Author Archives: isadorebetesh

The Value of a Good Production Team

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I never thought that I would ever be intrigued by an opera; however, boy was I wrong. On Wednesday October 26th I had the opportunity to visit the Met Opera’s performance of Rossini’s Il Barbiere de Seviglia at Lincoln Center. Due to the fact that it was my first opera I did not really know what to expect. However, after a little while I was astonished to witness such an amazing thing. I believe that the director, set designer, and singers effortlessly portrayed the true essence of Rossini’s original opera.

The first thing that caught my attention when the performance began was the way the set designer Michael Yeargen made use of the doors to create the setting of each of the scenes. On one hand, I was really intrigued by the manipulation of the doors because I was surprised to see that such a small thing can go a long way. The production team was able to create intricate set designs using such an ordinary thing. They were able to combine the doors in different ways to give each scene and setting a unique shape and appearance. However, on the other hand, I was also slightly disappointed that they used such a simple thing in order to shape the settings of each and every scene. When I first saw the doors I began to think of the fact that they spent so much time and money in creating the opera, and that in the end they were a little cheap when it came to such an important thing as the design of the set. I believe that the I would have been more intrigued if the production team had spent more time and money in the setting and in creating the scenes as Rossini envisioned them (in the streets of Seville).

As the opera progressed, I noticed that many of the props were used to add meaning to the scenes and to insert humor into the opera. One of the props that really stuck out to me was Figaro’s cart and its enormous size. When they brought out the cart I started to laugh a little bit because in my mind I knew that it represented the whole persona of Figaro. Throughout the opera you can truly see Figaro’s pompousness and arrogance. He believes that everyone relies on and that he is one of the most important people in the city. This fact is represented during Figaro’s “Largo al Factotum” aria. He also believes that he is the cause behind many of the good things that come about during the opera. For instance, towards the end of the opera he attributes the marriage of the Count and Rosina towards his doings.

At the end of the second act the audience erupted into laughter as a giant anvil was dropped down and crushed a wagon of pumpkins. During that scene the soldiers stormed Bartolo’s house after he got into a fight with the Count. Even though it added to the humor of the opera, I just did not understand it. I realize that it was symbolic of the fact that the characters were singing that their heads were hurting as if they were hit by an anvil, but I believe that it took away from the seriousness of the opera. In my opinion, the anvil was unnecessary and was a waste of money. It would have been better if the opera went into intermission with a serious tone. However, instead the production team dropped the anvil and took away from the mood of the performance.

Throughout the opera, Maurizio Benini, the conductor, was able to make use of the music to set the mood of each of the scenes. During the end of the second act, when the soldiers stormed Dr. Bartholo’s house, the tone of the music signaled that something dramatic was about to happen and gave you a sense of what to expect. The music foreshadowed that something significant was about to occur and caught your attention during the important scenes of the opera. The singers were also able to make use of the music to add feelings into their characters. For example, Isabel Leonard, who played Rosina, was able to express her emotions through the music. During her aria “Une voce poco fa,” you could truly see her love and affection for the Count, who she believed was a poor student named Lindoro. Through the music they were able to increase the impact the opera had on you.

Overall, I believe that the production team, including the director, singers, and set designer, did an amazing job at displaying Rossini’s original intentions concerning his opera Il Barbiere de Seviglia. Even though I had a couple of concerns regarding certain aspects of the performance, after all is considered I believe that they did a great job at creating a fun and exciting opera. I would encourage everyone to visit this performance, because it has the ability to change the way you look at opera as a whole.

Cultural Relativity

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Looking for a night filled with laughter and fun? Then David Henry Hwang’s Ch’ing-lish at the Longacre theater might be right for you. Every aspect of the performance was extremely fascinating. Furthermore, the actors were able to capture your attention with their humor and wit. From the opening scene I was hooked and couldn’t take my eyes off of the stage. In my opinion, all of the elements of the production were able to come together and stand united to display the differences between American and Chinese cultures.

