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...)

response 76 of 221:

Sep 29 21:56 UTC 1997

Well being a theater major once (and a theater lover at heart) if its on stage
i wnana see it... if its worth it)

response 78 of 221:

Oct 3 14:21 UTC 1997

  OK..  Forewarned is forearmed..

response 80 of 221:

Mar 2 23:52 UTC 1998

I should have put something in here about Michigan State's production of 
THREEPENNY OPERA, which was this last weekend; there was a note in the 
"Grexers On Stage" item in agora, but I haven't kept that quarterly item
linked to music.  As Leslie sang "Mrs. Peachum" in this production, 
I saw the show three times, and so the tunes are all still rolling
around in my head.  (Even if it is more of a musical than an opera.)
 
Curiously, I had previously seen THREEPENNY in a production by UMich
musical theatre department about five years ago, and I hated it.
Outside of the songs I already knew, "Mack the Knife" and "Pirate Jenny,"
all of the songs in that production struck me as ugly and short;
in the MSU production, all the melodies seemed lush and gorgeous.
Leslie's suggestions was that perhaps most of the songs had been 
cut to one verse; of course, unless we interview someone involved 
in that production, 

response 82 of 221:

Mar 3 03:10 UTC 1998

Ooh, I've always wanted to see _The Turn of the Screw_.  I may just have to
go see that...

response 84 of 221:

Jul 25 20:59 UTC 1998

Do we have any opera-in-English fans here other than myself?
I have just discovered the Chandos Records web page, where 
they announce that they are six recordings into a series 
of English-language recordings.  LA BOHEME is the new 
release, and there are pictures for CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA
and Mussorgsky's BORIS GUDONOV.
Wow!

response 86 of 221:

Jul 26 12:14 UTC 1998

You could also try some of the many operas written in English,
such as Peter Grimes, Vanessa, etc.