The Opera Tattler
Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
Month: March 2007
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* Notes * A few weeks before I was to catch the last performance of Tannhäuser in Los Angeles, I received an alarming postcard from the opera warning that viewer discretion was advised as there was nudity, sexual content, and strong language in the production. The bacchanalia was explicit, though watching scrawny ballet dancers prance…
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* Notes * Soprano Angela Gheorghiu gave a concert in Los Angeles last Saturday. The program was divided into a French section and an Italian section, there was much Gounod, Massenet, and Puccini. The orchestra played several overtures, some interspersed with the arias to give Gheorghiu time to rest or change outfits. Gheorghiu’s technique is…
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* Notes * The Eroica Trio played Beethoven's Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Piano in C major, Op. 56 with San Francisco Symphony in the second week of March. They were quite attractive but their playing was lush and rather romantic. This was not altogether bad given what they were playing, but at times it…
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* Notes * Händel's Giulio Cesare in Egitto opened for the first time in Seattle late last month. The production came from Florida Grand Opera and featured a great deal of dancing, choreographed by Donald Byrd. It was a bit loud and distracting at times. Paul Steinberg set had the effect of a pop-up book,…
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* Notes * Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater comes to Berkeley nearly every year, with several performances and more than one program. This year the New York based company was here from February 28 until March 4, and I attended the first performance. They opened with Twyla Tharp’s The Golden Section from 1983, with music…
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* Notes * Last Saturday's evening performance of Die Zauberflöte at the Metropolitan Opera was remarkable, though not for the singing. Julie Taymor's untraditional production was elaborate and whimsical, her costumes seemed to have Persian and Japanese influences. The production made ample use of puppetry to good effect. The kite-like fabric puppets were manipulated with…
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* Notes * Last Saturday's matinee of Eugene Onegin at the Metropolitan Opera was sold out, but was broadcast in movie theatres in seven countries. The production was done by Robert Carsen, with sets and costumes by Michael Levine. The sets were rather minimal, the first half has a bunch of autumnal leaves on the…
The Opera Tattler 