parterre box

57 comments

• MontyNostry says:

  Just watched the last act of Rigoletto and even I was bothered by how absurd the action seemed. When you are watching opera in a staged production, the holes in the logic don’t bother you, but in a ‘realistic’ TV production, it just all becomes rather silly. And even Placido couldn’t pull off the bit where he discovers Gilda in the sack. He seemed mildly bothered rather than wild with shock and grief. Would this convert anyone to opera?

  on September 5, 2010 at 6:18 PM
  • Quanto Painy Fakor says:

    10- “Would this convert anyone to opera?”
    I doubt it. They will just have to wait for IL POSTINO.

    on September 5, 2010 at 8:06 PM
  • Indiana Loiterer III says:

    I don’t think Domingo does shock and grief. He’s always been too dignified a stage presence for anything really wild. That can sort of work in Otello, where it can pass for a certain natural dignity proper to a military commander, but Rigoletto demands something less dignified.

    on September 5, 2010 at 8:09 PM
• MontyNostry says:

  Good point, Indiana. On the other hand, I always feel that Verdi just slightly miscalculated that awful moment of discovery. It somehow doesn’t have enough space to register as it should.

  Oh yes, and Sparafucile (Raimondi) was a good 35 years older than his ‘sister’ (Surguladze). Maybe older women had IVF treatment in Renaissance Mantua.

  on September 5, 2010 at 9:00 PM
  • Lindoro Almaviva says:

    You know Monty, as decent as Raimondi was, I found him lacking. I kept wishing that they had asked Furlanetto instead. Raimondi sounded lightweight and not sinister enough as Sparafucil.

    I wonder how d’Arcangelo would have done with the part.

    on September 5, 2010 at 9:31 PM
  • Ruxton says:

    I agree with you Monty – I’ve always thought he did the same thing at the end of Trovatore – poor Manrico is dragged out and executed within a few seconds flat. It’s like the great man suddenly gets to the point and says to himself “Fuckit- enough of this nonsense – it’s over!”
    Puccini on the other hand, always seemed to judge the dramatic activity much more accurately.

    on September 5, 2010 at 9:47 PM
• MontyNostry says:

  Lindoro, I’ve always found Raimondi lacking — never saw what all the fuss was about with him. Furlanetto is much more ballsy and d’Arcangelo would at least have made a more credible brother to young Nino, though I don’t think his voice is anything special. Not sure you can have a Sparafucile who is better looking than the Duke, though.

  on September 5, 2010 at 9:43 PM
  • Nerva Nelli says:

    “Not sure you can have a Sparafucile who is better looking than the Duke, though.”

    Yes you can–my first Met RIGOLETTO featured Shicoff and Justino Diaz.

    on September 5, 2010 at 10:38 PM
• Quanto Painy Fakor says:

  Next we will have baritone Calafs -- Talented misguided youth -- now 16
  

  on September 5, 2010 at 10:14 PM
  • fartnose mcgoo says:

    I’m not sure if I’m a good enough judge (considering I’m his age and have only taken a few music lessons as a bass), but his vocal production seems all off. It seems like the only way he can make his voice sound “operatic” is by putting the sound at the back of his throat, which is something that my own teacher has helped me stop doing. While he should be pushing the sound “forward” (especially when hitting the high note), he’s obviously straining by keeping all the tension around his shoulders.

    on September 6, 2010 at 12:04 PM
    • Harry says:

      Bravo fatnose mcgoo, pleased to hear your vocal teacher is doing the right thing….by firstly, wanting to get your voice up… up out of the throat.

      And if it is, with that clown Mark Vincent, the sound is ‘in the back of his throat’, his actual vocal cords are ‘getting a premature burn -out thrashing’. And if he is ‘using his shoulders’, by raising, squeezing or tightening them ….he then automatically by sheer physical reflex action , is dropping any possible proper diaphragmatic support. If he keeps that up,much longer- he will then find it harder and harder to even produce that terrible technique he is already displaying. Heaven help, if any other kid out there is using that idiot’s clips as some role model… to aspire to. Idol and X Factor shows are for this week’s latest silly stupid freak, who is on on display.

      on September 6, 2010 at 1:05 PM
• Harry says:

  Q.P.Y. I know of this twit and his Puccini’s Turn-off-it aria. He do not know where to place his voice. It is not into the mask…it is between his ears and a good fifth down in pitch. To hear him speak of his ambitions together with his personal sense of pompous ego………….Sh*t! The funniest thing was watching a 60 minutes TV program who took him to La Scala with a view to getting him ‘in the door’ I commend the Italians who were interviewed on camera, for their diplomatic graciousness…
  Underneath it though :it was a rightfully and clearly a case of ‘ don’t call us…. we (may!!!)call you(someday)’
  The other day I happened to be walking down a city street and lo and behold a poster of this fool – going to sing in the city’s biggest cathedral one Sunday afternoon. Well perhaps the echo and a few microphones might help to muddy the travesty. And people wonder why, one gets cynical about taste.

  on September 6, 2010 at 1:07 AM
• Harry says:

  The word imn the first line should have been ‘does’ not ‘do’..sorry!

  on September 6, 2010 at 1:08 AM
• Ruxton says:

  The problem is not this poor lad who has only been encouraged by some poor sad family phuckers who haven’t a clue – but he has been passed onto this excruciating show with its three sad phuckers as judges, who also haven’t a clue- and an audience that is typical of many other suburban audiences who have never heard a voice without a guitar behind it (and wouldn’t know the difference between a voice and a foghorn).
  I fondly remember a show many years ago where footballers aspiring to be stage peformers “performed onstage” to a judge who was a wickedly amusing and cutting “old theatrical queen” who used to tell them the unimbellised truth e.g. “Go home and never inflict your complete lack of talent on any unsuspecting audience ever again.” The performers were seriously affronted and the judge would be provided with a squad of security for his protection. That was funny- this is not. This poor boy obviously believes what the misguided fools are telling him. One day soon there will be tears before bedtime.

  on September 6, 2010 at 3:20 AM
  • Harry says:

    Ruxton: That latter-day acid tongued judge you referred to, judging the footballers…would not have been ‘Bernard the Bitch’- would it? A woman’s chat show guest and a sometime chef who did its best ‘wilted radish cooking’ as a notorious ‘Steamhouse queen’, by any chance?

    on September 6, 2010 at 1:20 PM
    • Ruxton says:

      Thank you Harry, but with respect I will decline your offer to name the person because I have no doubt you’ll only want to tip a bucket on them- and as the person concerned, has been a long time personal friend of mine- it is likely I won’t agree with your “assessment” and it will only lead to a slanging match between you and me. Better to spare our good humour and wish you the best of a lovely spring day.

      on September 6, 2010 at 5:59 PM
• manou says:

  If you are having the same problem, why not saunter over to the Casa Della Cieca, where chat is in progress…

  on September 6, 2010 at 10:34 AM
• BETSY_ANN_BOBOLINK says:

  Chat Room is open for the last event in the labor Day Marathon — Cavalleria Rusticana with Tatiana Troyanos and I Pagliacci with somebody else. Last one in is a rotten not-in-thing.

  on September 6, 2010 at 7:33 PM
• manou says:

  Why not sashay over to the Casa Della Cieca

  http://parterre.com/la.casa-della-cieca/

  for fun and games with Betsy_Ann_Bobolink and friends.

  on September 6, 2010 at 8:00 PM