Tales of Hoffmann
May. 15th, 2005 12:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ironymaideni woke yesterday to a strange tickling that told me to check the ticket drawer - a good move, since it alerted me to the fact that it was opera day (this is what happens when the season crosses purchase of a new calendar). i also discovered that i had missed my last Rep ticket :/
this is one i hadn't seen or listened to before. i enjoy seeing opera in French, since i'm fascinated by the supertitle process and how translation choices are made. the show opens with dancing wine and beer bottles (a combo of bunraku technique and cheezy blacklight) and travels a random path for an opera. it's funny, but i wouldn't call it a comedy. it's hero has a tragic flaw, but it doesn't fit the tragedy mold either. there's one hit aria at the top of Act III (but it doesn't have the one-hit suck of Madame Butterfly) and otherwise i wouldn't call the music memorable. i liked it. (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
shadowdaddy commented in passing that he found it boring, but i think we saw different casts.)
basically, Hoffmann is a talented, creative guy (writer/musician/raconteur) who has bad luck with women. is it luck? he's impulsive, he makes passionate choices, and he's deaf to the counsel of his wry and wise muse (sometimes a white-garbed woman, sometimes in the guise of a boy sidekick). the three acts are largely an alcohol-fueled reminiscence of three failures (a living doll, a doomed invalid, and a gold-digging 'ho'), framed by the story of a potential number four, who he ultimately avoids to return to creative pursuits. there are four totally random villains, but they're slightly pulled into some kind of connection by being cast with a single bass.
i swear the section with the doll, Olympia, either inspired part of Blade Runner or the director was influenced by it...there's a scientist who specializes in making eyes, and Olympia's maker seems to populate his lonely world with automatons. Olympia's "dad" turned out to be one of our neighbors - i periodically hear him singing, but i had assumed incorrectly that he was a hobbyist. i love this town.
this is one i hadn't seen or listened to before. i enjoy seeing opera in French, since i'm fascinated by the supertitle process and how translation choices are made. the show opens with dancing wine and beer bottles (a combo of bunraku technique and cheezy blacklight) and travels a random path for an opera. it's funny, but i wouldn't call it a comedy. it's hero has a tragic flaw, but it doesn't fit the tragedy mold either. there's one hit aria at the top of Act III (but it doesn't have the one-hit suck of Madame Butterfly) and otherwise i wouldn't call the music memorable. i liked it. (
shadowdaddy commented in passing that he found it boring, but i think we saw different casts.)basically, Hoffmann is a talented, creative guy (writer/musician/raconteur) who has bad luck with women. is it luck? he's impulsive, he makes passionate choices, and he's deaf to the counsel of his wry and wise muse (sometimes a white-garbed woman, sometimes in the guise of a boy sidekick). the three acts are largely an alcohol-fueled reminiscence of three failures (a living doll, a doomed invalid, and a gold-digging 'ho'), framed by the story of a potential number four, who he ultimately avoids to return to creative pursuits. there are four totally random villains, but they're slightly pulled into some kind of connection by being cast with a single bass.
i swear the section with the doll, Olympia, either inspired part of Blade Runner or the director was influenced by it...there's a scientist who specializes in making eyes, and Olympia's maker seems to populate his lonely world with automatons. Olympia's "dad" turned out to be one of our neighbors - i periodically hear him singing, but i had assumed incorrectly that he was a hobbyist. i love this town.
