The last few weeks were filled with much work and much play. The work part has left blogging to the back burner, the play part has left much to catch up on. Halloween, a birthday, museums, I hope to get caught up on all of it in the coming days.
For now I'll write about the opera Il Trovatore that we saw on my birthday weekend. For as minimal and singular Madama Butterfly was (and I mean that in a positive way), Il Trovatore was full and plural. A huge cast, a bountiful drama, dark passion, gypsies, castles, this is what one thinks of as opera in the fullest sense of the term. Verdi's score is brooding and heavy in the best 19th century way (the anvil chorus is part of Il Trovatore), and the dark visuals of the Lyric's performance contributed to the intensity of the opera.
I'm still an opera newbie, so before we go I like to read various blogs and summaries so I better understand what we're about to see. In the case of Il Trovatore, I was definitely glad that I did so. Some of the summaries left me confused and wondering if I'd be able to follow the plot on stage over the course of three hours, but the stage direction and dialogue left no confusion (the Italian is translated into English subtitles on discreet little digital screens in front of each seat). My snazzy new opera glasses (above photo!), which were my birthday gift from Joe, also helped in keeping track of the performers and stage action.
Overall, I'm finding that as we attend more opera I'm learning to better distinguish my appreciation for the score, the performers, and the stage direction each time. I think Il Trovatore is high on my list of operas, and the performers were fantastic, but I'd like to see a different stage and art direction on this ambitious drama before passing judgement on the sparse, eerie direction we saw at the Kauffman Center.
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