At least I had some reading material to keep me occupied (when I wasn't busy building a nest out of the 2010 budget documents--whoops, sorry!) Someone just lent me the book Great Operatic Disasters. Let me tell you, there's nothing like a healthy dose of schadenfreude to combat the winter blahs.
There is the Don Giovanni who attempts a descent into hell not once but twice (via a malfunctioning stage lift) and someone finally declares "Oh, my God, how wonderful--hell is full!"
Or the Wotan in Die Walkure who strides onto stage draped in a cloak that still has a pink padded coat hanger attached to it.
But, oh, I wanted more! To Google! I came across this article in The New Yorker, regarding "a wild night at the Met" in 2008. I found this quote most apt:
"Certainly, operagoers cherish those rare occasions when all variables intersect to create the appearance of perfection; but they hold just as dearly to the memory of those unmagical nights when it all falls spectacularly apart. The gladiatorial aspect of opera is as old as opera itself. No other art form is so exquisitely contrived to create fiasco."If I'm wrong to agree, I don't wanna be right.
1 comment:
More opera trivia for you, Carl. The audience at the Haskell Opera House sits in Derby Line, Vermont, while the performers are onstage in Stanstead, Quebec.
Maybe you can visit it when you fly north for the summer....Oh, wait, my bad.
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