LA Opera has an amazing repertoire this season, so teh bf and I have set out to watch as many of them as we can! As such, every month or so, time and budget willing, I will be writing a Weekend Opera Report about all the great stuff we have just watched.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last night, we saw our first opera for the season, Il Trittico by Puccini, which includes Il Tabarro, Suor Angelica, and Gianni Schicchi. I've seen each of the one act operas on their own, but I think Puccini was right--they should be shown together because it makes so much more sense of the theme of death from different viewpoints.

First up was Il Tabarro, directed by William Friedkin.

Casting was ok. Mark Delvan as Michele somehow didn't rise up beyond the orchestra in the more dramatic parts, (which is odd, since I saw him in a production of Otello last season and he was and awesometacular Iago). Perhaps it just wasn't his night, but he was awesome on all the other parts. He expressed the wavering between disgust at his wife's behavior and his love for her very well, though I wanted more drama. Salvatore Licitra as Luigi was a little bit too...uh...bland? He had wonderful vocal expression, but I guess I wanted to see much more of the illicit passion he had for Giorgetta and anger towards Michele in body language. Anja Kampe was a great Giorgetta--you got the sense of her wavering between the two men and all her guilt and longing. Tichina Vaughn as Frugola was a show-stealer, bringing gaiety into an opera about murder. I loved her aria about her cat...but then again, I'm nekohime after all.

Setting was AWESOME. They had a projection of the Paris skyline, beautiful water representation, and a very nice boat. I also liked the little details of bikes in a corner. Hee. I loved how the projection turned from sunset to twilight to darkness as the opera progressed. Very representative of the descent of the characters into evil and sin.

Second opera was Suor Angelica, also by Friedkin.

OMG Sondra Radvanovsky ftw. She hits the lyric high notes with a very delicate, beautiful tone and she can hold them forever at piano. That is *difficult*. After her Senza Mamma, o Bimbo I wanted to rise up and give her a standing ovation, but that would've been disruptive. I could tell other people wanted to stand too, by the volume of the clapping and the way they strained against their seats. You could really feel her longing for news of her child, her resentment towards her family for taking her child away, and finally her anguish when she learns her child is dead with every gesture she made and every note she sang. It was a heart-wrenching performance. I cried. Teh bf was gripping my hand. This lady is brilliant.

Larissa Diadkova as the Princess was also brilliant--she was a cold, hard diamond compared to Radvanovsky's performance, which I'd characterize as the most perfect pearl. I loved Diadkova's body language--she was proud, haughty, and uncaring, telling Suor Angelica about how the child died without emotion, which made a stark contrast to the pain that Suor Angelica showed so fully. She was so perfect for the role.

Setting wasn't that pretty--it was generic Italian convent--so won't talk about it that much.

Finally, we have Gianni Schicchi. ROTFLMAO--that's what this opera is. Woody Allen directed this one, and at the beginning there was a little projection on the curtain showing the "cast" with Italian-sounding dirty words worked into names like Something-or-other Fellatio and other similar stuff. Somewhere in the audience, I bet a kid was asking their parent what fellatio means.

The setting...gotta start with the setting and costumes with this one. It looked like whole lot like a Tim Burton movie--think Corpse Bride meets Italian mansion meets the Bucket's hovel from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The costumes (except for Lauretta's, which was really plain) seemed like Sweeney Todd meets Mad Men. It worked very well for this piece's theme of comedy in death

The Donati relatives were awesome in their comedic timing, especially in the part where they were reading the will and getting more and more depressed, and when they were bribing Gianni to give them the best parts of Buoso's estates. I especially liked Andrea Silvestrelli as Simone--teh bf and I were like "OMG, a real live bass!" (and no, not the fish kind ) His big booming voice made the opera super enjoyable. Saimir Pirgu as Rinaldo and Laura Tatulescu as Lauretta made a great onstage couple. I like how they tag-teamed Gianni into helping the Donatis by comically singing about how they lost their hope. Thomas Allen was great as Gianni Schicchi. I loved how easily he switched his voice from his "Gianni" voice to his "Buoso" voice, and how utterly devious yet suave he sounded throughout the opera.

Well, that's it for Trittico. Tomorrow--Howard Shore's The Fly!