Dec 07 2009
I Have An Idea for a Tuesday Night!
The whole idea of watching an opera wasn’t too exciting; it didn’t seem like the ideal way of spending my Tuesday evening. The Barber of Seville, composed by Gioacchino Rossini had a packed house. I would soon learn why. As an English speaker, I thought I would have some difficulty with managing the Italian with reading the English translations, but I was wrong. The actors’ expressions, dance moves, and tones of voice allowed for me to interpret what was going on without knowing a synch of Italian. Rather than fully relying on the English translation displayed on the screen in front of me, I focused on the stage, grasping every movement and every sound of breath I heard the actors take. Maurizio Benini, conductor of The Barber of Seville, knew exactly what he was aiming for when he conducted the opera. Using the semicircle stage, the pasarella, featured Italian theatre architecture. It’s like a catwalk, extending from both ends of stage over pit and arching over auditorium, allowing the actors and actresses to have intimate closeness with the audience. I wish we were closer to it because I felt Rosina and Figaro breathing from where we were sitting; one can only imagine what it would be like if we were to sit there. All in all, I enjoyed the opera, but I can’t say I would spend a Tuesday night at the MET Opera for fun!
For more about Benini, click here
Every time the actors came forward, it felt like a model strutting a catwalk because of the limited space towards the front, in front of the orchestra.
The three letter acronym has become symbolic for Tuesday nights in NYC.
Hhahaahahah, Chi! My ideal tuesday night would be on MSN messenger.. Is that the answer you wanted? All out in the public.
What is your ideal way of spending a Tuesday night? I have never heard anything exciting for Tuesday night.
Hahhhah, believe it or not.. I preferred “Tell Me Who You Are” over the opera!!
YES absolutely, i think that i would have been able to manage without the translations because body language and intonations in themselves gave so much away.
and very true – i dont know why the theater was packed. I guess we arent mature enough to be watching operas just yet, because, as it seems, this was a popular event, and one that must have been well regarded.
very nice observations and research about the stage structure.
Its very true that for most people they would rather spend half the cash and go to a comedy club or something. Regardless if given the opportunity to go, its just nice to say youve done it, and to have experiance the New York City Opera first hand.
I felt that the semicircular stage just gave them extra reason to be walking around and singing which I thought with their redundant lyrics was more than enough.
The night at the opera is kind of an essential part of NYC sophisticated night life. I thought that the experience was worth it.
Who would have cash to burn on a night at the Opera? For the same price you can get some decent standup comedy in the city.
But it’s still a good thing to hear that other people are enjoying opera. From the other posts I’ve read, it seems to be a love or hate thing.