Hypthetical reader, be warned: There is no all-encompassing theme or purpose to what you are about to read. This is an I'm-feeling-guilty-because-I-haven't-blogged-like-I-said-I-would post.
My excuses: was sick (true); nothing to write about (lie); busy at work (almost true); was playing Pokemon in every waking moment of free time (wish it were a lie).
My favorite exuse: The weather made me do it!
It has been nothing but snow and ice in these-here parts. Public school has been open maybe 3 days in the last 2 weeks. My mom (middle school Spanish profesora) was complaining this morning that she only had a 2-hour delay. This is what the snow does to us; it makes us lazy and tired and grumpy and I-don't-want-to-do-anything-y.
But anyway.
Focus.
I can't keep a steady drummer in my life. (That could be a funny pun.) Who do I go to for band relationship advice? Behind the Music seems like a bad choice. Not that we would have been on VH1 anyway, because there were no drugs or fights involved. Our drummer is trying to go back to school so he's taking time off from extra stuff to practice technique and all the drummish stuff. Anyone play drums???
My brain is so not into this.
Guilty blog: complete.
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
The Fat Lady Sang
Over the weekend I took steps toward a more cultured, more sophisticated, more bourgeois me. For the day, I forgot about my minimum-wage-paying place of employment (which I am not allowed to name, for I signed a waiver stating I would not publish any blogs, posts, etc. about my job), I left my childish video games at home, I put on big-girl clothes, and I even took a shower. In the company of three couples (old enough to be my grandparents at the oldest and my parents at the youngest), I drove to Gettysburg to the Majestic Theatre to watch the Met's live transmission of Puccini's opera La fanciulla del West.
Let me tell you, it was an experience.
We arrived at the theatre around noon, and so when my friend Pat asked if I'd like to have some wine with her, I thought, "Heck, yeah! I'll have some wine. It's after 12 p.m., so it's a perfectly not-wino thing to do." So I did. I had one little mini-bottle cup of wine - and got perfectly tipsy. I should have considered that I'd had a very small breakfast. And I should have asked beforehand if I'd be able to take my cup into the theatre or if I'd have to guzzle it down (I did the latter). Whatever the cause, by the time I sat down for the first act, I had a pretty good buzz going on.
Act I was a little rough. I had to read subtitles (the opera is written in Italian), and I was starting to get really sleepy; the wine didn't help out with either of these. Plus, about half way through, I realized that I really, really, really had to pee. (I was adding it up in my head: huge cup of coffee, huge bottle of water, cup of wine...)
But at the first intermission I got to pee, and the buzz wore off, and everything was fine for the rest of the opera. And I even started to enjoy it, though it was a lot to think about. Read the subtitles. Notice the actors. Listen to the singing. Hear the underlying musical lines being played by the orchestra. Try to understand the storyline. Information overload. But several things stuck with me.
Oh, but first, if you want to read a synopsis of the opera, click here.
Back to the several things:
1) The opera slyly shows the racism felt toward Native Americans in the early 1900s. (Think of some of the undertones in Oklahoma!, which appeared on Broadway some 30 years after Puccini's 1910 opera.) There are two Native Americans in the opera - a woman, Minnie's servant, and a man, the father of the woman's child. They appear only in Act II. As the lights came up, the man was lying on the bed (with his shoes on), passed out, a bottle of liquor in his hand. The woman is badgering him about getting married.
2) The leading tenor in the show is called Dick Johnson. That was hard not to giggle at, especially when I was a little wined up.
3) The singer playing Dick Johnson was awesome. Even if he was slightly cross-eyed. In the words of Pat: He is somewhat endearing because he "has a nice little twinkle in his almost-crossed eyes."
All in all, though, it was a pretty cool experience. I'm going to try to go back so I can see Nixon in China. Anyone wanna go?
Let me tell you, it was an experience.
We arrived at the theatre around noon, and so when my friend Pat asked if I'd like to have some wine with her, I thought, "Heck, yeah! I'll have some wine. It's after 12 p.m., so it's a perfectly not-wino thing to do." So I did. I had one little mini-bottle cup of wine - and got perfectly tipsy. I should have considered that I'd had a very small breakfast. And I should have asked beforehand if I'd be able to take my cup into the theatre or if I'd have to guzzle it down (I did the latter). Whatever the cause, by the time I sat down for the first act, I had a pretty good buzz going on.
Act I was a little rough. I had to read subtitles (the opera is written in Italian), and I was starting to get really sleepy; the wine didn't help out with either of these. Plus, about half way through, I realized that I really, really, really had to pee. (I was adding it up in my head: huge cup of coffee, huge bottle of water, cup of wine...)
But at the first intermission I got to pee, and the buzz wore off, and everything was fine for the rest of the opera. And I even started to enjoy it, though it was a lot to think about. Read the subtitles. Notice the actors. Listen to the singing. Hear the underlying musical lines being played by the orchestra. Try to understand the storyline. Information overload. But several things stuck with me.
Oh, but first, if you want to read a synopsis of the opera, click here.
Back to the several things:
1) The opera slyly shows the racism felt toward Native Americans in the early 1900s. (Think of some of the undertones in Oklahoma!, which appeared on Broadway some 30 years after Puccini's 1910 opera.) There are two Native Americans in the opera - a woman, Minnie's servant, and a man, the father of the woman's child. They appear only in Act II. As the lights came up, the man was lying on the bed (with his shoes on), passed out, a bottle of liquor in his hand. The woman is badgering him about getting married.
2) The leading tenor in the show is called Dick Johnson. That was hard not to giggle at, especially when I was a little wined up.
3) The singer playing Dick Johnson was awesome. Even if he was slightly cross-eyed. In the words of Pat: He is somewhat endearing because he "has a nice little twinkle in his almost-crossed eyes."
All in all, though, it was a pretty cool experience. I'm going to try to go back so I can see Nixon in China. Anyone wanna go?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)