After Die Zauberflöte
Amazing performance, yet again. We got there at the same time as we did for Hoffmann, but there were easily twice as many people. We waited in line in front of this group of Japanese tourists, so I got to practice my comprehension in that other language I only sort-of know. By the time we got to the ticket counter they still had spots on the orchestra level, but what I didn't realize is that they REALLY crowd people into the standing room. At Hoffmann there were enough people for one person per subtitle screen, but there were easily 1/2 again as many there tonight....people in two rows behind the last rail, in the aisle, everywhere. Thank God I'm not claustrophobic.....I went with 5 other IES students, so we all squished into one row. Here's the breakdown:
Act I: First, overture. Definitely the best live Mozart I've heard....well, ever. The conductor was....I forget her name, but she was the only woman in the orchestra. The set had a half-moon full of stars along the house left side, and a green impressionist-looking pattern on the curtain and the house right side wall. The set basically comprised of a big open cube with Tron-esque lines on all sides....the bottom side (on which a great percentage of the action took place) was tilted about 20º ccw, the right and upper sides of the cube can swing out, and there's a curtain type thing which occasionally swung out to make the 6th side of the cube, for instance, the first time it opened was the three ladies as they slayed the largest dragon I've ever seen on stage....it wrapped around the entire cube and went almost down into the pit, and each part was individually animated by a stagehand in black. Behind the cube sometimes there was a moon above a woman's face (for the Queen) and sometimes a sun over an eye (for Sarastro). There were tons of little openings in the walls and the floor, and also a little cube downstage which was used to conceal people and the like. Tamino (Roberto Saccá) was good, but really honky on "Dies Bildnis" (I know it's tough, but this is the freakin' Staatsoper) The three ladies, also very good. The boys were from the Sängerknaben (the Vienna Boys Choir) so they were naturally good. They were dressed in white and had different headpieces....Tom-Sawyer-like indian headdress, bowler hat, and some other ridiculous thing...but in the second act they were wearing 18th century getups, complete with wigs! Whatever...The Queen (Milagros Poblador, who played Olympia last night) was pretty good, although she did that sing-in-the-mouth thing which I still think sounds weird....whatever. She was a great Olympia! Pamina, played by Genia Kühmeier, was nothing short of amazing, though....her voice was absolutely stunning. Monostatos....OK, although I couldn't really hear him. The priests were very good, and Sarastro (Alfred Reiter) really shone on his low notes....not so much with overall phrasing, but he had a nice tone. Papageno (Wolfgang Bankl).....well, what can I say about Papageno? The funniest part of the whole show was when he compares the portrait of Pamina to the genuine article....he goes down the list of traits, starting with Pamina's blond hair. Now, Genia Kühmeier has lovely dark brown hair....so Papageno looks at the portrait, says "Blonde Haare:" looks at Genia, and says to the audience "na ja..." It was HI-larious. There were lots of memorable little touches....during "Der Vogelfänger" there where little fake birds flying around the stage on wires, one of which Papageno caught (although it bit him....ha ha ha). During "Wie stark ist nicht dein Zauberton," a scheißload of supernumeraries in animal outfits came on stage, including two crocodiles holding hands, a hippopotamus with a ghetto-booty to rival my own, and a really cute giraffe that re-appeared many times throughout the show. It was a really cute effect.
Act II: WAYY longer than I realized.....and I mean way longer. I forget that whenever I listen to it I skip like half the second act, along with all of the talking parts. It was interesting....the chamber of trials was a big cube within the huge stage-cube, which got all red for the fire part and started leaking water during the flood part....it was cool. Papagena was really, really good.....during the end of their duet he started taking of layers of her bird-petticoat thing (the velcro was pretty loud) until she was in these pantaloon-type things, at which point they ran after each other while singing about all the children they were going to make, presumably on stage in front of us. It was a pretty suggestive approach, but when you think about it, it's a pretty suggestive duet. The end was really, really strange. When all the bad guys are "cast into eternal darkness" they just sort of faint on stage, only to be resurrected by the three boys during the final chorus. The boys also bring Papagena and Papageno out of the small cube which they went into to make their babies, and somehow managed to reach in and fish out a little boy and girl, also dressed in Papageno-costume. The whole thing reeked of Deus ex Machina, what with everyone (Queen, ladies, moor, and all) dancing around at the end and being all happy. Oh well, I suppose it's all for the best. The production was amazing....the only real detraction was the insane amount of people crammed into the Stehplatz, and the resulting heat. Note to self: try not to go on weekends!
