I've been to a few performances at the Lyric where the production added little or nothing to the opera, but rare are the times where the production actively works against it. Sadly, that's just what happened last night with Rinaldo. The singers were great. David Daniels was just as solid as he was in Giulio Cesare, and Iestyn Davies was equally ( Read more... )

Saw Show Boat at the Lyric last night. For the most part, I agree with muckefuck's take, although I did enjoy Act II more than he did. Yes, it's choppy, but it had some nice nostalgia for an old-fashioned stage show, even reaching back to what was already a hoary old standard in 1927: After the Ball (although, what I thought was a hoary standard Bill ( Read more... )

No doubt you have all spent the last few days in a tizzy after the cliffhanger which was my last post. A heady blend of intermittent wi-fi service, a busy schedule, and my dislike of typing on the iPad conspired to keep me off LJ for the rest of my stay. Here then are the highlights ( Read more... )

Before today, about the only thing I knew about Tacoma, Washington was that it's where John Candy's character from Volunteers was from. I now know a few other things: it's where the Madrina Fiber Arts Winter Retreat is held, it's about an hour from Seattle, and it's where I'm sleeping tonight ( Read more... )

My old high school will be the target of a Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) protest next week. It's still unclear as to why. Fred Phelps' estranged son Nate spoke there last year, and apparently the Equality Club (formerly the Gay-Straight Alliance) is quite active in the community. That may be it. Also, the WBC folks need to stop and stretch ( Read more... )

Turns out that freeloaders like me with free accounts can't create polls in LJ. So, if you have an opinion, you'll have to leave it in comments. The way I see it, North Korea can go down several paths at this point, only one or two of them good for both North Korea and the world. It's kind of sad that the best (realistic) outcome is that a ( Read more... )

Clearly, I need to pay more attention to the local opera news. Deborah Voigt bowed out of Ariadne auf Naxos in July, but I didn't realize it until yesterday when I read the Trib's review. I had been looking forward to this opera since it was announced last year, and Voigt was a big reason why. She's a great performer, and it's one of her ( Read more... )

So, it's official, Albert Pujols is leaving the Saint Louis Cardinals. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim swept out of the blue and grabbed him last night ( Read more... )

Last night we saw the Lyric’s production of Boris Godunov.* It was okay. There were some definite highlights: the coronation scene and its mirror, when the Russian people surround Godunov to demand bread rather than praise him, were both great musically, and mostly staged well. The indomitable Andrea Silvestrelli was a joy as always. I’m ( Read more... )

Saw the Lyric’s production of Lucia di Lammermoor last night. It’s very much a stereotypical opera: overheated plot, love, revenge, bombastic singing, etc. Donizetti is like Verdi methadone for me, but he comes up with some nice music (I particularly liked the duets with Lucia and Enrico).Overall, a fine performance of an opera staple I had not ( Read more... )