasant for Don Giovanni
I have a confession to make. Mozart puts me in a somnolent mood. Although I am quickly made to feel like an operatic pariah at my admission, Mozart has never riled my blood the way other composers do. But that didn’t stop me from seeing Don Giovanni, one of my four “must-see” Mozart operas. As…
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Der Rosenkavalier, Circa 1911
Richard Strauss must have had an unusual sense of humor. While Der Rosenkavalier is not as much of a cerebral conundrum as Ariadne auf Naxos, the wild comic relief of the former opera is enough to cement its composer as a farcical magician. Offsetting Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s risible libretto, Strauss’s music melts into euphoric rhapsody.…
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Fifties Falstaff
“A Cad’s Comic Comeuppance” This alliteration advocate certainly appreciated the Met’s promotional tagline for the upcoming performance of Falstaff ! And on April Fools’ Day, it couldn’t have been more fitting. As the final opera of a venerable 79-year-old Giuseppe Verdi, Falstaff doesn’t follow in the steps of the slew of tragedies and dramas that…
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Lohengrin: Swan Knight Bride
It’s no secret that I love a good secret, especially when that secret surrounds the identity of an individual. Much like my all-time favorite opera, Turandot, the German fairytale of Lohengrin is shrouded in mystery as to the name and origins of its central character. But my penchant for sworn confidences is only part of…
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La Traviata: The Real Violetta
With the satellite repaired at my local haunt, I returned to the theater to punch my ticket for La Traviata, an opera, which, while not a favorite of mine, is one that cannot be denied no matter how many times it is shown in the theaters ─ the music is just too good ! After…
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Turandot ─ My Favorite Opera
How much do I love Puccini’s final opera, Turandot ? Well… I own two complete recordings, which I listen to very often… …have a poster in my room… …and it has been rumored to be true that I’ve flown out of my bedroom like a bat when the sound of someone singing “Nessun dorma” on…
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Don Carlos
Verdi’s Don Carlos offers audiences a gripping spectacle of grand opera. With the backdrop of the 16th century Spanish court during the Inquisition, the pallor of death reigns over the piece with dark drama eking out from every crevice. Furthermore, the interpersonal relationships and the conflict between duty, love, and country offer opportunities for theatrical…
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Ariadne auf Naxos
If there is an opera that causes more bouts of stifled exasperation or muddled confusion than Ariadne auf Naxos, its title remains a mystery. The music─ sublime, the plot─ a headscratcher; Strauss’s “opera within an opera” elicits both “ahhs !” as well as “huhs ?!” At least, that’s how I felt when I viewed the…
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Art Deco Rigoletto
Even if you’ve never seen the opera Rigoletto, you are most likely familiar with the Verdi work by its famous, hummable aria, “La donna è mobile,” heard everywhere from TV commercials to Italian restaurants. While I had the chance of watching a Rat Pack, neon-bedecked, “Vegas” Rigoletto during the Met’s free streaming at the time…
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My Halloween Costumes From Years Past
Long before I ever started dressing up in costume for the operas, I spent much of my Septembers and Octobers surreptitiously slaving away in my small bedroom on my Halloween costume for the year. Unsurprisingly, Halloween is my favorite holiday ─ not because of witches and ghouls and black and orange décor, but simply because…
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Boris Godunov
Opera is back at the Met for the 2021-2022 season with its Live in HD opener, Boris Godunov, a Pushkin-based Russian opera about a dubious tsar and the haunting of his rise to power. To scale down production, this was the first time that the Met performed the opera in its original 1869 format, which…
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Rusalka
Dvořák’s opera of a water nymph who desires to be human should be familiar territory to anyone who has read or seen “The Little Mermaid” in any of its contexts. Whether it be the Hans Christian Andersen tale or Disney’s beloved movie, “The Little Mermaid” has had an endearing effect on the public. As someone…
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Die Zauberflöte ─ The Queen of the Night