In the early afternoon we took an IES-sponsored bus tour around Vienna....I won't talk about it much, mostly because I'm way to tired, but also because I'll be re-visiting almost all of the places we went and describing them here in more detail. We stopped at the Belvedere.....it was just absolutely beautiful. I'll have to go back there, if for no other reason than the great art museums there that we didn't get a chance to visit. We also went to the Hundertwasser house, where I got some grerat photos. Hopefully I can upload another batch of photos tomorrow....I also have to study for my first German test! AHH! ^_^
Act I: First, overture. Definitely the best live Mozart I've heard....well, ever. The conductor was....I forget her name, but she was the only woman in the orchestra. The set had a half-moon full of stars along the house left side, and a green impressionist-looking pattern on the curtain and the house right side wall. The set basically comprised of a big open cube with Tron-esque lines on all sides....the bottom side (on which a great percentage of the action took place) was tilted about 20º ccw, the right and upper sides of the cube can swing out, and there's a curtain type thing which occasionally swung out to make the 6th side of the cube, for instance, the first time it opened was the three ladies as they slayed the largest dragon I've ever seen on stage....it wrapped around the entire cube and went almost down into the pit, and each part was individually animated by a stagehand in black. Behind the cube sometimes there was a moon above a woman's face (for the Queen) and sometimes a sun over an eye (for Sarastro). There were tons of little openings in the walls and the floor, and also a little cube downstage which was used to conceal people and the like. Tamino (Roberto Saccá) was good, but really honky on "Dies Bildnis" (I know it's tough, but this is the freakin' Staatsoper) The three ladies, also very good. The boys were from the Sängerknaben (the Vienna Boys Choir) so they were naturally good. They were dressed in white and had different headpieces....Tom-Sawyer-like indian headdress, bowler hat, and some other ridiculous thing...but in the second act they were wearing 18th century getups, complete with wigs! Whatever...The Queen (Milagros Poblador, who played Olympia last night) was pretty good, although she did that sing-in-the-mouth thing which I still think sounds weird....whatever. She was a great Olympia! Pamina, played by Genia Kühmeier, was nothing short of amazing, though....her voice was absolutely stunning. Monostatos....OK, although I couldn't really hear him. The priests were very good, and Sarastro (Alfred Reiter) really shone on his low notes....not so much with overall phrasing, but he had a nice tone. Papageno (Wolfgang Bankl).....well, what can I say about Papageno? The funniest part of the whole show was when he compares the portrait of Pamina to the genuine article....he goes down the list of traits, starting with Pamina's blond hair. Now, Genia Kühmeier has lovely dark brown hair....so Papageno looks at the portrait, says "Blonde Haare:" looks at Genia, and says to the audience "na ja..." It was HI-larious. There were lots of memorable little touches....during "Der Vogelfänger" there where little fake birds flying around the stage on wires, one of which Papageno caught (although it bit him....ha ha ha). During "Wie stark ist nicht dein Zauberton," a scheißload of supernumeraries in animal outfits came on stage, including two crocodiles holding hands, a hippopotamus with a ghetto-booty to rival my own, and a really cute giraffe that re-appeared many times throughout the show. It was a really cute effect.
Act II: WAYY longer than I realized.....and I mean way longer. I forget that whenever I listen to it I skip like half the second act, along with all of the talking parts. It was interesting....the chamber of trials was a big cube within the huge stage-cube, which got all red for the fire part and started leaking water during the flood part....it was cool. Papagena was really, really good.....during the end of their duet he started taking of layers of her bird-petticoat thing (the velcro was pretty loud) until she was in these pantaloon-type things, at which point they ran after each other while singing about all the children they were going to make, presumably on stage in front of us. It was a pretty suggestive approach, but when you think about it, it's a pretty suggestive duet. The end was really, really strange. When all the bad guys are "cast into eternal darkness" they just sort of faint on stage, only to be resurrected by the three boys during the final chorus. The boys also bring Papagena and Papageno out of the small cube which they went into to make their babies, and somehow managed to reach in and fish out a little boy and girl, also dressed in Papageno-costume. The whole thing reeked of Deus ex Machina, what with everyone (Queen, ladies, moor, and all) dancing around at the end and being all happy. Oh well, I suppose it's all for the best. The production was amazing....the only real detraction was the insane amount of people crammed into the Stehplatz, and the resulting heat. Note to self: try not to go on weekends!
In the early afternoon we took an IES-sponsored bus tour around Vienna....I won't talk about it much, mostly because I'm way to tired, but also because I'll be re-visiting almost all of the places we went and describing them here in more detail. We stopped at the Belvedere.....it was just absolutely beautiful. I'll have to go back there, if for no other reason than the great art museums there that we didn't get a chance to visit. We also went to the Hundertwasser house, where I got some grerat photos. Hopefully I can upload another batch of photos tomorrow....I also have to study for my first German test! AHH! ^_^
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home