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Mom and I had a great time at the opera today. Romeo & Juliet itself wasn't spectacular, mostly because of the plot--it's not my favorite Shakespeare anyway, and in operatic form the plot seemed even more contrived and implausible. And any time a problem comes up and your best advisor's first thought is, "I know, let's fake your death!" it's really time to find a new friar.
But the singing was pretty great. The sets and costumes were also interesting: the conceit was that the story is taking place in the fashion industry, with Montague and Capulet as warring fashion design houses. Juliet is not just Capulet's daughter, but also his top model and the face of the Capulet industry; Tybalt isn't just an ambitious jerk, he's trying to help his family's interests by marrying his cousin off to Paris, editor of a leading fashion magazine. The masked ball at the Capulet house in the first act becomes an elite fashion show, and Romeo and his boys sneak in to spy on the competition. When Juliet fakes her death, the fashion paparazzi are there, and so the photos end up all over the news, which is how Romeo finds out. Clever. There were "mannequins" in the background who would occasionally move when you weren't looking, which added a neat element to the set design.
The fashion thing was an interesting spin, which led to interesting costume and set design choices. They recruited young fashion designers from local design schools, who each designed a fancy dress for the Capulet collection, and used local models to show the dresses in the first act. The designs were mostly really cool and all brightly colored, and the opera singers were all wearing either tuxes or white/beige to make the fashions pop even more. The downside of that was that the models left after the party and the rest of the opera continued to be beige.
Sets were interesting. The main set piece was a giant staircase that they moved around and used in different ways: in the first act it was part of the runway; second act, it was turned around and became Juliet's balcony; third act, it swiveled around and the back of it was curved with a door to create Friar Lawrence's cell. The novelty of the staircase wore off eventually, around when they had to use it for Juliet's bedroom and laid a piece of silk down the stairs to represent a bed. All I could think about was that in this fancy rich household Juliet has to sleep in a stairwell. Probably not particularly comfortable for the actors either.
The sets didn't seem to be ideally designed for the scene changes, either. There were two 15-minute intermissions, and multiple times when the curtain was dropped for a "pause" so they could change the set. This made the show seem to go on forever. I was wishing they'd designed the staircase to be a little more maneuverable so that they could change the set more fluidly, without dropping the curtain. It would have helped with the length of the performance, too.
Mom and I were worried about catching our train, which always seems to be a problem at the opera. The ballet started at 2 and didn't run as long; the opera starts at 2:30 and we're always worried about leaving in time to catch our 6:10/6:20 trains. Today Mom wanted to make sure we'd have enough time to hit the bathroom, so when Romeo was dying, we got up to leave, figuring that, it's opera, his death could take a good 20 minutes and then SHE still has to die. When we left the bathroom, we peeked back in and Juliet had just dropped back onto the stone and the curtain was going down, so that was unfortunate--it only took 'em five minutes, we really could have stayed to see them both die. I don't know if there was another scene after that or not (where the dad and the friar discover the bodies and everyone is sad and the families reconcile) because we high-tailed it for the stairs in order to beat the crowd.
Next opera is Tosca in May. Because of when F's sister's wedding falls in May, I need to see if we can switch our opera tickets from May 8 to May 1. We asked at the desk when we were there today, and nobody seemed to think it'd be a problem, but we didn't have the May tickets with us so we couldn't do it today. Apparently they have their subscription office right near the Academy, though, so I should be able to do it on my lunch break one day next week.
Next season they're doing Carmen. Mom and I are excited. There will also be a brand-new opera in English at the Perelman, so we may try to get tickets for that too. The Perelman operas always sell out fast, we've never been able to get in there.
But the singing was pretty great. The sets and costumes were also interesting: the conceit was that the story is taking place in the fashion industry, with Montague and Capulet as warring fashion design houses. Juliet is not just Capulet's daughter, but also his top model and the face of the Capulet industry; Tybalt isn't just an ambitious jerk, he's trying to help his family's interests by marrying his cousin off to Paris, editor of a leading fashion magazine. The masked ball at the Capulet house in the first act becomes an elite fashion show, and Romeo and his boys sneak in to spy on the competition. When Juliet fakes her death, the fashion paparazzi are there, and so the photos end up all over the news, which is how Romeo finds out. Clever. There were "mannequins" in the background who would occasionally move when you weren't looking, which added a neat element to the set design.
The fashion thing was an interesting spin, which led to interesting costume and set design choices. They recruited young fashion designers from local design schools, who each designed a fancy dress for the Capulet collection, and used local models to show the dresses in the first act. The designs were mostly really cool and all brightly colored, and the opera singers were all wearing either tuxes or white/beige to make the fashions pop even more. The downside of that was that the models left after the party and the rest of the opera continued to be beige.
Sets were interesting. The main set piece was a giant staircase that they moved around and used in different ways: in the first act it was part of the runway; second act, it was turned around and became Juliet's balcony; third act, it swiveled around and the back of it was curved with a door to create Friar Lawrence's cell. The novelty of the staircase wore off eventually, around when they had to use it for Juliet's bedroom and laid a piece of silk down the stairs to represent a bed. All I could think about was that in this fancy rich household Juliet has to sleep in a stairwell. Probably not particularly comfortable for the actors either.
The sets didn't seem to be ideally designed for the scene changes, either. There were two 15-minute intermissions, and multiple times when the curtain was dropped for a "pause" so they could change the set. This made the show seem to go on forever. I was wishing they'd designed the staircase to be a little more maneuverable so that they could change the set more fluidly, without dropping the curtain. It would have helped with the length of the performance, too.
Mom and I were worried about catching our train, which always seems to be a problem at the opera. The ballet started at 2 and didn't run as long; the opera starts at 2:30 and we're always worried about leaving in time to catch our 6:10/6:20 trains. Today Mom wanted to make sure we'd have enough time to hit the bathroom, so when Romeo was dying, we got up to leave, figuring that, it's opera, his death could take a good 20 minutes and then SHE still has to die. When we left the bathroom, we peeked back in and Juliet had just dropped back onto the stone and the curtain was going down, so that was unfortunate--it only took 'em five minutes, we really could have stayed to see them both die. I don't know if there was another scene after that or not (where the dad and the friar discover the bodies and everyone is sad and the families reconcile) because we high-tailed it for the stairs in order to beat the crowd.
Next opera is Tosca in May. Because of when F's sister's wedding falls in May, I need to see if we can switch our opera tickets from May 8 to May 1. We asked at the desk when we were there today, and nobody seemed to think it'd be a problem, but we didn't have the May tickets with us so we couldn't do it today. Apparently they have their subscription office right near the Academy, though, so I should be able to do it on my lunch break one day next week.
Next season they're doing Carmen. Mom and I are excited. There will also be a brand-new opera in English at the Perelman, so we may try to get tickets for that too. The Perelman operas always sell out fast, we've never been able to get in there.
