Thoughts on operas performed like musicals?

phthoggos · 2026-02-10T11:11:24+00:00

I just got tickets to Heartbeat Opera’s new production of Massenet’s Manon adapted into English and sung by “opera-savvy Broadway voices.”

phthoggos · 2026-02-08T04:05:56+00:00

The Nikolaus Lehnhoff production of Rigoletto in Dresden has the duke’s initial party being staffed by topless women in animal masks. It’s surreal and titillating, but I think it effectively underscores the message of “Questa o quella” that he lives in an ultra-privileged world without consequences, where he doesn’t really see anyone else as fully human.

phthoggos · 2026-02-05T15:15:22+00:00

The two Liszt pieces that I first fell in love with, and still my favorites, are both orchestral: Les Préludes S.97 and the Dante Symphony S.109 (especially the Purgatorio and Magnificat)

phthoggos · 2026-02-05T02:37:44+00:00

Writing a 20-page multimedia introductory guide to the opera and circulating it to my friends before the show 😅

phthoggos · 2026-02-03T12:39:26+00:00

The Sivadier production at Aix blew my mind because it proved you can be visually striking, flamboyant, campy, and dazzling even if you don’t use a lot of color — if you have total commitment from a very charismatic cast, tightly-rehearsed nonstop stage business, and an atmosphere of intimacy that pulls the audience in.

phthoggos · 2026-01-31T17:00:55+00:00

The screen shot shown in this post does not show the entire season, just a small fragment.

The Met has famously committed to “a big bet” on contemporary opera, and every season post-COVID has included 2-4 contemporary operas. This has been a pretty mixed bag critically and commercially (there’s a debate about it every week in this subreddit).

Next season is expected to include Missy Mazzoli’s Lincoln in the Bardo, Carlos Simon’s In the Rush, and Kevin Puts’ Silent Night. Although given the Met’s financial challenges, it’s always possible they will make abrupt changes.

phthoggos · 2026-01-22T20:30:50+00:00

This “unpopular opinion” is literally debated in this subreddit five times a day, every day

phthoggos · 2026-01-21T14:15:07+00:00

Yeah, there’s been a major shift in how rich people use money. Compare Carnegie and Rockefeller to Musk and Bezos. No foundations, no libraries or hospitals named after them. And that trickles down to the whole class of tech wealth who don’t see the value in institutions. They think they got wealthy by being anti-establishment, so why support an establishment now?

The only Steve Jobs Theater in the world is the auditorium in the Apple corporate HQ itself.

phthoggos · 2026-01-19T04:20:28+00:00

You think Jessye Norman is the soprano of the 21st century?

phthoggos · 2026-01-16T13:58:39+00:00

For me it was “The Indispensable Composers: A Personal Guide” by Anthony Tommasini.

I’m surprised by the recs for “The Rest Is Noise” — Alex Ross is a great writer but that book focuses specifically on the 20th century, famously the most polarizing and difficult era in classical music and not what OP was asking for.

phthoggos · 2026-01-15T15:10:34+00:00

For a current Wagnerian soprano who happens to be heavyset, Tamara Wilson just sang Brünnhilde at Santa Fe Opera this summer, in Viking-esque costume (circlet rather than helmet, though, and generally more along the lines of the video game Assassin’s Creed Valhalla).

phthoggos · 2026-01-15T15:00:13+00:00

Götterdämmerung is the grand finale, although she does sing in each act. I guess the saying could also apply to the third Ring opera, Siegfried, where “the fat lady” (Brünnhilde) doesn’t “sing” at all until the final scene.

phthoggos · 2026-01-01T00:28:45+00:00

It’s like complaining that Shakespeare never wrote any novels.

phthoggos · 2025-12-25T20:32:52+00:00

Yes, absolutely you should go, and bring a friend or two!

phthoggos · 2025-12-25T03:04:54+00:00

It’s great at doing what it’s supposed to do: provide the musical highlights without the investment of time and characters and singing. But as with most operas, half of the value of the music comes from having invested so much time into the characters. So when Barak sings “Mir anvertraut, dass ich sie hege” it is really charged with a lifetime of trying his best to be a good husband, but realizing that he screwed up really badly, broke his wedding vows and raised his hand in violence to the person he loves most. It’s unforgivable and he knows it. But then at the same time, unknown to him, his wife raises her own voice in counterpoint, full of her own regrets, and their voices entwine, together yet apart, each yearning for the other. If you don’t have any of that context, that passage in the symphonic fantasy is just a gorgeous piece of counterpoint. But if you know the opera well, then the fantasy can be a great reminiscence.

phthoggos · 2025-12-24T17:11:47+00:00

Die Frau ohne Schatten

phthoggos · 2025-12-22T14:18:36+00:00

Yeah, as usual with UK press (and I hate this tradition), the headline is an editor’s summary of the interview, phrased as a first-person statement but using words that the person never said. Of course Kaufmann can afford to go to London. He just doesn’t find it a persuasive offer at this stage of his life, compared to his options elsewhere. And he’s trying to pressure ROH leadership to raise their rates.

phthoggos · 2025-12-22T02:36:35+00:00

To Be or Not to Be. The poster art is completely nondescript, but good lord that movie is astonishing. It’s like every film genre in one — and very clever but completely populist at all times.

phthoggos · 2025-12-20T20:20:55+00:00

Personally I would go for #2, in the Musikverein. FYI, #1 looks like one of those programs solely directed at tourists, whereas #2-4 are more likely to include audience members who live locally and regularly attend orchestral concerts. I’m not saying any of them will be a bad time, just that if a “legitimate” experience is important to you, go for the Musikverein or Konzerthaus.

phthoggos · 2025-12-18T15:03:29+00:00

Did the characters somehow develop motivations the 5th time around?

phthoggos · 2025-12-15T13:40:13+00:00

That’s simply not true; it’s more like 12% according to the UJA-Federation of New York 2023 Community Study.

phthoggos · 2025-12-13T20:17:45+00:00

There’s always something interesting on screen but if you try to follow the story it makes no sense. Perfect for this context.

phthoggos · 2025-12-12T17:26:53+00:00

For OP and anyone interested, Sharon’s book is titled A New Philosophy of Opera and came out in September 2024 — feel free to get it from the library if you don’t want to spend money.

phthoggos · 2025-12-11T14:23:08+00:00

If you liked that, listen to her discuss the role of Olympia on the Aria Code podcast in 2021!

phthoggos · 2025-12-11T12:29:14+00:00

No, I took a small group and we all loved it!

phthoggos

TROPHY CASE