The Opera Tattler

Reviews of Performances and their Audiences

Recent posts

  • Messiah at SFS

    Messiah* Notes *
     Of Händel's 29 oratorios, Messiah is far and away the most performed, and is the composer's most famous work. Messiah has returned again to San Francisco Symphony for a couple of performances, conducted by Ragnar Bohlin, who is the new director of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus. Bohlin made his debut conducting at Davies Hall yesterday. The chorus sounded lovely. The orchestra, on the other hand, did not quite have it together for the soprano recitative right after the "Pifa." The violins were slightly fast, or else the cello and organ were slow. The trumpet sounded especially fine in the bass air "The Trumpet Shall Sound."

    The bass soloist, Patrick Carfizzi, was underpowered, he did sound nice when only accompanied by harpsichord. Some of his transitions were slightly muddy. Shawn Mathey, the tenor, lacked heft, and at times he was also difficult to hear. Mezzo-soprano Tove Dahlberg has a much brighter voice, with good resonance and depth. She did have a little too much vibrato for her higher notes in "O Thou That Tellest Good Tidings to Zion." The soprano, Camilla Tilling, had good control of both her vibrato and volume, and though sometimes strained, never sounded shrill. All the soloists had fine diction.

    * Tattling *
    The symphony audience was well-behaved, even for this very famous work that must have drawn people that do not normally go to Davies Hall. I did hear two watch alarms during "I Know that My Redeemer Liveth." However, many people did leave early. The middle part of the Center Terrace was completely full for the first half of the performance, and there were noticeably less people for the second half.  A few people also left after the famous "Hallelujah" chorus, which also garnered the only applause during actual piece.

    Camilla Tilling looked beautiful in a satin pearl grey dress with a ruched bodice. Tove Dahlberg is possibly the only performer I have ever seen carry off wearing a strapless gown. Her posture is good and her shoulders are pretty. It must have been cold though, for she put on a wrap for the second half.

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  • Saawariya on NPR

    Saawariya Today NPR’s Morning Edition aired a story on Sony and Saawariya, a film based on Dostoevsky’s 1848 "White Nights." Saawariya was released the same weekend as Om Shanti Om, but was panned by critics, including Komal Nahata, the regular reviewer on the BBC Asian Network’s Love Bollywood, who was interviewed for this story.

    Both Saawariya and Om Shanti Om are still playing at the Naz 8 in Fremont. However, I was planning on seeing Aaja Nachle instead, though Nahata did not like it, Love Bollywood presenters Raj and Pablo did, and said the dancing was good. This is no surprise, given that Madhuri Dixit has training in Kathak, and the film Aaja Nachle is about saving a dance school.http://us.geocities.com/js_source/geovck08.js

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  • 2008 Adler Fellows

    Adlers-2008 The seven new Adler Fellows for 2008 are Tamara Wapinsky, Daveda Karanas, Daniela Mack, Andrew Bidlack, Alek Shrader, Kenneth Kellogg, and Lara Bolton. They join current fellows Heidi Melton, Ji Young Yang, Katharine Tier, and Matthew Piatt.

    Daniela Mack will be singing at a Schwabacher Debut Recital on Sunday, April 6, 2008, as will Heidi Melton on Sunday, April 27, 2008. The Adlers will all perform in The Future Is Now: Adler Fellows Gala Concert scheduled for December 6, 2008.

    The Adler Fellowship Program is named after Kurt Herbert Adler, the second general director of San Francisco Opera. This residency program gives young singers a chance to perform on the main stage in small roles.

    Press Release [PDF] | SF Opera Adler Fellow Web Site

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  • Opera Intake for Fall 2007

    CeilingLast June I went to San Francisco Opera sixteen times (seventeen if one counts the rehearsal of Der Rosenkavalier I went to), and while that is excessive, one should note that there were only three productions, and only twenty-one performances. I only missed one performance of Don Giovanni because one of my best friends was getting her PhD that weekend, but I saw every performance of Iphigénie en Tauride.

