richard53dog

Ha, ha. Let's see what happens here. But this is not totally surprising, Gelb did say that the old Tosca production was going to be put into storage for possible revival. Frankly, I saw the Tosca HD when it was shown on PBS last week and didn't really like it much. I'm fine with non-traditional, minimal, or even (some) "Konzept" productions, but this staging didn't work for me. If a director is going to make a statement and not go with a safe approach, first and foremost I want to see his take on the characters and how they fit into the plot. And they have to bring the story to life and engage me. And I didn't like what Bondy achieved here. Tosca and Cavaradosi had little chemistry in Act 1, both seemed to inhabit their own separate worlds. And Mattila was more annoying that usual with Tosca's first scene. Maria Callas noted that in the first act, "Tosca is a nervous, silly girl". And that's usually the case but here her emotional state was more like hysteria. And then in Act 2, Tosca and Scarpia didn't seem to be really sparring , Gagnidze's Scarpia was more a sleazy flasher type than a true depraved villain but Mattilla seemed already defeated soon after her entrance in the act. There wasn't much of a real struggle. And ultimately, I didn't care much about this Tosca and the predicament she found herself in. That's a pretty negative situation. There were some clever and creative staging bit, I liked how one of the henchman tripped after bursting through the trapdoor onto the Act 3 set. But other parts looked clunky and even amateurish. I'm no fan of later Zeffirelli , but if one aspect of his production worked for me, it was the finale to Act 1. I loved how the procession groups on the stage with Scarpia in the forefront, dominating the massive ensemble. Bondy lumped the singers and extras in an awkward clump like each person decided where he was going to stand while waiting for someone to direct them. Though it all comes back to the director's thoughts about the piece and his or her execution of them. Bondy's characters didn't engage me or even repulse me, what he had the singers do on stage didn't add up to a whole. But I'll repeat what I thought when I saw the old Zeff production more than 20 years ago for the first time. While Bondy more or less failed (in my eyes) the challenge of enabling the singers to bring the characters to life, Zeffirelli ignored it, letting the singers do their own thing, brought in from other stagings in other houses while he concentrated his attention on showy effects. While I did admire Zef's Act 1 finale, his opening of Act 3 was ridiculous and unmusical, having Cavaradossi sing his scene in a basement cell and then having the stage elevator drop that set to reveal a second one, the roof of the Castel Sant'Angelo. Cavaradossi had to run up a flight of visible stairs while the scene changed. That cheap, showy effect lasted until Pavarotti did the opera at the Met. Like Caballe, Pav didn't "do" stairs and so the stage elevator scene change was dropped. The Met has a premiere of a new Carmen production coming up next week , staged by Richard Eyre. This new production will also replace a Zeffirelli extravaganza. For opera fans, iIt'll be interesting to see how this one plays out.

I'm in agreement on the general quality of the acoustics at the Met. Actually voices carry thrillingly well all the way up to the top of the Family Circle, although there are other areas that are less "live". I personally find most voices carry quite well there as long as 1) they are well produced and FOCUSED, and 2) the orchestra is not generating tidal waves of sound. Both of these can be problems. Some conductors (often ones that lead mostly symphonic works )seem equate orchestra volume with excellence and this can cause singers with reasonably well produced sounds to be covered. And there is also the singer who's voice may sound ample on recording or over the air but that is not truly focused. and often these don't carry well. For instance, Jennifer Larmore impressed me on the radio but the several times I've heard her live, I find her voice to be a bit fuzzy with only so-so projection. But there is also an issue of audience expectations. More and more though, I think there is a growing tendency for listeners to really crave voices that whallop them over the head, I hear comments on some opera boards calling singers "inaudible" if their voices don't have the impact of a blunt instrument or cut through the orchestral tapestry 100% of the time. But this is just one of those personal preferences. It's a bit unfortunate because it can encourage singers to force their voices to create an impact.

A very classy lady. RIP, Georgina

I've come across Margot Fonteyn using the po-po lift term. I believe it was in her autobiography, she wrote of being introduced to a new partner and shortly after rehearsing this type of lift in the piece the two were going to perform together. She sounded slightly embarrassed , as if this was not something she was comfortable doing with an almost stranger.

The performances in the film version DO tend to dominate expectations, don't they? What has fascinated me for many years now is what the original stage production was like. I would guess Brando was a sensation, the magnetism he had combined with what was then a very different style of acting must have packed quite a punch, but what was the original Blanche like? It WASN'T Vivien Leigh, she was the first Blanche on the London stage before filming the role; but for the Broadway premiere it was Jessica Tandy who always seemed to me to have an outer delicacy wrapped around a core of steel. Like Leigh, another Englishwoman, but one who also had success with playing American (Southern and otherwise) women I wonder what it was like to watch her Blanche disintegrate? I was a long time ago but not so long that there aren't still viewers with good memories.

