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Turandot - as I saw it Submitted by Grace on Thu, 2007-10-11 12:48.
This opens in Wellington on Saturday night. I took a group of students and Lance to see the dress rehearsal tonight and thought I would share a few thoughts, for anybody thinking about attending. The highlights in the singing were almost anything by Ping, Pang and Pong, the character playing Liu was a delight, Turandot was rich but reserved in this performance (but she is capable of more) and the lead male ... I didn't swoon, feel moved or even like his voice. He performed Nessum Dorma adequately, all the notes were there and most of the musical intent, but phrases were clipped and his face was rather emotionless. This particular aria was still moving, simply because Puccini was a very clever man and the story had already gripped its audience. The chorus members were great, although the off stage stuff a little quieter than I would have liked.
This is the first opera in ages that I can say that the set wasn't shabby, it was more three dimensional than I expected. The chorus was one of the largest I've had the pleasure of listening to. The orchestra were a little hit and miss, although I am sure they will get it together at some point during the season. (In defense of the orchestra they have had a couple of rehearsals on it since coming off a season of The Tales of Hoffman so are not as familiar with it as one might hope. Huge brass and percussion sections to fit in the pit
 ) The lighting was dim, probably to mask the wigs and makeup, and although there was an interesting use of colour with the lights there was no decent highlighting of the leads. Costumes were suitable, some interesting, but one of Turandot's made her look like a hideous corporate mother of the bride, hardly a woman that men fell in love with simply at the sight of her. I found Act 1 choreography to be a tad too interpretative, a little like watching a 'modern dance' performance.Favourite moments: There is one I will not share in case you do decide to go and see it, the moment is too good to be ruined by idle prattle. In one scene Ping, Pong and Pang try to tempt Calaf's affections away from Turandot with a bevy of beautiful women, he turns them down and then in walks all the male cast. Oh how I laughed and laughed, and mostly missed the lines about offerings of jewels. Liu's big moment was very well performed. Lance loved the kiss, and I may indulge him in one later, just for going to an opera with me.
Do go and see it, if you have the opportunity, avoid sitting in the Grand Circle, and be thankful that you won't have a group from Wairarapa College sitting behind you.
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Told you ...
We'll be holding SOLOC 5 there.
Hehe... Ok, I'll stop -
"Florence is called the capital of arts; according to statistics produced by UNESCO, 60% of the world's most important works of art are located in Italy and approximately half of these are in Florence." - http://www.rome-airport.org/florence-italy.html
Wheee!!
So, have I said enough? When can we expect you?
She certainly is!
Hot. Especially after those comments about Mario's ND.
She's mine now Lance. Sorry.
My wife is SO hot.
My wife is so HOT.
Lindsay
Mario Lanza has an amazing talent, one that a lot of people don't understand. He naturally alters the pitch of the note to create incredible colour, both according to the orchestra's harmonies and to the meaning of the words. No two notes are the same as he creates tension and release through every melodic phrase. You could say that he has terrible tuning but it is a deliberate way of expressing emotion. Gorgeous. He actually makes Pavarotti feel too square when listening to the performances consecutively. I want to tell Pavarotti and his conductor to please give me 'piu rubato'!
Grace my dear
Please listen to "Mario's Nessun Dorma. Hardly anyone else here has the brains to get it, but I'm sure you do!!
Oh!
females!
...oh right..gosh
That sort of makes sense, I suppose, in the sense that a group of teenage chaps and Opera...well
a dead giveaway! 
..but girls, hmmmmm...yes
that is because they are all
that is because they are all poofs
Ohhh Elijah, no they're not all poofs. Far from it in fact, about as far as you can physiologically get from poofs. Ohhhh how I relish this moment.
Elijah dearie, they're all girls.
Ha
ha I enjoyed reading... every time I take a group out I feel a sense of pride that my students are always the best behaved there, and they actually make intelligent observations...
...that is because they are all poofs, Grace 
I must say, you were up early making the original post on here...gosh...I thought I was the only chap up and about at that time in the morning!
The school kids were only
The school kids were only annoying to listen to during the intervals but were very well behaved throughout the performance. My students were wonderful throughout, of course! Actually every time I take a group out I feel a sense of pride that my students are always the best behaved there, and they actually make intelligent observations.
