tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2455126179375366490.post4972864221535318678..comments2023-12-20T11:32:15.997-05:00Comments on Billevesées: Graham-O-Rama, or Susan au CinémaWilliam V. Madisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18120331095634473021noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2455126179375366490.post-160330208823893902011-02-28T04:24:30.932-05:002011-02-28T04:24:30.932-05:00@ Mr. Yohalem -- We didn't see much of the gig...@ Mr. Yohalem -- We didn't see much of the gigantic statue, except in overhead shots, but you may have hit on the reason for my discomfort. The Temple of Diana in this opera does also serve as a prison, and yet I had the feeling it was also serving as a sort of storage room: here is where Thoas keeps all the goddess-related stuff (and people) he doesn't know what to do with but isn't ready to throw out.<br /><br />@ The anonymous commenter who posted yesterday -- I appreciate your remarks, and inspired by Anne Midgette's example at the <i>Washington Post</i>, I'm willing to provide my readers with contrasting perspectives. But this isn't Opera-L, and I don't feel that anonymity (or even a nom de plume) is sporting among amateur critics in a public forum, or ethical among professionals (which I sometimes am) anywhere. Send me your name, and I'll publish your text. Thanks.William V. Madisonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18120331095634473021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2455126179375366490.post-60253304873719568852011-02-27T17:29:17.607-05:002011-02-27T17:29:17.607-05:00Your comments about the camera focus bring up my p...Your comments about the camera focus bring up my principal objection to the Met's HDTV program: The Met seems so focused on HDTV these days that all sorts of inanities have been perpetrated in recent stagings there on the excuse that the cameras will look elsewhere. They will -- but the Met is a theater with 3800 seats giving seven live performances a week, and a little more care for the attention of those opera-goers on the part of the management might be hoped for!<br /><br />In the Wadsworth staging of <i>Iphigénie</i>, which is far from terrible, my main objections are, first of all, those unnecessary and intrusive "visions" of the past (would Oreste really daydream of a cuddly, forgiving Clytemnestre? I don't think so). <br /><br />Also, in all the thousands of years that mankind has practiced one religion or another, Wadsworth is the only person to suggest that the proper place to make an offering, a prayer, a sacrifice to a deity is to that deity's backside. The face is, surely, traditional, and turning the statue around is, one hopes, not the very least we can expect of devout believers. I can never attend this staging without a shudder, and a devout wish to place the imprint of a boot upon Mr. Wadsworth's own very deserving backside.Yohalemnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2455126179375366490.post-56104822116957520022011-02-27T16:46:10.859-05:002011-02-27T16:46:10.859-05:00An afterthought: Those who care probably know alre...An afterthought: Those who care probably know already that Plácido Domingo, one of history's greatest tenors, is singing baritone repertory these days, and Oreste is a baritone role. (Those who don't know probably don't care.) What's amazing is that he's maintained that wonderful burnished-gold timbre, whatever he sings.William V. Madisonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18120331095634473021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2455126179375366490.post-51499972822680919582011-02-27T16:43:23.336-05:002011-02-27T16:43:23.336-05:00@ Janice -- Funny you should mention. There are th...@ Janice -- Funny you should mention. There are those who suggest I ought to give up writing <i>any</i> fiction for print, and aim for screenplays henceforward. Unfortunately, the ideal actress for the lead role in this story, Vivica Lindfors, passed away years ago. (She expressed interest in the project, too, though it's possible she was just being polite.)William V. Madisonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18120331095634473021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2455126179375366490.post-67413801880614147602011-02-27T14:18:48.101-05:002011-02-27T14:18:48.101-05:00Re: that weird little Octavian story you wrote---i...Re: that weird little Octavian story you wrote---it sounds kind of Black-Swan-ish to me, maybe you should be writing it up as a screenplay???Janice Hallnoreply@blogger.com