Re: >Re: Speawuw and Magwic Helmet
I first heard Yannick conduct the TSO in 2004 in Shostakovich's 5th, and it is still the best thing I've ever heard. He accompanies Alex Dobson in Schubert's Winterreise at the Heliconian, but I would imagine that it is sold out now that word is out.
I ran into unimaginative2 in the Orchestra last night, surrounded by his retinue but we didn't get to chat.
The director gave an interesting talk in the fancy lounge after dinner. He said the challenge was to depict evil that "isn't cheesy." The trapezoid shape is repeated throughout the opera. They went for a streamlined 3 hour evening and cut quite a bit, but put in the Walpurgis Night scene - the clingy babes in purple - that isn't usually done. They also put more back in this production compared to what they did in Vancouver. Faust grows devil-like horns as the drama unfolds. We were very impressed with the staging.
And the contemporary Goth look seemed perfect, since it is a continuation of early Romantic imagery.
Mephistopheles wore a topper just like mine ... though I wasn't wearing it last night.
Poor Brett Polegato had a bad hair night though, didn't he?
And that baby looked pretty ratty I must say. My baritone friend didn't think much of the "accidental" killing of it either. What a cop out, but the director told us that neither the singer nor he were happy with the traditional staging where she just becomes a real bad girl and kills the little tyke.
We loved the heavenly choir waaaay up above us. Were they visible from Ring 3?
We stayed, after the crowd thinned out. Yannick ran through select scenes again and was more interactive with both orchestra and singers. At one point he jumped over the railing and ran up the aisle right past us. Such an active young man.