If you have a penchant for fairy tales like I do, you’ll find genuine delight in Mozart’s final opera, Die Zauberflöte. Centered around a quest for truth and knowledge (and a damsel in distress), the opera is as noble as its hero, Tamino. Between stipulated testing and bravery of self-determination, I willingly succumbed to the…
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Porgy and Bess
Folk tale. Sing-a-long staple. Twentieth century masterpiece. Porgy and Bess is beloved for many reasons, but there’s probably none greater than being America’s opera. The title protagonists ─ lovable cripple, Porgy, and well-meaning drug addict, Bess, offer glimpses of an unlikely love by an even more unlikely pair in the Gershwins’ classic, which features hit…
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Met Stars Live in Concert: Lise Davidsen
Relatively unknown to the world, dramatic soprano Lise Davidsen has been forging a meteoric rise to stardom with her powerful voice that has some critics calling her “the great Wagnerian promise of her generation.” With as much hype (and height ─ Lise is nearly 6’2″ !) surrounding the shy, Norwegian native, my interest in seeing…
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Carmen
“Love is a rebellious bird that no one can tame… And if I love you, watch out !” Act I ─ Carmen Opera’s most notorious femme fatale finally sashayed her way into the theater after keeping me waiting for years. Truthfully, I have longed to see Carmen for two reasons. First, the bouncing music, which…
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Madama Butterfly (2016)
Tragedies have always attracted me. Fully aware that the ending will be sad and the experience will most likely cause some degree of physical and emotional depletion, I still find myself being drawn to the most dramatic literary form like a batty moth to a glaring light. And when one of opera’s most famous tragedies…
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Die Walküre
I couldn’t have asked for a better opera for my first outing of Wagner: from Bugs Bunny to WWE wrestler walk-up music, Die Walküre’s fame and legacy permeates all realms of music and culture. Who hasn’t heard the irresistibly iconic “Ride of the Valkyries” or been amused by the warrior women with braids and Viking…
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Madama Butterfly (2019)
Arguably the most heartbreaking of all operas, Madama Butterfly fully represents one of the key reasons why I love opera so much: it unearths emotions in me that I rarely feel otherwise. One cannot help but be mortally affected by the tragedy of the teenaged geisha as she bestows complete faith in a foreigner she…
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La Traviata ─ the little red dress
Everyone knows La Traviata. Whether you’re an exuberant opera fan or not, the tuneful music that sets the story of the consumptive courtesan, Violetta, is as recognizable as the Ten Commandments are to a man without Faith. From countless television commercials, to the iconic chick flick, “Pretty Woman”, it’s hardly a secret that Verdi’s 1853…
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Turandot (2019)
Hope. Blood. Turandot ! If my first brush with opera in 2015 hadn’t of been so life-altering, Puccini’s grandest spectacle (and final opera) would be the undisputed favorite of my heart. I remember when I first saw the opera in theaters in early 2016: it was the encore showing the following Wednesday evening since I…
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Tosca
With a static setting of June 17-18, 1800, how does a stage director erect an enlivened production of Puccini’s Tosca ? When tasked to the capable hands of Sir David McVicar, the opera, no matter the setting, is bound to be a hit. That prediction held true: the Met’s enthralling new production of Tosca was…
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Adriana Lecouvreur
It has been quipped that in order to perform Adriana Lecouvreur successfully, real-life divas must be cast. Art must imitate life and despite thrilling drama and chest-heaving music, the current stock of bona fide divas is rather sparse. Therefore, Adriana Lecouvreur remains mostly on the shelf of the operatic repertoire. However, the Met assembled a…
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Aida
Aida is a grand opera. There are horses. There are ballet numbers. There are massive sets and ornate costumes. And what could be grander than having Anna Netrebko headline the Met’s 2018-2019 Live in HD season opener ? I’ll be the first one to admit that Aida has never interested me. Whether it be the…
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Manon
The score of Manon is a sensual pleasure for the ears… It’s a pity that I wasn’t more enthused about opera from the get-go ! But after my repelling experience with Puccini’s Manon Lescaut in 2016, I was tepid to take on the French version of the same tale. However, I sought to give the…
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Costume Closet Couture 