Monday, January 14, 2008
Smooth Opera-ator
So I went to the Lyric with my friend again the other night. Now, as I may have mentioned, I have never been the world's biggest opera fan; I've never seen fat people screaming at each other in a foreign language as much of a cause for celebration, and I have a hard time believing that tuberculosis is really as common as Verdi would have us believe. But I do like to look at things through opera glasses, and the Lyric's productions are always really superb, so I am more than willing to pass three or four hours in this fashion.
The opera in question this time was Doctor Atomic, John Adams' (not THAT John Adams) and Peter Sellars' (not THAT Peter Sellers) piece about the testing of the first atomic bomb. As often happens with me now that I am almost thirty years old, I found myself enjoying the production in direct proportion to the lateness of the hour. The first act seemed quite tight and interesting, but as the second act wore on, I hoped more and more that they would just drop the damn bomb and get things over with. Towards the end my knees started getting really stiff from sitting for three and a half hours and while stretching I almost tripped an old lady trying to make an early escape. Now that would have been entertainment.
Anyway, the Lyric is pretty cool and you should definitely go. Just make sure to stretch first, and don't forget your contacts, because you'll need to read supertitles the whole time.
So I went to the Lyric with my friend again the other night. Now, as I may have mentioned, I have never been the world's biggest opera fan; I've never seen fat people screaming at each other in a foreign language as much of a cause for celebration, and I have a hard time believing that tuberculosis is really as common as Verdi would have us believe. But I do like to look at things through opera glasses, and the Lyric's productions are always really superb, so I am more than willing to pass three or four hours in this fashion.
The opera in question this time was Doctor Atomic, John Adams' (not THAT John Adams) and Peter Sellars' (not THAT Peter Sellers) piece about the testing of the first atomic bomb. As often happens with me now that I am almost thirty years old, I found myself enjoying the production in direct proportion to the lateness of the hour. The first act seemed quite tight and interesting, but as the second act wore on, I hoped more and more that they would just drop the damn bomb and get things over with. Towards the end my knees started getting really stiff from sitting for three and a half hours and while stretching I almost tripped an old lady trying to make an early escape. Now that would have been entertainment.
Anyway, the Lyric is pretty cool and you should definitely go. Just make sure to stretch first, and don't forget your contacts, because you'll need to read supertitles the whole time.