    When this season started, I told myself I was not allowed to go to the opera four times a week. I tried my best to monitor my opera intake, and I have improved. Here is the break-down, from September 4 to December 9, 2007:

    Samson et Dalila: 3 of 8, plus 1 rehearsal
    Tannhäuser: 5 of 7
    Appomattox: 2 of 7, plus 1 rehearsal
    Die Zauberflöte: 3 of 9
    La Rondine: 3 of 7
    Macbeth: 4 of 7, plus 1 rehearsal
    The Rake’s Progress: 5 of 6
    Madama Butterfly: 3 of 5

    Total: 28 of 56 performances, plus 3 rehearsals

    I also went to see The Turn of the Screw at Oakland Opera Theater and Iphigénie en Tauride at Seattle Opera. Counting all performances and rehearsals, I went to the opera only about twice a week.

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  • Closing of The Rake’s Progress

    Rakecar* Notes *
    The Rake’s Progress closed today with a Sunday matinée, and to my surprise, I attended, as I was offered a seat from a friend. This season I have avoided Sunday performances, as they are extraordinarily popular. Also, the last performances at the end of the year are crowded, after my experience with the     closing of Carmen last year, I was not too keen on experiencing something like that again. The staging went well today, I did not hear any stage managers and the only thing that was really loud was when they were placing the trailer. The set is clever, and this production is a testament to how one can have both novelty and invention without distracting from the drama and music. The only truly weak part may have been the Bedlam scene, though I appreciate that the persistence of certain stage elements must have been important to the set designer and director. The sunken area of the lunatic asylum is clearly the same space delineated in the earlier swimming pool scene. Unfortunately, having the singers in that small space, the chorus and the principals, was strange. Worse, it cut them off from the audience, and lowered the dramatic tension. Perhaps the scene read better in the balcony.

    The orchestra sounded better than opening night, but not quite up to their very best. I consistently found both James Morris (Nick Shadow) and Trulove (Kevin Langan) more difficult to hear than the other lead singers. Morris has had perfect comic timing throughout. Langan’s acting was good, suitably skeptical of Tom in the beginning, sympathetic at the madhouse. Denyce Graves had a huge presence and I especially adored her in "You Love Him, Seek To Set Him Right." At times her voice was somewhat harsh, but it was fine for this role. Laura Aikin’s high notes were lovely, her Anne Trulove never had too much vibrato. William Burden was marvelous in the title role, his voice lucid and his acting brilliant.

    * Tattling *
    A young woman in Box W arrived late, and she took off one of her shoes and put her foot on an empty chair. She was unable to do this during the second half of the opera, as people were seated in the second row (she was in the third). After the opera, I noticed she was limping, so it was probably a sprain.

    The costume for Nick Shadow in his last scene is a red unitard covered with strips of material. I believe it is meant to make him look as if he is being consumed in flames, but to me it just looks like a chicken suit.

    For my own amusement, I tried to dress like a 1940s Hollywood starlet, wearing my hair in the manner of Veronica Lake. Baritone Frederick Matthews complimented my shoes.

    Fluevogbacall

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  • End of 2007 Tattling

    SfoperafirealarmSomeone one pulled a fire alarm just a few minutes before yesterday’s performance of The Rake’s Progress was to begin, so we all had to file out and everything started half an hour late. This hasn’t happened in awhile, but I remember a rash of fire alarm pulling in 2005. Later, everyone laughed at the recorded message reminding us to locate the nearest exit in case of an emergency. The cast still sounded very good, despite the delay.

    Today standing room was quite full for Racette’s last performance of Madama Butterfly this season. Before the performance, David Gockley came on stage, and reassured us everyone would still be singing. He lead us in applause, recorded for a possible DVD or some such thing. He used the word vociferous more than once. I don’t think I can convey how absurd this was. The performance itself was strong, and I was able to appreciate Racette and Jovanovich more, having seen the second cast.

