Dec 07 2009
The Earliest Cartoon =D
If only I hadn’t gotten lost in the opera house. If only I wasn’t as tired that day. I might had enjoyed The Barber more. The exaggerated motions and the strange sense of humor made it feel like a cartoon. It was like watching a Saturday morning toon, the only difference is that this live action. There are live animals (the donkey), the cast moves the props, and there’s an orchestra pit. A really large orchestra pit.
It took a little bit of time to understand the narration through song, but the subtitles help… a little. Sometimes they scroll too fast, and sometimes they don’t appear at all because the singer would be repeating line. It would have be nice if they repeat the subtitles and timed it to the singing.
Besides that, the opera was a pretty nice experience overall. The opera house was covered in gold and velvet red; the ceiling was higher than I expected it to be. It was a little pretentious but not so much that I became intimidated.
Barry Banks’ high squeaky voice really fit the role of Count Almaviva. I didn’t really like Joyce DiDonato’s voice (she plays Rosina), but I can’t really compare her performance to Banks, because their vocals are so different.
Yes, Alina.. Looney Tunes is what I was going for as well. I never was much of a cartoons fan, which is probably why “The Barber of Seville” was dry humor for me.
I agree that there were exaggerated motions and a strange sense of humor! The opera house was very extravagant and everyone looked very appreciative for the performance.
that’s actually very interesting that you thought of it as a cartoon. considering the anvil dropping, it is as though we were watching the roadrunner running away from the coyote, with the coyote ending up at the wrong place at the wrong time and suffering.
the song “Figaro” also adds to the cartoon-ish feel, as the song is used a lot in cartoons, like Looney Tunes for examples.
and yes, the translated text took away from the overall enjoyment because it forced the audience to focus on two things at once – the stage and the translations, which was hard to do and actual felt more like labor than leisure.