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Grex > Music > #51: The Metropolitan Opera Comes To Town |  |
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krj
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The Metropolitan Opera Comes To Town
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Oct 10 17:22 UTC 2007 |
Well, via telepresence, anyway:
The Metropolitan Opera and Fathom Events have released the list of
theaters which are participating in this season's live opera
"moviecasts."
In the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti area, both the Quality 16 and the Showcase
are listed. ((Yay!! No more stress about driving to Livonia
in sloppy winter weather.))
Here's the list of theaters:
http://www.fathomevents.com/news/default.aspx?newsid=63
Last year I saw four of the "moviecasts." They rank among the
best times I have ever had watching opera, and also among the
best times I have ever had in a movie theater.
These will be on 8 Saturday afternoons, between December and April.
If they follow last season's pattern, there should be repeat
broadcasts for most of the programs.
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slynne
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response 1 of 39:
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Oct 11 00:03 UTC 2007 |
sounds neat!
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krj
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response 2 of 39:
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Oct 11 04:01 UTC 2007 |
The repeat performances are on the schedule already -- most will be
at 3 pm Sunday, the day after the live Saturday afternoon broadcast.
Here's the lineup:
"Romeo & Juliette" by Gounod -- with Anna Netrebko, but without the
promised Rolando Villazon, who has cancelled all his
Met appearances this season. ??? They don't have a
replacement Romeo yet. This is a blow to the Met;
reportedly, Villazon and Netrebko are so hot together on
stage that they have to constantly deny being lovers in
real life.
"Hansel & Gretel," Humperdinck -- suitable for children but musically
this is quite satisfying for grownups, a sort of Wagner-lite.
"Macbeth," Verdi -- I'm looking forward to this, as I have never seen
any of the early Verdi operas before.
"Manon Lescaut," Puccini
"Peter Grimes," Britten -- for straight drama, this would be the pick
of the season. In a small fishing village, Peter Grimes is
an outcast fisherman whose last apprentice died
under mysterious circumstances.
"Tristan & Isolde," Wagner -- Yes, we named our cat after this character.
I'm not going to suggest a Wagner opera for anyone who doesn't
already know what they are getting into. :)
For one thing, this presentation will be 5 and a half hours...
"La Boheme," Puccini -- This is the perfect opera for anyone who has
not seen an opera before. It's relatively short and the
characters and emotions are quite modern -- the story is
about the loves and play of a quartet of poor students in Paris.
This story is supposed to be the foundation of the recent
musical RENT, which I have not seen.
"Daughter of the Regiment," Donizetti -- This is one of those dramatically
silly stories which stays alive on the opera stage for the
beauty of the singing. The announced stars are Natalie Dessay,
who is wonderful, and Juan Diego Florez, the likely new
"King of the High Cs" and also a pretty decent actor.
(If I remember correctly, this was Pavarotti's breakthrough
role, about 40-45 years ago.)
"An exceedingly yummy operatic cake," says the preview blurb.
Here's the schedule with the Met's own blurbs, plus dates.
http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/broadcast/hd_events.aspx
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slynne
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response 3 of 39:
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Oct 11 08:06 UTC 2007 |
it sounds kind of pricey though. $22 for an adult. Still cheaper than
actually going to the opera though.
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remmers
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response 4 of 39:
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Oct 11 11:22 UTC 2007 |
Thanks for posting this. Is it advisable to get tickets well in advance?
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krj
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response 5 of 39:
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Oct 11 16:00 UTC 2007 |
slynne: Yeah, $22 is a significant increase from the $18 which was
last season's price.
remmers: I do not think it is necessary to get tickets well in
advance in Michigan. Last year, I got my tickets two or three days
before each show, and the only time I had problems was when Livonia
was sold out for EUGENE ONEGIN (with Renee Fleming, the hottest show
last year -- the one I went to see twice) and we ended up with tickets
for Walled Lake instead.
It must be necessary to get very advance tickets in some locations,
because the Met is trying to sell $125 memberships by offering
members a window of exclusive ticket sales in early October.
The holiday presentation of Hansel & Gretel may be an issue, because
there are probably going to be lots of kids packed off to see it as
part of school & community music programs.
Advance tickets were never needed for the encore presentations,
in my experience last season. The live screenings were always
sellouts or close to sellouts, but the encores I saw were never
more than half full.
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krj
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response 6 of 39:
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Nov 9 06:03 UTC 2007 |
If eight opera moviecasts were not enough for you...