In addition to Leonid's significant comments on the style of Giselle, I worry when people say "at LEAST a full split. It' very ugly to me to see a split where the front leg is higher than parallel to the floor and many dancers today don't seem to have the ability to keep the front leg straight in a split jete and it often rises too far upward: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_eitJjCZvhOA/SBn2...320/dsc1939.jpg There are some instances where a jete has the back foot close to the dancer's head, but usually that effect, enjoyable in something like Kitri's steps Don Q, is achieved by bending the back knee. So technically the dancer's legs aren't extended more than 180 degrees. I'd rather have a dancer manage a jete with a slightly less than 180 degree placement of their legs than have them overshoot and end up with something like the photo link shown above.

That's the really frustrating thing about this film. Most of the dancing (what you can see of it) is wonderful; with a more conventional filming style it would be a "go-to" version for sure. I first saw this in a public screening in the (then) Philharmonic Hall at Lincoln Center ca.1969-70. The audience was very vocal in their displeasure every time the filming cut away from the dancers or, worse, placed some grungy peasant chewing something BETWEEN the camera and the dancing. I have to admit that although I would much prefer a more straightforward approach to the filming, I find the act 2 gimmicks less distracting than the ones in act 1. In a limited way all the blurry, backlit and water shots do create a bit of atmosphere for me too! note: edited to switch the act numbers in the last sentence. I find Act 2 less distracting than Act 1, the reverse of how I originally wrote it!

Just lovely!

I agree, it's not the extension itself that is really the issue with me but what it sometimes does to the rest of the body. Often with an extreme extension, in addition the the rib cage issue, the supporting leg is bent and no longer perpendicular with the floor. I dislike this intensely. When some dancers go into a deep penche arabeque and the supporting leg forms a line that isn't quite perpendicular, instead of the often described " 6 O'clock" effect, it seems more like "5 O'clock" instead. To make it worse, I've seen dancers yank the working leg into the 180 postition and it goes too far, briefly creating a very ugly "5 minutes after 5 O'clock" effect.

My thought exactly. And I also prefer the later Ferri/Corella and Fonteyn/Nureyev films over the Rojo/Acosta version of MacMillan's work.

It's really a lovely clip. Fonteyn had such a sense of line and movement.

I'm thinking along the same lines as Carbro/Helene/DeborahB here. It's a fluff piece and Vogue isn't the place for a significant analysis of ballet. And the photos are of course going to look like fashion shots. This kind of thing could well be a hook for some new-to-ballet viewer. I speak from some experience. Although I had had some exposure to the whole arts spectrum as a kid, the catalyst that got me to my first performance at Lincoln Center as a 15 year old was two elaborate spreads in Life magazine, the first was a feature on the closing night performance at the old Met and the second was a lavish set of photos of the opening night of the new Met at Lincoln Center. True it was an opera performance rather than a ballet performance (but the first performance at NYCB followed pretty quickly) but it's important to note that the second Life spread really had little direct connection to the opera being performed (Barber's Antony and Cleopatra) and a lot to do with the non arts components (shots of the attendees) and so forth. In this case, the "hook" for me was really more of a social nature than a cultural one but it served the purpose of making me by a ticket and then the actual content of the performance took over. I get the other writers frustrations, in an ideal world the content of the article would be more stimulating, but I'm content enough to see a piece like this in such a widely read magazine.

Well, to be a spoilsport, I was very disappointed in this performance. Unlike Iczerman, Rojo definitely did NOT speak to me with her Juliet.. And Acosta, he flairs his nostrils a lot and looks angry but doesn't dance that well and sure doesn't seem like a Romeo, much more a Tybalt. I would rather have seen a Cojocaru/Kobborg Romeo and Juliet if we needed another filming of the Macmillan But that's what makes horse races, right?

Didn't Christensen's 1944 staging included this Soviet-Social-Realism-driven awakening ending...? I'm not familiar with Christensen's staging but as long as we are exploring history, let's look at the time and place Christensen was in when he did his work. In 1944 WWII was in progress and the USSR was the Allies partner, Stalin being "Uncle Joe" to many Americans. There was much fascination with the Soviet culture as well as a perception of great innovation occurring. Many things "Soviet" were considered very chic ("moderne" was a term often used). So, in theory, it's quite possible that some Soviet reworking of traditional story telling elements to support the official dogma would have seemed shiny and new to Western audiences. It was only in the later 40s, 50s and 60s during the cold war that Soviet innovations were looked at differently and not embraced so enthusiastically by the creative community in the west. Just speculation of course but I agree with Carbro that Marie's "awakening" would have easily been a Soviet "solution" to a non-realistic plot device. And I can see how during the 30s and 40s there was a fascination with "Soviet chic" in the US. And once in place, tradition takes over and details have a life of their own. Look at the tenacity of the odd cut in the music used by the BR and later stagings.

Thanks for posting that. Osipova should be incredible, if all the buzz about her DonQ is true. that's welcome news to me. I'm looking forward to an Osipova Don Q!

I just love the use of color! Very striking!

The BAM engagement seems like good news, so congrats to ABT on that. But like abatt, I hope this doesn't mean they will forgo their fall repertory season.

