(no subject)

I took Adam to the opera last night. We saw Mozart's The Magic Flute, a truly ridiculous opera with next to no plot. There is some love, some pining, some good vs evil, but mostly Act II is entirely made up of songs of Masonry symbols and other symbols of seeming pagan and generic Judeo-Christian/Western gendered hoo-ha. You know, to be all technical and specific. This opera is opera at it's most absurd - Mozart's spectacular music, silly plots and characters (a bird-man??), and this production's gorgeous sets and costumes. I think this production looks as though cartoon exploded on stage. Gerald Scarfe designed the production and it is really a delight. At times though, and particularly because Adam and I were had actual seats in the nosebleed section of the second balcony, it was too much visually. We were looking down on the stage and even the stage floor was a psychedelic mix of patterns and colors. Add to that the bright and wacky costumes, the changing light design on the back scrim, as well as the set pieces, not to mention the distraction of giant puppet snakes and crazy animals (ostrich giraffes? penguin toucans? porcupine lions?) and it was like being on a musical mushroom trip!

As much as I loved the singing and the staging, this wasn't my favorite opera experience. This may seem odd, but I greatly missed standing room with it's excellent view and superb vocal sound. Up in the stratosphere the seats were cramped, the air was HOT and stuffy (and sweaty, ew), and it took most of the first act for the singers' voices to warm up enough to fill the far reaches of the hall.

But the Queen of the Night hit all her notes and sang well*, unlike the last time I heard this song performed!

*I agree ctiee that she is not the best I've heard do this song! Her vibrato was too fast for my liking.