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"he looks like a gargantuan morris dancer"


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I post this partly because I admire Bryn Terfel very much and partly so that everyone can have a laugh at the writing style of the clearly besotted female journalist who conducted the interview. How's this for a taster:

But when he opens his mouth, it's like being dipped in the darkest, most expensive chocolate you can buy, and being rolled around in it, and doused in whisky. A voice like that, you can't help thinking, might have saved those bankers in that grilling last week. A voice like that might have had the nation purring.

Anyway, here's the whole thing

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertai...et-1626577.html

Terfel was one the telly last night talking about his role in the Dutchman and clearly worried about the Opera House's decision to play it without an interval. I'm worried too as my seat in the slips is on a very uncomfortable bench. I'm not welcoming an entire Wagner opera without the chance to stretch my legs midway or refuel at the bar though.

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Well, it's certainly got somebody purring. That woman's totally fried. Mashinka is quite right, but you should read the whole article (it's not that long) to get the full flavor.

I think I could get through Dutchman with no intermission, but not in the cheaper sections. Good luck. Please tell us about it.

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Well, it's certainly got somebody purring. That woman's totally fried. Mashinka is quite right, but you should read the whole article (it's not that long) to get the full flavor.

I think I could get through Dutchman with no intermission, but not in the cheaper sections. Good luck. Please tell us about it.

Hilarious. Somehow put me in mind of Vanda Godsell telling Richard Harris in 'This Sporting Life', to 'Sit down, Frank' and then kissing him quite aggressively. This was an extraordinary performance by Ms. Godsell. The term 'informal socializing' was used for some of Vanda's habits in the film. On the other hand, this kind of fluff is not disturbing, sort of like an article on Joyce Wildenstein's cosmetic surgery in the Post or News.

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Terfel was one the telly last night talking about his role in the Dutchman and clearly worried about the Opera House's decision to play it without an interval. I'm worried too as my seat in the slips is on a very uncomfortable bench. I'm not welcoming an entire Wagner opera without the chance to stretch my legs midway or refuel at the bar though.

You should worry! Years ago San Francisco Opera did it without intermission. At the time I was broke and decided to go standing room. Three hours and twenty five minutes (if I remember correctly) standing ab-so-lute-ly still. You know how opera fans are: the sound of an eye blinking sends them into paroxysms of fury.

Enjoy!

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Terfel was one the telly last night talking about his role in the Dutchman and clearly worried about the Opera House's decision to play it without an interval. I'm worried too as my seat in the slips is on a very uncomfortable bench. I'm not welcoming an entire Wagner opera without the chance to stretch my legs midway or refuel at the bar though.

You should worry! Years ago San Francisco Opera did it without intermission. At the time I was broke and decided to go standing room. Three hours and twenty five minutes (if I remember correctly) standing ab-so-lute-ly still. You know how opera fans are: the sound of an eye blinking sends them into paroxysms of fury.

Enjoy!

Well at this point the intermissions at the Met Opera have become ridiculous, 40-45 minute intermissions have been noted.

And I really don't like them. I've seen Dutchman played straight through without breaks and it works for me. I think it's actually a little under 2 1/2 hours in running time. I think the suspense of the piece builds and I like going from the big

Dutchman/Senta scene directly into the final scene.

Along the same lines, I also think Wozzeck works played straight through . The running time there too is somewhat shorter

than Dutchman .

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:crying: I can remember going to a ballet performance at the Opera Bastille in Paris. It was the new Sacha Waltz's production of Berlioz 's Romeo and Juliette. It was a beautiful experience but seemed to go so very quickly. It would have been better with an interval, to make the evening longer, and give you a chance to visit the powder room, get refreshments etc. I had an excellent seat right at the front in the Partiere, where I could see very well. But on consideration just under two hours length of the feature was rather expensive at a cost of 150 euro.
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Terfel was one the telly last night talking about his role in the Dutchman and clearly worried about the Opera House's decision to play it without an interval. I'm worried too as my seat in the slips is on a very uncomfortable bench. I'm not welcoming an entire Wagner opera without the chance to stretch my legs midway or refuel at the bar though.

You should worry! Years ago San Francisco Opera did it without intermission. At the time I was broke and decided to go standing room. Three hours and twenty five minutes (if I remember correctly) standing ab-so-lute-ly still. You know how opera fans are: the sound of an eye blinking sends them into paroxysms of fury.

Enjoy!

The Met did Dutchman without an intermission a number of seasons ago. Personally, I think anyone who schedules 2 1/2 - 3 hours of anything without a break is in denial about the requirements of human biology. Older gentlemen with prostate issues and those of us who had dared to drink fluids after 3PM were not in good spirits at about the 3/4 mark. Fortunately, the cast stank (I never thought I would ever type those words) and, since we had aisle seats and knew how it was going to end (and it was going to end badly in more ways than one given the cast) we bailed early and had a nice drink.

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Not unexpectedly, here is a glowing review of Terfel's Dutchman in today's Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/feb/2...ollander-review

After reading the thread about glamorous women, my mind went back to the screen sirens of the past, including Ava Gardner. She made a wonderful film in the early 50's called Pandora and the Flying Dutchman based on the familiar story, except this version seemed to include bullfighting and formula 1. Does anyone else remember it?

