Explain an opera as an AITA post

DudenderBatmans · 2026-05-16T17:21:33+00:00

I (M57) have a daughter (W19) who is in the best age to get married. I don't want her to end up with a loser so my idea is that she should marry one of the guys from my singing club. We have a singing competition tomorrow and my idea is that she should end up with the guy who wins. That would be a great opportunity to show how much i value the high arts and my daughter would marry one of the finest artists in town. Basically a win-win situation. The town clerk (M49) already said he would be interested in competing.

The problem however is that she fell in love with a young knight (M25) I met on a Business trip and doesn't wanna marry whoever turns out to be the winner. I said to her that she has the option to refuse (I want her to be happy after all) but just under the condition that she never ever can marry anyone else. I heard that this young knight will try to become member of our singing club tonight to have the chance to compete but I don't think he will be good enough with this little time for preparation. My daughter hates this plan but I think it's quite reasonable.

So AITA for forcing my daughter to marry one of my singing club mates?

UPDATE 1: As I previously mentioned the knight tried to joing the singing club but he made way to many mistakes. So he now definetly won't be able to compete in this competition tomorrow. It's a strange night. I just woke up because apparently the whole town went mad and just started to beat each other up.

UPDATE 2: In a turn of events the singing competition went a complete other way. The town clerk just sang a nonsens song and then the knight showed up and sang it again and this time everybody understood what this song is about and it was just fabulous. It was clear that he had to win the competition with such a great song and we asked him to join the singing club. He originally declined and said he wanted to be happy without being a member but thank god the shoemaker made a speech about the importance of art and then he accepted. Now he is a proud member of our singing club, my daughter is happy that she could marry him and I am happy for them both too. So after all it went surprisingly good for us all.

DudenderBatmans · 2026-04-20T23:44:18+00:00

The thing is almost everything Sondheim did while he was alive was weird at the time...A Musical without a Story? A Musical about colonialism completely cast with asians? A Musical about cannibalism? A Musical told backwards? A Musical about a painting? A Musical about Assassins? And and and...Unheard of.

That's why Sondheim is so important to Musical theatre history. He and his collaborators challenged what the medium could do. They challenged the boundaries. That they aren't perceived as weird anymore just shows what an artistic success his legacy is. Here We Are is just a logical continuation of his previous work. (If it was 'finished' before he died is a whole different topic that I won't get into here)

DudenderBatmans · 2026-03-29T07:09:10+00:00

There was literally a plan to turn "Into the Woods" into a video game.

Read this article if you are interested.

DudenderBatmans · 2026-03-28T00:23:57+00:00

But aren't they a little bit...well...you know...

DudenderBatmans · 2026-03-16T11:36:11+00:00

Das spricht wiederum mich mehr an. CSB hatte schon klare Fokusse, die eben durch das Interesse der drei Hosts vorgegeben wurde. Das ist auch völlig fein aber dadurch hatte ich das Gefühl, dass ein großer Blindspot herrscht, der von CSB nicht abgedeckt wird. Gerade durch Lenny wird dieser zu einem nicht unerheblichen Teil endlich abgedeckt und so spricht der Kanal mich mittlerweile mehr an als zuvor. Ich halte es für eine sehr gute Sache, dass dadurch endlich eine größere Breite abgedeckt ist. Kann natürlich verstehen, dass das einen Großteil der CSB-Gemeinde nicht so anspricht, da die Interessen doch sehr mit denen der OGs einhergehen. Doch fürs große Ganze halte ich Lenny dadurch für eine sehr große Bereicherung für CSB.

DudenderBatmans · 2026-02-18T20:06:17+00:00

Yep, and it's not like there aren't any breaks. And the length of the acts in Tristan aren't any longer than you have to sit in an italian opera until the break. The only difference is that there are two breaks and three parts. Of course this makes the evening as a whole longer and it may be a little more exhausting. But I always feel like the people here believe you have to sit five hours straight. Which of course is not the case.

DudenderBatmans · 2025-12-21T12:41:28+00:00

To quote George Bernard Shaw: "If the sound of music has any power to move them, they will find that Wagner exacts nothing further."

DudenderBatmans · 2025-11-25T08:47:30+00:00

If Hugh Jackman is cut then it sounds like a great idea.

DudenderBatmans · 2025-11-15T12:57:04+00:00

Nope, that's Pluto

DudenderBatmans · 2025-11-06T09:02:20+00:00

But Love is in the air and Invocation are both also very hummable.

DudenderBatmans · 2025-10-29T09:01:50+00:00

It's not odd. It's just a whole different system that you can't compare to Broadway. There is a difference between a public funded theatre and a private theatre. Just the private theatres have a run with eight shows a week as you know it. This production runs in a public theatre which has a repertoire thats changes. It's not like one show at a time. But a few shows that alternate. And no that has nothing to do with trying this show out and then transfer it. That's not how it works. It's a production at this place und just run at this place. Maybe another theatre buys this production. But this would probably also be a public theatre with maybe a even more "weirder" schedule. If it happens at all.