    There were signs that informed the audience the would be recorded, the language used was really quite amusing, and thankfully I got a photograph of it. I especially like the sentence "By attending this event, you are consenting and hereby grant permission to San Francisco Opera or its designees, and its employees, successors, and assignees, licensees and agents to utilize your appearance, image, voice, and likeness, in perpetuity, in any and all manner and form and format of media throughout the world, now known or hereafter devised, including but not limited to recordings, broadcasts, or webcasts of the event you are attending."

    Sfoperarelease

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  • Madama Butterfly Alternate Cast

    Butterflycostume* Notes *
    The alternate cast of Madama Butterfly performed the first of two performances at San Francisco Opera yesterday evening. Julian Smith did not take the tempi as fast as Runnicles, and though the orchestra was together, some of the woodwinds and horns did not sound their best. I believe the oboe sounded especially strange at the end of Act I, before the love duet, as Butterfly is undressing.

    Marie Plette started off with lots of vibrato, and I was afraid I would be wincing for the rest of the evening, but once she warmed up, she sounded quite pretty. I remembered, when I read the program, that I did not like her in Seattle’s latest Don Giovanni, but as Butterfly she was good. Her characterization of Butterfly certainly is different than Racette’s, Plette is sweeter and more doll-like, she has more delicacy. Plette also has better posture. James Valenti was not as strong as Jovanovich in the role of Pinkerton. Vocally he was, at times, overwhelmed by both the orchestra and by Plette. His voice certainly is lovely, just a tad quiet. Valenti came off as milder in his acting as well, his movements were not as confident or boorish as they could have been. He was plaintive in his last appearance in Act II.

    This particular production reads well in the back of the balcony, there were no times when I felt that OperaVision was revealing something I would have completely missed had it not been there. It was easier to appreciate how well Stephen Strawbridge’s lighting design worked from further away. This time I also noticed that Butterfly’s headdress is different than in 2006, instead of a circle of cloth, it is a drape of flowers.

    * Tattling *
    The house was not entirely full, though standing room was fairly crowded. I got to the box office a few minutes after 10 am, and was 22nd in line. I was able to stand behind an empty seat for the whole performance. There were quite a few latecomers that talked during the music in Act I, but by Act II the stragglers were comfortably in their seats. The applause was good and there were definitely sniffles, though Plette did not get a standing ovation in the balcony.

    I was in my usual spot in the North Box Bar, having a champagne and strawberry dinner before the performance, and I left a bit early to go all the way to the top, intending to return at intermission. Apparently someone took the bottle of champagne to another table and started drinking it out of a water glass, and my server had to shoo him away. Hilarious! I do feel bad for the server though, it is no fun to have to ask people to behave themselves.

    In that vein, my credit card was found yesterday, and I received a call about it in the afternoon, after I had retrieved my standing room ticket in the morning and returned to work in the East Bay. Unfortunate, given that I do not have time to get to the city early today, and they are not open on the week end. However, I am quite glad it has been found.

    As an entertaining aside, I noticed quite a few women wearing Chinese or Japanese-inspired clothing to Madama Butterfly, including one person in a kimono and obi. I’m hardly one to judge appropriate attire, given that my main purpose in dressing up is to look as ridiculous as possible. However, I do find it odd that one would wish to dress up in the costumes of the culture being appropriated on stage. I don’t think it is wrong, I just don’t get it. The whole premise of Madama Butterfly makes me uncomfortable, so that certainly has something to do with it. Maybe next time Die Entführung comes to town I shall attend wearing a fez with my Turkish costume.

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  • Thoughts On A Season of Glamour

    Dressbarn_2Of late, every time I pass Dress Barn I think of San Francisco Opera's most recent promotional materials for subscriptions. "A Season of Glamour," indeed. This is the worst time of the year for me, because by next week, San Francisco Opera will have finished the Fall part of the season, and it will be all Nutcracker all the time at the War Memorial Opera House. Thirty performances in eighteen days! At least when the Summer part of the season is over, I only have to wait a month. Soon I will have no excuse to dress like I've been attacked by a blind post-modern square dancer. In the meantime, I suspect I will go see Otello, Der Zwerg, and Der zerbrochene Krug in Los Angeles, and I Puritani in Seattle. If I become desperate, I will also go hear the Puccini offerings at Los Angeles Opera, but I doubt it will come to that.

