response 50 of 221:

Jun 15 19:14 UTC 1997

I need to find the dates for the BUTTERFLY being sung in English 
in Adrian, Michigan, this summer.  Argh.

response 52 of 221:

Jul 1 07:55 UTC 1997

Re #48:  Do you mean Jane Eaglen?  She is a Wagnerian soprano who
appeared at the gala for the Detroit Opera House in April of 1996 
(for which I was a member of the chorus).  I think I might be 
interested in getting her CD.

Re Puccini in Adrian:  Performances are in late September, according
to my accompanist, who is also chorus master for that production.

response 54 of 221:

Aug 15 19:38 UTC 1997

Opera Lenawee is performing Puccini's MADAME BUTTERFLY, September 19
through September 27.  SUNG IN ENGLISH!!  Performances are at the 
Crosswell Opera House in Adrian, Michigan.  
Tickets 517-264-3121.  Webpage:  http://www.aso.org/

response 56 of 221:

Aug 16 20:10 UTC 1997

  You know, I'm not by any stretch an opera purist but I've concluded
  (admittedly after only one or two performances) that I don't like
  opera performed in English.  I'm still almost totally unable to
  comprehend the lyrics and the performances I've been to in English
  have omitted supertitles (because after all, it's in English and we
  all understand English, right?  arrgghh..)

  Anyway, it's ironic but true -- I've had much better luck following
  operas that are sung in Italian or French thanks to the projected
  supertitles..

response 58 of 221:

Aug 31 01:30 UTC 1997

Leslie and I only became aware of Opera Lenawee because Leslie's 
accompanist works with their chorus.  We saw t their production 
of Britten's comic opera Albert Herring in spring '96, and we 
enjoyed it.  Part of the compaany's appeal is their cozy little 
opera house, which only seats around 600.  I would say, gear one's 
expectations to about the level of a UM student opera production.
 
I certainly understand where mcnally & srw are coming from regarding
opera in English.  I have a bit of a fetish for opera in English, as 
I think I've written before; I believe it has the potential to be 
much more emotionally involving.  But a lot of my excitement is 
that productions in English are pretty rare; I don't think I have 
seen any, other than at the UMich School of Music.
 
The world's chief advocate of opera in English is the English 
National Opera (ENO).  Unfortunately, our 1995 London visit was 
mis-timed, and we missed the opening of their season by one week.
The ENO is the only company which records opera in English.

response 60 of 221:

Aug 31 16:40 UTC 1997

Operas in foreign languages translated into English, for t the most part.
In the case of Puccini's MADAME BUTTERFLY, the original language of 
the book is Italian.
 
Of course some people would argue that English is a difficult language
to understand when sung...  I *have* seen references, mostly on TV, 
to operas in English with English titles.  I think THE ASPERN PAPERS
was presented this way.

response 62 of 221:

Sep 4 05:29 UTC 1997

or nearly any other language. 

response 64 of 221:

Sep 12 01:53 UTC 1997

Just seeing those sets would be interesting enough by itself.

response 66 of 221:

Sep 16 19:17 UTC 1997

I saw an airplane ad for the performance. The plane was circling the U-M 
stadium during the Colorado game.

response 68 of 221:

Sep 24 15:02 UTC 1997

 re #63:  The Sendak sets would be interesting but I really didn't
 care for The Magic Flute..

 I saw Opera Grand Rapids' peformance of Aida this Saturday.  It was,
 well, interesting..  To celebrate their 30th anniversary OGR decided
 to stage a massive performance in Van Andel Arena (a >30,000 seat
 sports stadium) instead of thei usual venue of De Vos Hall (notice a
 theme in the names of GR entertainment facilities?  bleccchh!)
 The production was fairly lavish (to be charitable..  excessive and
 gimmicky if you're feeling unkind -- for instance in the scene where 
 Radames returns in triumph from conquering the army of Aida's father
 there were live horses, elephants, and camels in the triumphal procession.)
 The costumes and sets were very cool but I myself wasn't bowled over by
 the vocal performances (which may have been partly due to the fact that
 we wound up with a substitute Aida but the fact that we were listening
 to the performances over a sound system in an arena not designed for
 concert acoustics and filled with > 20,000 other people probably 
 contributed to my dissatisfaction.)

 Anyway, it shouldn't come as a surprise that opera works much better in a
 concert hall than it does in a sports arena and despite the fairly lavish
 production values I think that just about all of the other OGR productions
 I've attended have been more enjoyable (for one thing if I wanted to listen
 to the performers over an amplified sound system and watch them on a giant
 projection screen a couple hundred feet away I could simulate this experience
 at home much more affordably by watching the Met on TV..)  Bottom line,
 I guess, is that this was mostly a successful publicity ploy that attracted
 many people who would normally never go to an opera but it didn't hold much
 appeal for the regular opera-goer.  I suspect I'll find their other
 productions this season, Salome and Faust, more to my liking.

response 70 of 221:

Sep 27 01:41 UTC 1997

I heard a review of this production (on WUOM) yesterday (I think it was). 
The reviewer basically viewed it as a creative attempt to (1) make opera a
paying proposition, & (2) bring in an audience not especially given to
attending opera, & found it generally successful (& worth imitating) in those
terms.  I think he found it moderately successful artistically, too, though
that was a bit less clear.

response 72 of 221:

Sep 27 12:38 UTC 1997

Personally, I rarely attend opera because the hearing is what I really care
about, & I can do that better & cheaper from home.  But I thought that what
Mike objected to was that this production was done with seeing in the
forefront, so to speak.

response 74 of 221:

Sep 29 07:05 UTC 1997

Re #68:  Have you seen Salome before, Mike?  Ken and I saw it for
the first time at the MOT a year and a half ago, and it is a very
creepy opera.  (Well, it's a very creepy story...)