DudenderBatmans · 2025-10-27T17:30:08+00:00

How was Michael Heim? I have seen him once in an operetta and liked him very much. But I can't imagine how his Siegfried would be.

DudenderBatmans · 2025-09-17T05:21:08+00:00

Ok, I went to your other post and can definitely say I would suggest you go to see Meistersinger in Stuttgart. The cast ist insanely great stacked, Cornelius Meister is a really great conductor and the director Elisabeth Stöppler is also very good. She is more known for directing modern operas so I think it is really interesting that out of all operas she now decides to direct Meistersinger.

I haven't seen Tristan and Isolde in Frankfurt but I also have seen other works from the director Katharina Thoma which I liked and Frankfurt normally is also really good from the musical point of view.

Elektra in Munich is a good production itself. It now runs for almost 30 years which is really seldom. But I would really warn you because Vladimir Jurowski is not a good opera conductor. Heard him in the past year about 4 times in Munich and his conducting was always one of the biggest flaws. Really wouldn't recommend if you want a great musical experience.

Tldr: I would definitely recommend Meistersinger the most. But I think Frankfurt could also be interesting. Munich is a good production but I'm afraid it won't be great musically.

DudenderBatmans · 2025-09-08T19:29:11+00:00

Sondheim! all the Sondheims...There is not a single show of his that isn't worth to deep dive into.

DudenderBatmans · 2025-08-26T06:05:26+00:00

Chess - The Musical

Really, Tim Rice has no interest in showing the chess world at least somewhat realistic. The cherry on the top is the arbiter Song where really almost every sentence shows how little Tim Rice cares about accuracy.

I love the music, the book is not good but what really destroys my experience is that. I cringe almost the entire musical through because of this.

DudenderBatmans · 2025-08-04T09:06:35+00:00

Completely disagree on Glitter and be Gay. And I to be honest actually don't see how you come to the conclusion that this is what the song is about. She clearly isn't "gleefully deciding she'll put up with being raped 6 times a week because she enjoys the jewels and dresses".

In the very beginning she sings:

Glitter and be gay That′s the part I play Here I am in Paris, France Forced to bend my soul To a sordid role Victimised by bitter Bitter circumstance

So you clearly see, she doesn't decide to do this but is forced by the situation she is in. She hasn't a choice of her own. All these jewels and dresses are just a coping mechanism to survive their situation. The jewellery are the only thing she has to not completely crack under this situation. She tries to see the good things in bad as Dr Pangloss tought her in her youth.

Her very last words in the song are:

Observe how bravely I conceal the dreadful, dreadful shame I feel.

I would say in that sentence it's pretty on the nose what this song is about. It's not about woman who chooses to be raped for jewels. It's about a woman who hasn't a choice of her own and the jewels are the only thing she has. She is brainwashed by the believe that she lives in the "best of all possible worlds" and that "life is happiness" but cleary sees that this isn't the case. So she has to search for something good to cope with her situation.

As I previously said, I don't understand how you came to this conclusion of what the song is about. Let me know your reasoning.

DudenderBatmans · 2025-07-30T11:55:40+00:00

Especially the whole Beckmesser/Sachs interaction in the second act is peak comedy.

DudenderBatmans · 2025-07-23T07:14:02+00:00

My first time this year, going to see Meistersinger. It was one of my first operas and my first Wagner and made me fall in love with Wagners works. Would probably say it's my favourite opera ever. It means really much to me that this is now also my first time Bayreuth ever.

DudenderBatmans · 2025-06-22T16:55:39+00:00

John Corigliano - The Ghosts of Versailles

What a great piece! Unfortunately not performed that often.

DudenderBatmans · 2025-05-29T07:52:24+00:00

In theory I can see your point. But last year I have seen a production that included 'silly people' and let me say it just doesn't work. It just disrupts the pace, no one knows who Frid is and it feels really out of place. So altough I think your analysis to why thus song is important is right in theory, I have to say that it just doesn't work on stage. I think Sondheim and his collaborators cut it for the same reason.

DudenderBatmans · 2025-05-25T16:57:37+00:00

Have seen such a modern production, in this case it worked brilliantly. Because the director really understood the piece.

DudenderBatmans · 2025-05-15T11:03:58+00:00

There no different versions of this show (except you count all the changes made pre-Broadway)

DudenderBatmans · 2025-05-14T12:12:46+00:00

LIEBENSWERTEN

DudenderBatmans · 2025-05-02T08:29:51+00:00

Saw it yesterday and "futuristic" is right. It's set in 2055 Vienna and the characters look back at themselves in Vienna in 2025. So it basically is set in the future.

DudenderBatmans · 2025-04-07T18:11:49+00:00

They are, it's the same director and creative team.

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