die bohne der nacht ([info]nixietube) wrote,
@ 2006-06-13 15:49:00
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opera opera
Today I gave a speech about opera. Even though it lasted only 8 minutes (and included many sound clips), I managed to completely bore the audience. As the talk progressed, their eyes glazed over more and more. At the end, they had to give me feedback, but I think they were too abashed at their lack of interest to give me a bad review.

Over the weekend I saw two operas, Marriage of Figaro and Madama Butterfly. One was incredibly good, the other was incredibly bad. It's up to you to guess which one is which, but I'll give you a hint. One of these operas featured whiskey, salami, the American anthem, and pseudo-japanese folk songs.

Marriage of Figaro had two excellent singers, the soprano Ruth Ann Swenson as the Countess and the bass-baritone John Relyea as Figaro. The singers in Madama Butterfly were all decent, but nobody stood out as particularly good or bad.

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[info]ghosthacked
2006-06-13 11:00 pm UTC (link)
If I had to talk about a Web browser, I'd be bored too...

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[info]nixietube
2006-06-14 08:06 pm UTC (link)
Har har. :P

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[info]ctiee
2006-06-14 04:51 pm UTC (link)
I don't understand, what could be more entertaining than a talk about opera? Also, I thought you liked whiskey in opera. I still need to see La Fanciulla del West, too bad San Francisco just has Tosca, Butterfly, and Boheme over and over. I don't think I can see those again in the next decade unless someone exceptionally good sings. Turandot is even worse than Butterfly, plus it has no mention of whiskey. Though Eaglen as Turandot was special. O yes.

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[info]nixietube
2006-06-14 08:09 pm UTC (link)
O, whiskey was the good part, almost as good as the salami. It was just a helpful hint. Everyone knows that Figaro drinks whiskey like a fish.

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[info]ewigweibliche
2006-06-14 04:59 pm UTC (link)
Perhaps you should drink whisky when viewing Ms. Butterfly. I've seen one show of it and I was entertained, moved briefly at the end, but it certainly ain't Mozart.

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[info]nixietube
2006-06-14 08:18 pm UTC (link)
I definitely think some booze would have helped. I don't know why, but the national anthem in opera form makes me cringe. The only emotion I felt was humor, since everything about this opera was too ridiculous. The Japanese and Americans were bad caricatures based on stereotypes rather than real people. When Ms. Butterfly committed suicide at the end, she was very melodramatic and absurd. Other people cried, I laughed at the bad acting.

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