Looking forward to seeing Jane Eaglen again.

I do miss the Lyric! One of the best things about growing up in Chicago. My younger sister used to work in their ticket office, so great opportunity to see shows.

Artistically, The Lyric may be playing it safe, but this season's performance of "Fidelio" was perhaps the best opera I've ever seen live. They're doing something right.

Did you see her at Ravinia last Summer doing Act I of "Die Walkuere?" Exquisite!

Okay, what is Ring Cycle for this future Chicagoan?

Heck, my dad and I saw her in the full Lyric production last year. James Morris as Wotan kicked-gottliches Hintein, but she completely owned the stage and the whole audience. I should really just take the whole week off. I'll be too emotionally exhausted to work after the Ring marathon. Anyone ever been to Bayreuth??

The Ring cycle is the presentation of Richard Wagner's 4 (arguably) greatest operas that together form "The Ring of The Nibelungen," a precursor of sorts to Tolkien, but much more believable and classy. You needn't live in Chicago to see/hear it performed, but you could do worse in terms of productions.

Ring cycles are fun because of how drop-dead devoted some Wagnerites are to their music. Audience members regularly used to show up at the SF Opera productions dressed in fully kilted regalia, military and diplomatic garb, long '30s-ish evening gowns and the like. At one of the productions I attended, Jerry Garcia occupied his own box just below us and I swear I could hear some of the great Richard's riffs in some later Dead jam sessions. If you have a chance to go, by all means do so!

Allen, gmg's intro is great. Plus, the Lyric Opera house is one of the jewels of Chicago. As opera companies go, it usually presents quality performances, though it doesn't always snag the best singers and it's not especially daring in terms of the repertoire as some opera companies (SF, Houston, etc.), but definitely more so than others (the Met, even the NYC Opera). Every year there's one or two new or different operas or so (like Anthony Davis's AMISTAD, Blitzstein's REGINA, Harbison's GREAT GATSBY, or Bolcom's A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE, etc.), or at least one opera not in the Italian-German-Operetta triangle. Several years, ago, I believe they presented Britten's BILLY BUDD, one of my favorites, and one of the gayest operas of all time. This year it was one of British composer Michael Tippett's operas. Tippett, mind you, is not one of the better British composers, of either opera or any other genre, of the last, oh, 100 years....

[ March 23, 2005, 09:48 PM: Message edited by: fantomas ]

The BILLY BUDD staged by the Lyric was remounted this past September in San Francisco; had the rare pleasure of seeing it. Though I prefer PETER GRIMES, the BUDD was tremendous, with Nathan Gunn excellent in the titular role. The staging was stunning, with stak angular lines and short risers serving as the ship.

~Adam

That was an awesome production -- the encounter with the enemy ship had me on the edge of my seat. I found Samuel Ramey's Taggart (that is the name of the bad guy, right?) imposing, but Gunn looked and sounded every bit the part of Billy Budd. Only Britten could have written an opera with an all male cast. Needless to say, I enjoyed the respite from screechy sopranos and altos.

The SF one was actually my second BUDD. A few years back, the LA Opera staged it with Dwayne Croft (whose voice I adore & whose performances I usually like) as Billy; sadly, he played him as something of a dope rather than a "beautiful innocent." Gunn's Billy was far more true to the Melville and Britten. And the production was as gay as could be--Gunn & numerous chorus members were shirtless, his fellow sailors held Budd down & passed him around one to the other. It was all about unrequited lust.

~Adam

[ March 26, 2005, 02:39 PM: Message edited by: Adam ]

For what it's worth, the SF 'Budd' was the second production of that opera I've seen. A few years back, the LA Opera staged it, with Dwayne Croft--whose voice I adore and whose performances I usually like--in the title role. Sadly, it almost turned me off 'Budd,' with Croft interpretating him more like a dope than a "beautiful innocent" and in general that production was rather stiff.

The SF one restored my faith: Gunn's work seemed more true to Melville's & Britten's intent. And, oh boy, was it a gay festival--Gunn and chorus members shirtless, sailors passing Budd one from another, hugging him, and holding him down. This production really stressed the unrequited lust/passion. Not that I'm complaining... wink

~Adam

It's pretty hard not to see Jane Eaglen. She is absolutely the fattest soprano ever to "grace" the stage. eek!

