litlover12 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
litlover12) wrote2014-04-13 07:55 am
litlover12) wrote2014-04-13 07:55 am
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'It's not Puccini!'
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goldvermilion87 will get that reference!)
Carmen was great -- beautifully sung, staged, and acted. Especially acted. Now, the trouble with being an opera newbie is that I don't know for certain how well Ginger Costa-Jackson sang the role, because I have no other Carmens to compare her to! I thought her voice was good, though drowned out by the orchestra at times. (And the Washington City Paper reviewer thought it was good, too). But what I can say for certain is that her acting was spectacular. She owned that role from the second she stepped on the stage, until the very last moment. She was feminine and incredibly powerful all at the same time, and just thrilling to watch.
(BTW, the City Paper is correct about the "implausible fight scenes." I would have said "dumbest-looking fight scenes I ever saw," but "implausible" will do. They were one of the few weaknesses in an otherwise strong production.)
So I liked the opera, but I have to say, Bizet's melodies, wonderful as they are, don't hit me in the heart the way Puccini's do, or move me like Tchaikovsky's in Onegin. Still, I'm glad I got to see it.
One other note: What is up with audiences these days? A guy in the back of the balcony started yelling at somebody right in the middle of the "Habanera"! Half the balcony was turning around, he was so loud. From what I could hear, he wasn't someone with mental issues who didn't know it was inappropriate; he was just being a jerk. And then some girls behind me started talking and laughing at the beginning of act 3, and I had to turn around and glare at them twice before they shut up.
I would have thought that opera audiences might behave a tiny bit better than movie audiences, if for no other reason than that they'd paid more to be there. So much for that theory.
goldvermilion87 will get that reference!)Carmen was great -- beautifully sung, staged, and acted. Especially acted. Now, the trouble with being an opera newbie is that I don't know for certain how well Ginger Costa-Jackson sang the role, because I have no other Carmens to compare her to! I thought her voice was good, though drowned out by the orchestra at times. (And the Washington City Paper reviewer thought it was good, too). But what I can say for certain is that her acting was spectacular. She owned that role from the second she stepped on the stage, until the very last moment. She was feminine and incredibly powerful all at the same time, and just thrilling to watch.
(BTW, the City Paper is correct about the "implausible fight scenes." I would have said "dumbest-looking fight scenes I ever saw," but "implausible" will do. They were one of the few weaknesses in an otherwise strong production.)
So I liked the opera, but I have to say, Bizet's melodies, wonderful as they are, don't hit me in the heart the way Puccini's do, or move me like Tchaikovsky's in Onegin. Still, I'm glad I got to see it.
One other note: What is up with audiences these days? A guy in the back of the balcony started yelling at somebody right in the middle of the "Habanera"! Half the balcony was turning around, he was so loud. From what I could hear, he wasn't someone with mental issues who didn't know it was inappropriate; he was just being a jerk. And then some girls behind me started talking and laughing at the beginning of act 3, and I had to turn around and glare at them twice before they shut up.
I would have thought that opera audiences might behave a tiny bit better than movie audiences, if for no other reason than that they'd paid more to be there. So much for that theory.