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Not unexpectedly, here is a glowing review of Terfel's Dutchman in today's Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/feb/2...ollander-review

After reading the thread about glamorous women, my mind went back to the screen sirens of the past, including Ava Gardner. She made a wonderful film in the early 50's called Pandora and the Flying Dutchman based on the familiar story, except this version seemed to include bullfighting and formula 1. Does anyone else remember it?

I saw it once about 12 or so years ago, but don't remember any bullfighting. There's bullfighting in 'The Sun Also Rises', of course. 'Pandora' was one of those like Barefoot Contessa and Naked Maja that I wasn't that crazy about--she's glamorous, but those are mainly for those values. I like her better in 'Mogambo' and 'The killers' and 'Showboat'.

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She made a wonderful film in the early 50's called Pandora and the Flying Dutchman based on the familiar story, except this version seemed to include bullfighting and formula 1.

I really liked it, although it’s a cult film not for every taste. Much of the imagery is surreal and striking and the cinematographer, Jack Cardiff, did some great work here. It was directed by Albert Lewin, who also did another interesting failure, the The Picture of Dorian Gray with Hurd Hatfield, George Sanders, and Angela Lansbury, and he went all out on this one, trying for mythic significance and not getting there. But the trip is worth taking, all the same.

Gardner’s performance is not good but she is so beautiful she stops the breath and the film is worth seeing just to drink her in.

There is indeed bullfighting, and a real bullfighter, Mario Cabré, in the picture. Like Gardner, his performance is weak but he looks great (they had an affair during the filming, causing Frank Sinatra to go into frenzies of jealousy).

Along the same lines, I also think Wozzeck works played straight through. The running time there too is somewhat shorter

than Dutchman.

I think so, too.

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I saw this production last night and although I finished up with a numb backside, the lack of an interval didn’t bother me much as I was so completely caught up in the action. For me the singing was of the first order though I’m told the ‘Wagnerian hardcore’ doesn’t care for Bryn Terfel in the role, but he sounded fantastic to me. Senta was sung very well by Anja Kampe, a singer I hadn’t seen before and I thought Hans-Peter König as her father was exceptionally good.

It wasn’t very memorable apart from the singing though as the production was rather dreary, featuring standard ROH minimalism with Terfel’s costume making him look more Peter Grimes than the Dutchman and I felt the overwhelming romantic sweep of the music wasn’t matched by the action on stage. Senta’s spinning scene is replaced in this version with serried ranks of female machinists to match the modern dress of the costumes. I didn’t mind that too much but was bothered by the fact she didn’t commit suicide at the end, wandering off in a distracted state instead, but my reservations about the production didn’t stop me from having a wonderful evening and the music is still running through my head as I write this.

One last thought about that lack of an interval: how much money did the ROH miss out on by not allowing a packed audience to knock back glasses of champagne and munch its way through over-priced canapés? Or was this offset by a saving in wages paid to the waiting staff? There is a recession on after all and you would think that at a time like this there would be a need to maximise the contents of Covent Garden’s coffers.

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This man, who bears a passing resemblance to John Goodman in The Flintstones, has a gaze that bores into your soul, a gaze that is, quite simply, magnetic.

I like John Goodman, but have never thought of his Fred Flintstone as being particularly charismatic!

Different theaters work intermission policies differently. In some cases, the house itself gets whatever profit from the concession, in other cases, a separate contractor comes in and gets the profit in exchange for taking on the burden. It's rare to go to an opera that doesn't have some kind of break, but that happens frequently in contemporary dance, especially in a program with a single, through-composed work.

Overtime clauses can have different triggers -- in some cases they're based on the total time in the theater, and in others they're related to a specific time on the clock.

I think it's interesting, though, when you compare opera/dance to film -- between the previews and the actual movie, we often spend 2-3 hours in our seats without any break (of course, we often do slip out for one reason or another, but we do this knowing that we'll be missing part of the show)

Tangentially, relating to the thread on glamor, I noticed this article

femme fatale

next to the article on Terfel.

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Sandik, that reminds me of going to see movies back in Switzerland--the long ones did have intermissions, and I find myself missing those breaks, especially as film times seem to be getting longer.

My mother used to tell about seeing Lawrence of Arabia, which does have a cue for an intermission -- she said that after all those desert scenes she raced to the lobby at the intermission, and bought the biggest orange soda they had!

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Sandik, that reminds me of going to see movies back in Switzerland--the long ones did have intermissions, and I find myself missing those breaks, especially as film times seem to be getting longer.

I agree. Back in olden times, any movie of three hours had an intermission, with orchestral introductions and interludes. (Lawrence of Arabia had one, sandik, if you remember.) Now even if the movie closes in on four hours you're expected to sit there, so I'm just careful not to buy a Coke.

Nice review, Mashinka, thank you for reporting back.

Overtime clauses can have different triggers -- in some cases they're based on the total time in the theater, and in others they're related to a specific time on the clock.

Thanks, sandik.

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Most Bollywood movies have an intermission. When I saw "Slumdog Millionaire" for the second time it was in Hyderabad, and they put a short intermission in before the last game segment.

Many thanks for your review, Mashinka -- I would have loved to have been there to hear it.

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