One of the main things that stuck out to me was the effectiveness of the actors in portraying their characters. From the instance Daniel Cavanaugh (Gary Wilmes), the head of an American sign making company, stepped into China you could clearly see that he was lost. He did not understand the culture, the people, and most of all he did not understand the language. He was totally misplaced in a foreign country. During the first scene of the play he explains the intricacies of the Chinese culture and how hard it can be to keep up. However, he is then confronted by Peter (Stephen Pucci), a British schoolteacher who is trying to make it as a business consultant. Peter acted as the bridge between the two cultures and tries to figure out his place in life. He does not know where he belongs and struggles throughout the play to figure out his true calling. Pucci did an excellent job in demonstrating Peter’s journey to find out who he is. On the other side of the spectrum we have Xi Pan (Jennifer Lim), the Chinese vice minister of culture who is transformed into Daniel’s ally and lover. Unlike Peter and Daniel, Xi Pan knows what she wants in life and knows what she must do to get it. Lim does an excellent job in portraying a resilient Chinese woman who has a clear understanding of her purpose, which is to serve her husband and make sure he has all of his needs. Hwang was able to make use of the personalities of each of the characters to reveal the true natures of those who belong to each culture.

David Corins, the set designer, created elaborate settings that truly captured the essences of both cultures. The transitions between each of the scenes were effective and efficient. In my opinion, the use of the revolving set represented Daniel’s perspective in his unpredictable world. At times, he had no idea what was happening and was forced to stand on the sidelines as the world continued to turn around him. There were times throughout the play where he seemed to be confused and in a sense dizzy from the things going on around him. For instance, when he was in the meeting with the minister, it seemed as if he was lost in the background and had no idea what he should be doing. Instead of getting involved, he chose to let Peter handle a large portion of the meeting. It was difficult for him to absorb everything he was experiencing and he had a hard time taking it all in. Just like the world around him was spinning, so too was the set. Corins was able to capture the true nature of Chinese culture through his intricate settings and stage designs. There were many scenes that, in my mind, depicted the true essence of Chinese culture through their beauty and artwork. One set design that caught my attention was that of the restaurant. It truly represented the atmosphere of an Chinese restaurant. It was filled with many Chinese symbols and signs and gave me the feeling that I was eating in my local Chinese restaurant, two blocks away from my home. This is just one of the many was that the set designer was able to portray the Chinese culture through the various settings of the play.

Throughout the play one of the major differences between the two cultures was that of the differences in mindset and views between the men and women who belong to each of the cultures. Through the script, Hwang did an excellent job at highlighting these differences. One scene that had a great impact on me was when Xi Pan and Daniel discussed their affair and the way it will shape their futures. Daniel saw their affair as a symbol of love and passion. He had high hopes for the future and believed that they would live a life together. However, Xi saw it as an escape. She believed that the affair would actually save her marriage. She believed that by doing this she was not only protecting herself, but also protecting her husband from a divorce. It is not right for us to judge Xi’s opinion, because it is based on her cultural experiences. Both characters held certain opinions based on the atmospheres that they grew up in and their cultures shaped the way they viewed and judged certain actions.

When the play ended, I was surprised to see that I got that much enjoyment out of a play that I had to read half of the script off of a screen. I found myself amused by many of the differences that were displayed between the two cultures and was intrigued at how each culture viewed the world. The director, Leigh Silverman, was able to combine all of the elements of the play to create a performance that was both informative and captivating. The performance not only gave me a laugh but also taught me a valuable lesson; that you cannot negatively judge a certain person just because he his culture is different from yours.

One Man is All They Need

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In Alcohol Applied Liberally to a Bitterly Busted Life Andy Webster reviews the one- man performance “___ Done Broke,” which is being performed at the Bushwick Starr. He begins by giving the reader a little overview of the play, which is about an alcoholic steelworker named Donny, who “is adrift from his three children.” His life has lost all of its meaning and he turns to alcohol to fill in the gaps.

The reviewer then describes the actor and writer of the one man piece, D.J. Mendel and discusses some his former performances. He devotes about half of his article to discuss this actor without giving any references to the play or the evaluation of his performance in this specific play. This stuck out to me, because instead of discussing the play, the reviewer chose to mainly focus on the actor and his past performances. It sounded as if the reviewer was not so interested in the performance because he hardly mentioned anything about the performance that was intriguing to him.

On one hand I would really enjoy seeing this play because I am interested in seeing how one man would be able to put on a whole play by himself. D.J. Mendel is involved in every aspect of the play, from writing the script to performing it. However, on the other hand, this review gave me the sense that the play is not worth seeing because there is not really anything that sticks out about it.

The Truth Behind Discrimination

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Throughout history there have been many movements aimed at bringing about social reform and none of them have been more successful than the civil rights movement which focuses on attaining equality for people of all races and differences in culture. From the time of slavery in America people have fought at attaining equal rights for all and have pursued the equal treatment for all different kinds of people.