I remember seeing her as Turandot here at the San Francisco Opera. What a joke! Especially in the scene when the tenor is awestruck by her beauty. Totally unbelievable portrayal. Fat sopranos should be shot. :mad:

Hey, maybe Prince Calif was a chubby chaser?? Ya never know. wink
Personally, I thought Doina Dimitriu (in the title role of Tosca at the Lyric this season) came off as much more rotund. When she sang, you suspended belief, caught up in her amazing performance. Dramatically, tho, she had some comic moments. When standing at the dinner table, comtemplating murdering the Baron, you half expected her to grab rack of lamb and start chowing down rather than pocket a knife. At the finale, she sorta "bounced" off the parapet's edge. I almost busted a gut holding in the laughter. Great, great voice, tho

Since this thread seems to have become a general opera one, Deborah Voigt--the soprano fired from a London production of "Ariadne auf Naxos" because she was too fat to be appealing in a little black dress costume--underwent gastric bypass surgery. The procedure allowed her to lose 100 pounds & has returned to the stage. I wonder if the change in weight will affect the timbre of her voice.

~Adam

If anyone in SoCal is interested in a balcony ticket to "Simon Boccanegra" at the SD Civic Theatre tonite, lemmeno; it's going begging in our office because we're all too burned out from our jobs and JUST WANT TO GO HOME! frown

Drastic weight loss like that has done a number on many sopranos, Maria Callas being the major example. But with proper nutrition and exercise, the loss of weight really should not affect the voice to any major degree. Hopefully, she is under the supervision of a good doctor that will avoid any ill effects of the dramatic weight loss.

Not to be a total opera queen or anything, but are you sure it was Croft? I thought it was Rodney Gilfry.....who cracked during the glorious "Billy Budd! King of the birds" section. Robert Tear, on the other hand, was glorious as Vere. I met him in the bar afterwards and he was very nice.

Jane Eaglen = past it.
James Morris = waaaaay past it (too many Wotan's).

I want to go to the Lyric but I hate the way they have things scheduled (to be fair, Los Angeles does it the same way); there's large gaps between productions, so it makes it tough to justify flying to Chicago in the winter to go to only one thing. Plus, they seem to schedule their one or two interesting things a year next to something (Donizetti, Rossini, early Verdi, *shudder* baroque stuff *shudder* etc.) that you'd have to pay me large sums to go to.

Chicago Opera Theatre is doing a Britten cycle. They're doing the great, great opera Midsummer Night's Dream in May; that could be interesting for people in Chicago to go to, it's a great opera when performed in a small theatre.

Speaking of wish lists, I'd REALLY like to see more full-length Russian operas performed here: Sadko, Prince Igor, Tale of Tsar Sultan, etc. There are some really beautiful melodic works in that repertoire.

Jim, I'm pretty sure it was Dwayne Croft as I don't think I've ever seen Gilfrey (only heard on recordings) BUT memory being what it is--fading--I could be wrong. What I mostly recall from that production was the 'dopey' interpretation of Budd.

~Adam

Agreed. I'm really bored with the usual Onegin and Pique Dame and Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and especially Boris.

Prokofiev's Fiery Angel is not "beautfilly melodic" but what a great opera in the theatre! The production years ago in SF was staggering--gotta love an opera where the anti-heroine is taken over by a sex-crazed devil and when she goes to a nunnery to escape, an orgy breaks out amongst the nuns. As Prokofiev said: "In my Fiery Angel, there is little theology, but of orgies, there is no end". I *heart* Prokofiev.

His War and Peace has some major flaws, but it still is a pretty powerful night in the theatre. The Gambler is a fine a opera too.

The one Russian who's operas I'd love to see done more is Rimsky-Korsakov. I was *very* bummed when they cancelled his Golden Cockerel in San Francisco due to budget woes. His Kitezh is a great opera too.

New York Area opera queens should really make an effort to see two productions at the City Opera: Dukas' fabulous--and I mean fab-u-lous--Ariane et Barbe-Bleu and The Mines of Sulphur, which is supposed to be a terrific opera by Richard Rodney Bennett.

They've announced the 2005-06 Met and it's really f**king grim. The least interesting season from them in my memory. There's an interesting cast in the Parsifal, but the only thing of real interest is Alfano's Cyrano de Bergerac with Domingo; the opera itself got reviews of the "Um, where has this wonderful opera been hiding all these years?" sort. My cynical answer is "Because companies would rather do awful early Verdi and ghastly-beyond-words baroque operas instead". Why don't they do stuff like Respighi's fantastic La Fiamma or Campana Sumersa? Lack of voices (the people that can sing the Alfano and Resipghi operas get snapped up to do the Puccini operas) is a problem but geez.

[ March 30, 2005, 05:29 PM: Message edited by: Jim Allen ]