    San Francisco Opera General Director David Gockley's first season hasn't been too shabby so far. Of the eight productions, I thought I would like Die Zauberflöte most, but I was most moved by Tannhäuser. Though there were some stupid things about the latter's staging, on the whole I found it held up, unlike Macbeth. Macbeth certainly was the most entertaining offering all season, and Thomas Hampson's singing was my favorite this Fall. William Burden in The Rake's Progress was a close second for me. Usually I'm quite crazy for the ladies, so I'm a bit taken aback by this. Needless to say, I can hardly contain my excitement about Ariodante in the Summer. Ruth Ann Swenson, Susan Graham, and Ewa Podleś in Händel sounds almost overwhelming.

    Appomattox did not annoy me as much I thought it would, in fact, I have to admit I liked it. (Though I could have been spared the message, as if I needed Philip Glass to tell me that racism still exists in the United States.) Madama Butterfly also was a surprise, everything just came together. I was underwhelmed by Samson et Dalila and La Rondine, in spite of Borodina and Gheorghiu, both of whom have amazed me in other performances.

    Unlike many others, I did not dislike David Gockley's predecessor, Pamela Rosenberg. Even still, Gockley has made some good improvements. We have been getting many good singers lately. I also like the earlier start times and fewer intermissions. Technology certainly has been embraced in OperaVision, podcasts, and simulcasts. Some of this has been great, but I have noticed the house has become much noisier. I've heard stage managers in Macbeth and The Rake's Progress, headphone noise, and the like. At least Gockley seems receptive to criticism, he does call himself "Mr. Customer Service" and "Mr. Hospitality" in his introduction to the 2007-2008 Season, and he periodically holds question and answer sessions after performances.

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  • Discontent

    A couple of weeks ago I left my credit card at the North Box Bar, I think I must have been overwhelmed by the opening of Macbeth. The card was turned into lost and found, but I did not manage to get there in time, so they supposedly sent it to the War Memorial Executive Offices over in the Veterans Building. This morning I went over there, but alack, my card was not there, and had not been logged as missing. Everyone I talked to was very nice, but I think it is time to give up and cancel the card.

    Just before that I went to get standing room tickets for tonight’s performance of The Rake’s Progress, and for the first time, was not allowed to buy more than two. I rarely need to buy more than two tickets, but usually if I need an extra, the box office people will sell me one. It just means I have to go to the box office again, which is not terrible, just not the most convenient.

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  • Anna Karenina

    Cuttlefish in Anna KareninaAt the moment I am reading the Pevear/Volokhonsky translation of War and Peace. Though I attended a performance of Prokofiev’s opera at the Met a few years ago, I stubbornly refused to read the titles. Thus I did not manage to piece together the plot, as my Russian skills are minimal, so the book has not been spoilt for me. Last month I finished reading Anna Karenina, unwittingly following one Ms. Winfrey, whose show I have never watched. Most of Part 5, Chapter 33 of Anna Karenina occurs at the opera.

    Vronsky, listening with one ear, moved his opera glass from the stalls and scanned the boxes. Near a lady in a turban and a bald old man, who seemed to wave angrily in the moving opera glass, Vronsky suddenly caught sight of Anna’s head, proud, strikingly beautiful, and smiling in the frame of lace. She was in the fifth box, twenty paces from him. She was sitting in front, and slightly turning, was saying something to Yashvin. The setting of her head on her handsome, broad shoulders, and the restrained excitement and brilliance of her eyes and her whole face reminded him of her just as he had seen her at the ball in Moscow. But he felt utterly different towards her beauty now. In his feeling for her now there was no element of mystery, and so her beauty, though it attracted him even more intensely than before, gave him now a sense of injury. She was not looking in his direction, but Vronsky felt that she had seen him already.

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