Top of the morning ladies and gents! Unless of course you are reading this in the evening in which case bottom of the evening! In the next few paragraphs I will unravel the true meaning and magic of the opera and formulate opinions on whether it appeals to the youth of NYC and most importantly, if it represents NY as a nightmare/fantasy.
Critic Checklist
Wacky/gripping intro
Review of the plot and story
Review of the costume, set, and music
Does it appeal to the younger generation?
NY nightmare/fantasy
There is always something special about your first _____. It always resonates in your mind, you know? Like the first time I ate a peach, my first day in college, the first time I called 911 by accident, the first time I prank called someone, the first time I got attacked by a squirrel, etc. Now, I was really excited to attend the opera because I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Unfortunately, my first opera wasn’t as magical as I imagined in my head (I hate it when that happens).
Like Natasha, I believed the plot of the opera just seemed like a really bad soap opera. To be fair the story was quite interesting. As A-Lo (Alyssa) stated, there really is something eye-catching about a story of a man-whore. There were also a lot of moments where I giggled at the lines or the scenes. I will say the translator machine was a lifesaver as well as a distraction. There were times where I was bored and decided let’s read this in German! It was quite entertaining. Anyways, I feel the opera was unnecessarily too long; some of the songs could have been taken out. Honestly, how many times do we have to hear these woman singing, “oh my wretched heart…. I want vengeance.” -__-
I LOVED the set; it was incredibly intricate and just awesome. The fact that they were able to move those big block things to match so many different scenes and situations can only be explained by magic. The music was beautiful, hands-down the best part of the performance. It really complimented the story and set. The best part of the set was the FIRE! It was the greatest thing ever and I don’t think anyone expected it. Who would expect flamethrowers in an opera?!
For freshmen to the opera I don’t think Don Giovanni appealed to that many younglings. I can speak to myself and say it didn’t do a great job for me personally. It didn’t ruin the opera for me in general however, I didn’t find it that appealing…except for the fire of course. Also, I feel like the youth would have found the circus outside the MET much more appealing. ^_^
Lastly, it’s really hard for me to say because we haven’t been able to discuss this theme as much however, I would say the opera represents NYC as fantasy (despite the nightmarish hell-fire on the stage). Honestly, I had such a grand vision in my head of how the opera would be. You always see such high-class individuals attending operas. In movies and shows there is always such grandeur when it comes to the opera. I myself envisioned attending the opera with a top hat, monocle, and cane, if that doesn’t say dream I don’t know what does.