La Scala, the opera house from Milan, Italy which is sometimes
considered the most prestigious opera house in the world, is
launching its own series of opera moviecasts. These will not
be done live; these will be previously recorded performances,
transmitted in high-definition to movie theaters at flexible
times.
The series opens on December 5 (confirm date!!!) with a 2006
performance of AIDA, the infamous production in which Roberto
Alagna walked off the stage. This moviecast will be of the night
when Alagna did NOT walk out.
La Scala is starting with 56 theaters,
roughly half of what the Met started with. Curiously,
seven of the 56 are in Michigan! The closest one to Ann Arbor
is the Canton Emagine multiplex; there are also participating
theaters in Lansing and Novi. I have no information on
ticket prices.
La Scala is going to do seven moviecasts, so that means there
will be **15** available between December 2007 and June 2008.
http://www.playbillarts.com/news/article/7323.html
http://www.emergingpictures.com/opera_venues.htm
The two links have differing date information for the AIDA!!!
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hera
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response 7 of 39:
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Nov 20 17:21 UTC 2007 |
They made Romeo and Juliett and Hansel and Gretel into operas???
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krj
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response 8 of 39:
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Nov 20 19:10 UTC 2007 |
Yes, some time ago. The French composer Gounod takes the blame
for ROMEO & JULIET; the great Italian composer Verdi used
three more Shakespeare plays as the basis for operas, with
MACBETH, OTHELLO and FALSTAFF. The Metropolitan Opera will be
"moviecasting" MACBETH in January.
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hera
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response 9 of 39:
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Nov 20 20:49 UTC 2007 |
I shall ask my daughter what she thinks of this business of making
Shakespearian works into operas. She's "into" Shakespeare.
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gelinas
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response 10 of 39:
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Nov 29 01:08 UTC 2007 |
(Shakespeare borrowed the stories for his plays, so why shouldn't people
borrow from him?)
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hera
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response 11 of 39:
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Nov 29 03:56 UTC 2007 |
Did he now? Cites please.
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mcnally
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response 12 of 39:
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Nov 29 07:16 UTC 2007 |
re #11: Well, obviously there are the histories..
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hera
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response 13 of 39:
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Nov 29 15:53 UTC 2007 |
Unluckily for you, I have no idea what you are talking about.
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mcnally
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response 14 of 39:
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Nov 29 17:38 UTC 2007 |
Richard III? Henry V? You've never heard of Shakespeare's plays
based on the lives of these monarchs?
He also wrote plays based on the lives of historical figures such
as Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, etc.
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krj
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response 15 of 39:
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Nov 29 18:25 UTC 2007 |
Maybe hera could change her "real name" setting so that
resp:13 appears as a label on everything she posts. :)
Not that any Grexers outside of my family cares, but here's a
reminder that the La Scala moviecast of Verdi's AIDA
will be shown in Canton next Wednesday, December 5.
Verdi got the material for AIDA from a musical by Elton John
& Tim Rice. Verdi was taking a break from cribbing from Shakespeare
at that point in his career. It's a shame, but truly great
art is totally original.
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mary
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response 16 of 39:
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Nov 29 22:08 UTC 2007 |
I care. In fact, I think it would be really nice to have a Grex dinner
gathering before attending a local moviecast at which Leslie could give us
a little pre-concert insight into the production and music. You know,
something to help us opera newbies along.
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hera
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response 17 of 39:
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Nov 30 01:27 UTC 2007 |
Fuck that shit. We had a huge turkey dinner before football tonight. Beat
THAT.
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tod
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response 18 of 39:
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Nov 30 10:51 UTC 2007 |
I can beat that but not til Monday night.
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hera
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response 19 of 39:
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Nov 30 16:25 UTC 2007 |
Monday night is going to be homemade chicken soup.
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void
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response 20 of 39:
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Dec 3 04:57 UTC 2007 |
Are they going to have elephants onstage and all?
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krj
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response 21 of 39:
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Dec 3 05:54 UTC 2007 |
I do not know if this production of AIDA included elephants.
(This was La Scala's opening night from last season, late 2006.)
I wouldn't go expecting elephants.
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void
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response 22 of 39:
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Dec 3 06:10 UTC 2007 |
I won't be able to make it anyway...I just love that Aida calls for live
elephants, even though they're rarely used.
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mcnally
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response 23 of 39:
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Dec 3 20:09 UTC 2007 |
The only production of Aida I have seen did have live elephants but
had to be presented in a different venue than usual to accomodate them.
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krj
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response 24 of 39:
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Dec 3 20:36 UTC 2007 |
I could digress here into a mention of the Thai Elephant Orchestra, in
which the elephants actually play the instruments.
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