Gesamtkunstwerk
"It's a theatrical experience. If done well, I can imagine it must be truly amazing!"
Music, drama, dance, theatre, painting, architecture ... done properly it's the complete integrated work of art; as someone once said: a Gesamtkunstwerk! That's when it's done properly.
"I'm looking forward to attending as many operas as I can in Italy."
I'm looking forward to calling you and Jasmine appalling names. You bastards.
;^)
Oh.
"I don't mean clapping out for ever, I mean she's got throat trouble as we speak."
Oh. Poor Margaret.
Oh
I'm looking forward to attending as many operas as I can in Italy.
Shut the fuck up!
She has bronchial-something
She has bronchial-something or other at the moment, and in last nights dress rehearsal, as was announced at the start, the leads were all marking to preserve their voices.
I don't think that excused Dongwon Shin's performance though.
Ha! One opera and I'm already a critic
This was our first live opera...
This was our first live opera, and Jasmine and I were really looking forward to it. In the end, we were a bit disappointed, for all the reasons already stated below.
However, saying that, it was very entertaining, and I now understand why one has to watch an opera being performed, as opposed to just listening to the music. It's a theatrical experience. If done well, I can imagine it must be truly amazing! I consider this an appetizer.
I'm looking forward to attending as many operas as I can in Italy.
I don't mean ...
.... clapping out for ever, I mean she's got throat trouble as we speak. The friend who reported to me said it sounded like larynxitis.
Having seen her last year as
Having seen her last year as Kundry in Parsifal (when she was splendid) and just a few weeks before in that Wagner festival (when she was almost as splendid) , it would be unfair to say that Margaret's voice is clapping out, but I would agree the role isn't really one that suits her voice.
But the costuming really did her no favours on stage.
As Grace said, the highlight was really the ensemble work of Ping, Pang and Pong.
Well ...
If the theatre were full of schoolchildren I'm glad I wasn't there. You'd have been reading about pedocide this morning.
I've heard that Margaret's voice is clapping out (not a role for her anyway) and the tenor is a nannygoat.
We would have been seriously unamused.
The placards at the end...
The placards at the end... The person that decided that was a good idea probably thought it 'looked neat'? I don't know. But it was a bad move for the reasons you stated.
I'd pretty much agree with
I'd pretty much agree with all of that -- but I'd add that I wasn't impressed either with the 'egalitarianising' of the Emperor, or with the decision to have those placards waved around at the end.
It's hard enough for Turandot to sway the audience anyway (which she needs to in order for us to make sense of Calaf falling in love with her) without her earlier crimes being waved in our face at the same time as the music is telling us to celebrate their union.
Cheers, Peter Cresswell
* * * *
'NOT PC.'
**Setting Brushfires In People's Minds**
ORGANON ARCHITECTURE
**Integrating Architecture With Your Site**
Yes, the lighting designer
Yes, the lighting designer did some clever and creative things, but failed in the basic fundamental of illuminating the cast.
Props: Liu cutting her own throat with a 7 ft double-headed halberd was... unexpected and almost comedic in it's unlikeliness. They appeared to be using a "live" weapon. I don't believe it was sharp, but it was certainly steel and very pointy (it was impaled into the stage floor at one point). So I can understand not throwing herself upon it, but a grab and pull to her upstage side would have been much more effective and just as safe.
Costumes: I'm with Grace on Turandot's second costume. It was too severe. Attempting to accentuate Turandot's icy demeanor through her costume was a bad idea. It was about as far from 'knock you down', 'love at first sight' as you can get. A much better approach would have been to dress her up, not down, and let the performer, the music and the story deal with the characterisation.
Theatre: I haven't been to the St James in years, I LOVE that theatre. I would watch any show there just to be able to sit in it. Absolutely beautiful.
Performers: Phillip Rhodes (Ping, Green) is a talent and a half. While I'm not an appropriate judge of his singing abilities, the man can ACT! I saw him playing Enjolras in Les Miserables in Napier a couple of years back, and his reception at curtain call then, as it was last night, was stomping whistling and rapturous applause. Grace informs me that he is a baritone, I don't know what that means for his casting, but I really want to see this guy go far. (And I will be able to say I knew him when he was singing Tom Jones on karaoke in Hastings)