A Night At The Opera
I don't do opera. This is probably because I am a fairly uncultured person and I simply don't see the point, though I'm sure there is a [very worthy] point to it all.
Yesterday, though, I went to see a "little-known" opera by Schubert called "Alfonso and Estrella". UCL always perform little-known operas, presumably because when they screw it up nobody will realise because they've never heard it done any better. However, there is also usually a reason why they are "little-known" in the first place.
One of the things that I don't get about opera is the need for everything to be repeated 10 times. Take one particular episode, where the Bad Guy (aptly named Adolfo) is planning to overthrow the king and shouts (well, loudly sings) "I shall have my revenge!" throwing his cape over his shoulder with suitable aplomb.
We all got the point - he will have his revenge (except he won't, obviously, because it's a happy opera and he is the bad guy, but the thought is there). Actually what he sings is:
"I shall have my revenge! Revenge! Revenge! I shall have..... my revenge!"
And then, just in case we've missed it, a whole chorus of soldiers burst into,
"He shall have his revenge! Revenge! Revenge! He shall have... his revenge!"
You can't help feeling that the characters in the opera might have been a bit more successful in achieving their aims if thet'd spent less time singing about it and more time actually going for it. For example, the Good Guy decides at one point (and we could have told him right at the start that he was going to do all this and bypassed all the musical soul-searching) that he is going to go and rescue the Soppy Girl's father, who has fled the Bad Guy, who is trying to kill him, so that he and the Soppy Girl can get married. He does, eventually, but he sings about it for about ten mintes beforehand, and you just want to shout, "if you don't get on with it, love, he'll be dead before you get there!" (if only from old age.)
Actually the surtitles were the best bit, throwing up all sorts of gems such as "Ah! A man! Shall I flee?"
And she wonders why she's single.
But, of course, it all ends happily ever after, and, to (grudgingly) give UCL credit, they were absolutely brilliant, if you like that sort of thing.
Having placated F by going to see said opera, I dragged him along to see "Transamerica" this afternoon, which I would also recommend. It's a sweet film, it doesn't shove the politics of transsexuality in your face (if you'll pardon the expression), and it's fairly sensible and thought-provoking - and funny - about the whole thing. Plus it's a thought-provoking film about such issues where nobody ends up being brutally killed (or indeed killed at all) which is always a bonus.
Yesterday, though, I went to see a "little-known" opera by Schubert called "Alfonso and Estrella". UCL always perform little-known operas, presumably because when they screw it up nobody will realise because they've never heard it done any better. However, there is also usually a reason why they are "little-known" in the first place.
One of the things that I don't get about opera is the need for everything to be repeated 10 times. Take one particular episode, where the Bad Guy (aptly named Adolfo) is planning to overthrow the king and shouts (well, loudly sings) "I shall have my revenge!" throwing his cape over his shoulder with suitable aplomb.
We all got the point - he will have his revenge (except he won't, obviously, because it's a happy opera and he is the bad guy, but the thought is there). Actually what he sings is:
"I shall have my revenge! Revenge! Revenge! I shall have..... my revenge!"
And then, just in case we've missed it, a whole chorus of soldiers burst into,
"He shall have his revenge! Revenge! Revenge! He shall have... his revenge!"
You can't help feeling that the characters in the opera might have been a bit more successful in achieving their aims if thet'd spent less time singing about it and more time actually going for it. For example, the Good Guy decides at one point (and we could have told him right at the start that he was going to do all this and bypassed all the musical soul-searching) that he is going to go and rescue the Soppy Girl's father, who has fled the Bad Guy, who is trying to kill him, so that he and the Soppy Girl can get married. He does, eventually, but he sings about it for about ten mintes beforehand, and you just want to shout, "if you don't get on with it, love, he'll be dead before you get there!" (if only from old age.)
Actually the surtitles were the best bit, throwing up all sorts of gems such as "Ah! A man! Shall I flee?"
And she wonders why she's single.
But, of course, it all ends happily ever after, and, to (grudgingly) give UCL credit, they were absolutely brilliant, if you like that sort of thing.
Having placated F by going to see said opera, I dragged him along to see "Transamerica" this afternoon, which I would also recommend. It's a sweet film, it doesn't shove the politics of transsexuality in your face (if you'll pardon the expression), and it's fairly sensible and thought-provoking - and funny - about the whole thing. Plus it's a thought-provoking film about such issues where nobody ends up being brutally killed (or indeed killed at all) which is always a bonus.
posted by RLS at 6:28 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home