Reading tributes to Soderstrom on different opera sites, I was reminded what a witty lady she was. In one interview she comments that colleagues always told her that her looks were "perfect for radio". In another she is quoted as telling an audience "my voice IS small but it's.... UGLY", a play on the more common "small but beautiful" comment. For anyone interested in listening, here's a portion of an interview done in 1999, at the time of her last Met appearances while in her early 70s, by George Jellinek. She is candid, funny, slightly wicked, sings all kinds of bits and pieces for the audience at Lincoln Center . She tells a story of being contacted by a recording company to do an emergency replacement of .....Jon Vickers! And some wickedness is revealed here in talking of being mannered (ala another, more famous, operatic Elisabeth S) A portion that I've listened to more than once is a tape of her performing Schubert's Erlkonig. She was a wonderful recitalist. Schubert's song, for those that aren't familiar, is based on a classic Goethe narrative poem that tells a story of a malevolent spirit that is trying to capture a small boy while the boy's father is trying to save the child by fleeing. It's a barnstormer of a song, there are four different characters, a narrator, the father, the boy, and the Erlkonig. All have lines and singers strive to make the four different characters distinct. Soderstrom is just wonderful here and the boy's terror is hairraisingly vivid. "Mein Vater, mein Vater.... " the boy pleads. And the voice she uses for the Erlkonig is very subtle, no scenery chewing villain, but very spooky. She then tells of how she developed the "voice" she used for the boy, and segues into another, humorous, "rescue" story. Here's a link for a portion of the interview: http://cdn3.libsyn.com/chsiegel/VS_Soeders...e9bb37cf33df852

I looked at the obit and was a bit confused. Alan Blyth is credited as writing it but the article also notes that he died in 2007. Does anyone know how this is possible? Did he write it in advance of his own passing and it was put on ice?

She was a wonderful, wonderful singer; incredibily moving and expressive. And she was fascinating to watch on stage. She was very versitile, I heard her sing operatic roles in five different languages(English, Czech, Italian, German, and Russian) . In recital, she proved herself to be a master of even more languages.. And her singing spanned musical periods from Monteverdi to Henze, encompassing many different styles. Soderstrom was one of those performers that was very special to me. I understand her last few years were difficult and I'm guessing her passing was a release. RIP

Oooh, I hope you enjoy it! I just love this film. Ginny mentioned the dancing clips by the famous past Giselles but there are also the wonderful interview clips which include Kasarvina, Chauvire(who wanders between French and English), and Ulanova

Reading the posts on this thread intrigued me to dig out my DVD of the film and watch it. I didn't get all the way through it the first time, I couldn't get past the Olympia scene. It was still not that easy but I stuck with it. I guess the big problem I had was with the Technicolor and also the color schemes used. The Olympia scene really makes me almost queasy with all the yellow sets and Shearer's costume. It just looked really unpleasant to me and Shearer in particular seemed to blend into the background. Plus the clash with her hair! Anyway I got over myself and watched more closely tonight . there really is lots of clever detail, ok some of it is layered on with a trowel, but it's a fantasy piece. Once I got past act 1, I had an easier time watching and I did really like the use of the huge soundstages and the special effects. And Shearer looked lovely in the Stella scene. I can see why she found this a better showcase for her dancing than RS. I liked the shot of Tommy Beecham at the end! It was a classic moment.

It's certainly an encouraging site. the list of ballet "available for production" is fairly extensive and includes Romeo and Juliet, which is promising.

Hear, hear! Bergsma was my first Lilac Fairy and she seemed just majestic to me. I was slightly familiar with Sleeping Beauty from the usual childhood fairy tales but also from a 45PRM record telling the story. This used excerpts from the Tchaikovsky score so when I first saw the full length ballet, I already knew the major "themes". My favorite was the one associated with the Lilac Fairy and when Bergsma came on stage, it was just a perfect match!

This kind of thing always draws attention but in this case even more so. These two are just soooo "colorful". They have both been since they first came to public notice. From the mid 90s, I remember both of them shooting off their mouth first then MAYBE thinking about it. Bobby with his homophobic comments and spats with journalists as well as Angie revealing hair-raisingly scary aspects of her personality. And they separately as well as jointly have had lots of public scenes with opera impressarios, as recently as Alagna throwing his helmet down and walking off stage during an Aida at La Scala as well as Gheorghiu being fired for ducking Boheme rehearsals in Chicago to fly to New York to "support" her husband during rehearsals with Anna Netrebko (was he the only one who didn't trust his spouse?) My favorite of their scenes was the dispute Gheorghiu had with Zeffirelli over the wig she would wear as Micaela in his production of Carmen at the MEt. It was a standoff and GM Joe Volpe intervened and plunked down on Zef's side. "The wig will appear on stage, whether worn by Gheorghiu or someone else" So "meekly" , Angie complied. She performed the role, with the wig, but each time she went onstage she carefully covered it up with a scarf! All in all, I think Alagna has learned a bit at least to curb or temper his public outbursts, I think he realized that they reflect on him unsympathetically. The Aida flap was maybe a bit of a throwback to his earlier more reckless days. And he seems to want to be seen as a nice guy and perhaps this is why he is taking this slightly comical "heartbroken" approach to all the divorce publicity.