October 28, 2007 Sunday
I went to the opera to hear Verdi's I Vespri Siciliani. Quite the production. The stage set was pretty heavy handed. No subtlety there--the French and taken over Sicily and, while the governor is not a bad guy, he does rule with a heavy hand. The stage setting has an enormous clenched fist hanging down from above, and I mean enormous. It must be 30 feet tall and 20 wide, sculpted in 3D. It looks like something out of a Soviet era poster, but hanging down in an overture of oppression instead of raised in defiance. The protagonist is a duchess (coloratura soprano with a beautiful voice and not a bad figure named Sondra Radvanovsky) who is in love with a leader of the Sicilian resistance. This lead, a tenor of course, must have been no more than 5 feet tall and 5 feet around—not someone who would inspire resistance, let alone a love interest! But a huge tenor voice. It was almost comical to see them sing love duets--she was head and shoulders above him and couldn't get close enough to try to hug him. Even the young Italian couple sitting next to me (with whom I struck up a conversation) were amused.
Overall a good production, but the staging and choreography was very weak. The production lasted 4 hours.
This being Sunday, there are very few restaurants open, so it’s cook at home time.
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