7,537 posts
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Post by alece10 on Oct 18, 2021 15:43:43 GMT
Up until now my foray into opera has been Carmen, Anna Nicole The Opera, all of G&S multiple times and Eugene Onegin in Russian at the Kirov in the late 70s.
So compared with MT it's a very limited amount.
I have always liked the music of Philip Glass in a strange hypnotic/trance way and always fancied seeing one of his operas.
OK it's over 3 hours long, sung in Sanskrit with no English translation and even after reading the synopsis didn't have a clue what was going on apart that it was to do with Ghandi, South Africa and Tolstoy and Martin Luther King pop in at some point.
However this didn't matter one bit as it was absolutely wonderful to watch and listen to. At one point in Act 2 my friend told me I had my mouth open staring at the stage.
Everything was on a massive scale, orchestra, chorus and sets. There were huge puppets, stilt walkers, coat hangers rising to the ceiling and an insane amount of selotape going back and forward across the stage and I have no idea how it didn't tear.
I can see why our stalls tickets cost £160 a shot as the number of people involved is huge and its only on for 16 performances.
Oh and for the famous faces bit, Penny Smith and another lady off the TV who I recognised but don't know her name sat next to us and Russel Brand was wondering around the stalls during the interval.
Bit of HMS Pinafore next month and I am now just about to book for Cosi Fan Tutti later in the season. Decided I need to broaden my interest a bit more before it's too late.
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1,316 posts
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Post by tmesis on Oct 18, 2021 18:21:09 GMT
Glad you enjoyed it alece10 although it's not my cup of tea. I really like Glass' symphonies and violin concerto but I hated Satyagraha when I saw it a few years back - however, the audience went wild at the end so it's probably my loss. Opera in general though I really love and as for Cosi fan Tutte - well now you're talking...
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535 posts
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Post by jek on Oct 19, 2021 11:23:51 GMT
Would love to see this at some point but with some caring responsibilities for a 90 year old I'm not quite ready to sit in a theatre yet. Went on an ENO prop backstage tour at Trinity Buoy Wharf last week (I was the only person on the tour) and the woman in charge of that showed me just how many specially printed newspapers they have to sellotape together for each performance of Satyagraha. I also saw some of the props for Pinafore - I won't spoil the surprise by describing them. I also saw some of the costumes for Pinafore at the ENO costume department in Southwark. They are clearly pushing the boat out for that production. The costumes and props for the Valkyrie were also looking quite astonishing.
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7,537 posts
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Post by alece10 on Oct 20, 2021 14:42:22 GMT
Would love to see this at some point but with some caring responsibilities for a 90 year old I'm not quite ready to sit in a theatre yet. Went on an ENO prop backstage tour at Trinity Buoy Wharf last week (I was the only person on the tour) and the woman in charge of that showed me just how many specially printed newspapers they have to sellotape together for each performance of Satyagraha. I also saw some of the props for Pinafore - I won't spoil the surprise by describing them. I also saw some of the costumes for Pinafore at the ENO costume department in Southwark. They are clearly pushing the boat out for that production. The costumes and props for the Valkyrie were also looking quite astonishing. Thats really interesting about the newspapers. Yes there is a huge amount of paper used and a lot of it must only be used once as it gets torn up, scrunched up and made into puppets. Also good news about Pinafore costumes as I have booked to see it too.
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4,596 posts
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Post by Someone in a tree on Oct 20, 2021 14:48:10 GMT
Has anyone seen any offers for Pinafore?
Please and ta
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Post by londonpostie on Oct 21, 2021 19:55:57 GMT
I can't bear this. For goodness sake bring back Secret Seats next season.
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