Posted on 10/29/2016 6:10:17 PM PDT by ml/nj
How disgusting! And look at all the hassle and inconvenience he caused for hundreds of paying customers, and employees of the Met.
The Berlin Ballet with the Panovs, yes? My in-laws, ardent Panov fans were there as well.
I loved the Panovs. He wrote a book about his life in Russia and his escape - heartrending book as I remember. It was “The Idiot” and Nureyev was the star. Only time I ever saw him.
ML/NJ
Yes, Levine conducted it very well last Saturday when I saw it. I’m very sad that his activities have been curtailed. I saw the new production of Tristan and was disappointed - maybe because I remember how Levine did it sixteen years ago, which was absolutely breathtaking.
I’m going to see Guillaume Tell this Wednesday and also at the Saturday matinee on Nov. 12th. Hope all goes well.
ML/NJ
Yes, I think getting together after the performance for Hill bashing would be fun. I also saw the opener (when Luisi is conducting I always go three times so I can pick up on all the details he brings out). I couldn’t believe the casting they did for William Tell’s son - this was supposed to be a young Swiss boy and here they have a fat Afro-American with a big messy Afro hair-do - I didn’t realize this was supposed to be his son until much later.
I’ll be sitting in the Orchestra (row E). How will I recognize you?
ML/NJ
Wow. What was THAT all about?
We've enjoyed a few operas at the Met in past years, but as we live about 130 miles away, we have been subscribers to the Met Live in HD series for about two years now. We brought friends to an opera a couple years ago, and they were hooked, so they joined us as subscribers.
There are usually big crowds in two theaters for every Met Live in HD opera simulcast at our local Manchester, CT Cinemark!
I got hooked by the Michael Mayer production of Rigoletto. It was enjoyable enough on its own, but when they hit that quartet in the third act, I was amazed at the genius that could hold those four parts in his mind at the same time, put it down on paper, and have it come out the way it did. Nothing but Respect.
Sounds good to me. It may be a little while before I get there because I want to be around for all the curtain calls as this will be Fabio Luisi’s final appearance at the Met for quite a while. He may get a long ovation.
It was years ago. A very famous murder case. It happened during the intermission of a ballet.
Was this a singing part? In opera and in musicals I’m inclined to overlook the race and or the physical appearance / attractiveness or lack thereof of the performers if they are good or great singers / actors.
I mean, really. Luciano Pavarotti was not exactly a good looking guy considering some of his leading man roles. Some female opera singers were / are perhaps a bit too “rubenesque” or too old based on the character.
One of Beverly Sill’s last roles was that of Norina, a “youthful” widow in Don Pasquale when she was 51 years old.
My late mother was a classically trained singer and performed locally and on the radio in the central PA area and sometimes in Philly starting while still in her mid-teens. After some years of studying with him, her voice teacher told her that she had become too good, had outgrown him and beyond what he could offer and suggested a teacher in NYC. So she and her mother moved to N. NJ, moving in with her great uncle.
Just before she met my father, right after WWII, she was invited to audition for the Met but gave it all up because my dad swept her off her feet and they married 3 months after they met. Her favorite opera singer was Leontyne Price, not because she was Black but because my mother thought she had the most beautiful voice and near perfect breath control.
Yes, it was a singing part. The lady had a good voice. But they could have done something to make her look a little like the part she was portraying. Pavarotti, Price, etc. were made up to look like the part as much as possible and you could envisage them as the character they were singing. I didn’t feel anything out of kilter with them. There was respect for the opera. But this was really over the top.
I felt that the stage director was trying to make a political point, and was deliberately throwing the anomaly in the audience’s face.
Good point. Maybe the stage director was trying to cash in on the success of Hamilton. : )
...and OTH, Beverly Sills in “Thais” despite her singing was not well served by the diaphanous houri costume. The publicity regarding the see through pants did presage the arrival of the Kardashians as KMart knock-offs however. Who knew?
Who can forget Streisand’s see-through Arnold Scassi pants when she went up to get her Oscar?!
I’ve never watched the Oscar Awards, never.
And I implore you not to publish that particular Streisand photo no matter how great a fan of hers you are. Please.
I don’t know how to post photos here. It was a famous image in its time.
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