Growing up, one of my favorite movies was “Remember the Titans,” which portrays the struggle to create a society with less social tension between people of different races. It is the story of a school football team in the south, which must combine both white and African American players. At first, there was a lot of tension between the players on the team. They would only stick to the people of the same race and wouldn’t even communicate with those who were not like them. However, as the story progresses you can truly see the determination of the players to create a team where there was no such concept as racial tension. The players started to come together as one and started to create an environment of love and acceptance of people of different races. By the end of the movie these players not only changed their school but eventually changed their community as well.

I believe that, even though we may not know it, there is still a lot of racial discrimination that exists in our society today. Even if someone makes a little joke regarding a person of a different race or mentions a stereotypical remark  he can be considered to be discriminating towards people who are different from himself. Even the type of neighborhoods that we live in portray a sense of racial segregation that was around during the 1960s. Today, many people live in communities which consist of people who are similar to themselves. Since these people share similar customs to themselves they feel comfortable being around them and therefore cling to one another. I believe that there would be less racial discrimination in the world if we lived in mixed communities where we can share our cultures with others, and learn a little about them as well. By doing this we can learn to appreciate people of different cultures for who they truly are.

The Disinterested Reviewer

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In his review A Card Game Played With High Stakes, Eric Grode discusses the play”A Felony in Blue, or Death by Poker,” which is being performed at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in the East Village. From the very beginning of his review the reader can tell that Grode was un happy with the performance. He has a very negative tone and dedicates the first 2 paragraphs to describing the venue and the atmosphere. He tells the reader that the usher is the playwright- director- actor Rome Neal, who is currently playing Tlonious Monk in a one-man show a few blocks away at the Moldy Fig. He also mentions that you can find the owner of the cafe and lois Elaine Griffith, a poet, sitting at the bar. From the fact that he first mentions the play in the third paragraph I knew that he did not enjoy it.

When he finally comes to talk about the play the first thing he mentions is that it has a title “that takes about as long to say as the play does to perform.” The reader can clearly see that he was dissatisfied by the play from the adjectives he uses to describe it. Grode then goes on to give us a brief summary of the play which is about 5 mob bosses who come together in a game of poker to separate their territories. He mentions some events in the play such as a threatening of someone and his eventual murder. He ends off by saying that the play took 45 minutes and that you can go by books and learn about the clubs history at the bar afterwards. These words showed me that he couldn’t care less about the play and that the atmosphere was more intriguing than the performance it self.

If I had any thought in my mind of seeing this play, Grode just erased that thought. He made it clear that this play was a waste of his time and that it didn’t interest him whatsoever. One thing that bothers me about his review is that he fails to provide reasons as to why the play didn’t interest him. He just mentioned that it was very short and that it did not interest him. I believe that he could’ve captivated his audience in a better manner by listing certain things about the play that threw him off

The Life of a Hero

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My grandfather was one of the greatest and most influential people in my life. I have learned a lot of lessons and values from him throughout my life. Unfortunately, he passed away last year due to a heart attack. This event changed my life drastically. I loved spending time with him and enjoyed the time we shared but I didn’t know how I would be able to cope with his passing. He has been a staple in my life from when I was born and I wasn’t sure how I would be able to go on in life without him. However, shortly after I would realize things and hear stories that I never paid attention to before. As sad as I was, I received a feeling of happiness to gain all of this knowledge of the type of man my grandfather really was.

The Opera vs. The Play

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While reading the opera version of the “Barber of Seville” I noticed that basically the plot of the play has remained the same from Beaumarchais’ original play. In both, the count is fighting for Rosine’s and is trying to gain her love using costumes and with the help of Figaro. Bartholo plans to carry out his marriage with Rosine, but in the end the count will win the fight for her love. However, there were some differences in the characters and the style of the opera as well. Obviously, as an opera, one difference is that the scenes are carried out in song as opposed to the characters reciting each of their lines. Also, there are a few differences between the play and the opera in terms of how the scenes for directed. For instance, in the play the Count bribes the notary to persuade him to sign the marriage document. However, in the opera the Count threatens him with a gun. In my eyes, this adds to the drama of the opera and makes it more intriguing.
The importance of Figaro’s character is a major difference between the opera and the play. In the opera Figaro had a larger role and seemed to be the single main character of the play. however, in the play itself you get a sense that Figaro is a supporting character and that the main focus of the play is on the count rather than himself. The audience can see the significance of Figaro’s character and how much he means to the play. In the opera Figaro sings more than in the play and is more animated.