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| Ambrogio Maestri's 202nd performance as Falstaff in Falstaff |
But in no way did it prepared me for the surprise of the polish of the performance today.
I laughed so many times – starting with the fascinating comb over worn by Dr. Caius. The classic comb-over in a wig. I had trouble concentrating on the music at that point -- I was so interested in the costuming of Dr. Caius. What a great touch to let us see deep into this stock character -- just the hair-do was a riot. The setting of Falstaff is updated from Elizabethan England to the 1950’s which date is pretty well “back-dated” to anyone who reads this blog. Of course, I am lucky. I have those old memories: the Peter Pan collars on the bodices of the dresses, the bouffant hair dos, and the crinolined skirts.
The intermission interviews were also wonderful: one with Robert Carsen and LeVine where the two of them prepared the viewers for the surprises to come in Act Three. Carsen’s staging is spectacular. Just the staging and movement on stage is worth the price of adminission.
As well the prop man was interviewed. That is because at the end of Act 2 the chorus empties the cupboards of the large and spacious kitchen – literally 1,000’s of pieces of kitchen equipment are tossed out of the cupboards, into the air and the pieces fall where gravity lets them go. Can you imagine it takes 25 people just to keep the props straight – and 45 minutes to set the props up for the scene. That scene also includes choreography in slow motion, like the scene we see in Billy Elliot: The Musical, where the grandmother describes dancing with her husband when she is young. The movement is stunning.
The show runs again Monday night.
Fazeela, Kelvin and I went to the IMAX at Chinook Centre today. The manager of the theatre has an email list for patrons of the HD Live series. He welcomes people at the door, goes around asking people if they are comfortable, and announces when the show is going to begin. I saw him giving a helping hand to a patron who wanted to go to the top of the stairs but who could barely climb them. How is that for service at the theatre? So sweet.
Arta
Do the things break as they are tossed out of the cupboards?
ReplyDeleteThe quick answer is, yes, sometimes items break. The manager said they are then re-manufactured by the Met, since everything the opera company uses is period correct.
ReplyDeleteThis product is a co-production by three opera companies so the props have been well thought-out and constructed. He said there are huge lists of the props that tell where everything goes. Twenty-one kitchen cupboards are emptied -- a few more cupboards than would be in most kitchens, but this opera-set-kitchen stretches the whole length of the stage and at one point has all of the main characters and the whole male chorus in the kitchen searching for Alice Ford's lover.
He is a large man -- and is contained in the grocery hamper, popping his head out occasionally to tell the audience how stifling hot it is that wicker container.
Verdi. The music is fabulous. He wrote this opera when he was 80 -- took on a minor character in 3 of Shakespeare's plays and then ran with the idea. I thought I could sometimes hear Verdi laughing as he was writing phrases about Falstaff, who though in the autumn of his life, still feels as though he is an attractive Lothario.
Oh for some of Falstaff's positive thinking.
ReplyDeleteYour comment on positive thinking made me reflect again on the opera. Ambrogio Maestri (Falstaff) was asked why he likes playing this character. He replied that most operas are about death, loss and sadness. Not Falstaff.
ReplyDeleteThat opera is a celebration of love, life, and food. At least that is what Maestro Levine and Robert Carson told us. They said that even though Falstaff is the object of a grand joke (perpetrated by him on the whole community in the last act) still, he turns it around to say "he who laughs last, laughs best", and then Falstaff has the last laugh and the community celebrates a double marriage with one of the most intricate double fugues in operas history. Just beautiful.
"Don't give away the grand joke at the end", one of interviewees says to the other, and then both of their eyes sparkled. I could hardly wait to see what that joke was. And yes ... they got me with it.
This was Fazeela's first time at HD Live. She was quick and direct about her enjoyment on seeing back stage at the intermission, -- both the mechanics of the show and the side-interviews.
But back to your idea about getting some of Falstaff's positive thinking? Yes. It was easy to go to this opera and get a good dose of positive thinking. Part of that may have come from so much laughter. That situational comedy! One hundred years old, we can see it coming and still it makes us laugh.
Today is another day. Hope I can fit in seeing the Bolshoi's Jewels.