10/24/2011 Anna Bolena

The Meade Bolena.  Following Trebs’ success in this role must be tough, but luckily, the two could not be more different singers.  Trebs is all about energy, momentum, pretty sounds; Meade is about accuracy, technique, and correctness.  Trebs brings ravishing beauty to pianissimo highs, thunderous screams to outbursts, dark covered sound to mid-range singing, and gargling chest in a totally new register; Meade brings spectacular floated highs, bright shrieks to outbursts, open unforced sound in the middle, and angry chest that seems very connected to her middle voice.  Trebs sings out of pitch, smudges through coloratura, trills decently sometimes, and breathes like a porn star; Meade’s lazer-beam voice hits every note dead on, cuts cleanly through coloratura, trills better than any other singer I’ve heard live, and sings phrases longer than most people can hold their breath.  So in a way, the two compliment each other by being stronger in the other’s weaknesses.

Meade’s knocked her first aria right out of the park.  Beautiful singing, lovely arcs of long long phrases, beautiful soft singing.  And she seemed like she knew where she was going whereas Trebs seemed more in a kind of daze. 

This was my first Bolena from a side box (balcony, all the way forward on the left); I was surprised how even though so much of the set seemed to have tall walls at angles, there was rarely a time I couldn’t see everything going on.  As usual, from the left, sometimes the brass section blasts above the singing, and oftentimes when singers are aimed the other way you can’t hear them; Meade’s laser-voice seems to project omnidirectionally in that it doesn’t really seem to matter where she’s looking, she sounds basically the same.  Which allows her the same range of irritating never-facing-the-audience singing that Trebs did, but I think it worked better for her.

Where Meade did know to never face anywhere but at us, was in ensembles.  Here, either she can’t sing loud enough, or chooses not to.  Either way, disappointing.  The crazy highs are maybe 5 times louder than any other part of her voice, and were for the most part great.  But in ensemble singing she just never dominated the way I would have liked.  Maybe she was trying to be polite and blend with other singings, but she’s the lead and I think she should soar/blast above everyone at all times. 

The scene with Percy was one of the best of the first half – I think rather than being deafened by Trebs and knowing he could never sing louder than her, where he held back, here, he and Meade were a much better match volume-wise and I think he brought a lot more passion and ringing volume with Meade.  He sounded fantastic!  And I find most bel cantoish tenors tend to have the high notes but not a lot else; Costello seems to have a very fine low range that has none of the ugly mush other tenors (*cough* Nabucco tenor) seem to have on the lows.

Where I appreciated Meade’s skills/talents/etc. most was the Act I finale.  With Trebs and her darkish mezzoish voice it was hard to distinguish between her and Seymour; but Meade’s clear laser soprano blended and contrasted excellently with Seymour.  Her two outburst high notes were there, sure, but they weren’t the explosive bellows from Trebs.  The high D started good and only got better.  She was facing exactly away from me and her face was practically in Henry’s chest, but oh so loud.  And while it started F by the time she screamed her way through however-many bars of music it reached FFF.  Good stuff.

Second half was at least twice as good as the first.  The duet with Seymour was less angry raging giants battling on stage as it was a brutal vicious soprano attack on the poor sympathetic Seymour.  Dramatically, I thought it played better to have Bolena nastier and Seymour actually afraid of being cut.  The duet ended on a very nice high note for each and there was none of the usual I-can-hold-it-longer stuff (but note to both, please both hold it longer next time!).

By the way, Meade joins the exclusive club of singers-who-can-sing-tough-notes-while-in-the-act-of-standing-up.  And while Kaufman does it so impressively (he did some crazy Vittorias in Tosca that started on the ground and ended with him standing), Meade does it better and with a lot more body to lift.  It seemed every five minutes she was on the ground and having to get up from the floor while singing crazy tough stuff.  In a way she’s like Natalie Dessay – Dessay can sing anything while being picked up, tossed around, spun, flung in any direction – Meade can sing anything while awkwardly getting up from the floor.  Let’s just let her stand some more next time, or her knees will go long before her voice.

The pleading with Henry was kind of boring, as always, but I thought the chemistry with Costello really worked here and vastly improved the scene.  Then Seymour came out in crazy good voice (and she was sick the last time I saw this two weeks ago) and sang the shit out of her final scene.  She tore out some spectacular notes.

Costello had his big number, and it rocked.  He didn’t get nearly enough audience love, because he sure deserved it for singing that crazy evil hard music so so well.  What a difference from the opening.  And, finally, with these better seats, I could see just how cute he actually is.  And he’s 30?  I’m surprised Gelb hasn’t cast him in every HD through 2020! 

And why is Bolena’s brother not singing Henry?  He was crazy loud.  Henry was better tonight, possibly my seat, but the brother had gargantuan sound.

And then the endless women’s chorus.  Why?  It’s so late, everyone wants to leave but has to wait for the mad scene.  Anyway, after 10 minutes of chorus torture, the spot came on to Meade kneeling.  And, I don’t know who thought it was a good idea to give her that much hair, but the way they spread it over her and the fact that there was so damned much of it made her look like Cousin It.  Serious, a giant round ball of draping curly hair.  It was fine once she stood up and ponytailed it off, but I almost laughed out loud when I first saw it.

Also, what the hell happened to the costumes?  Trebs gets dress after dress, fancy head thing after head thing.  Meade gets one dress for Act I and most of Act II, and then basically the same dress + way too much hair for the final scene?  I can’t disagree with the wise decision not to put her in a giant red thing for the end of Act I, but they could have tried harder.  Mind you, theses are the people who put Trebs, who though now slightly chubby is still a voluptuous and beautiful woman, into fugly dresses that made her look as big as (half-of) a house.  Anyways, Meade’s two dresses looked actually pretty flattering on her, so good stuff.

The mad scene was, as with Trebs, the best part of the show.  And while Trebs seemed like she sang everything in a form of autopilot until this point but Meade seemed on from the start, Meade certainly turned up the intensity here.  I’d choose Trebs just for the beauty of the (sometimes off pitch, smudy runs, etc) sound she makes, but hearing Meade here was a delight.  There were some places where I seriously wanted to shout “breathe! You’ll get brain damage if you don’t!”  Like entire 30-second phrases.  Was I missing tiny silent gulps of air, or does this girl just not need air?  It was crazy.  There was one part where I think she ran out after singing 3, 4, maybe even 7 phrases in one breath and ended on a very high note starting a new phrase, which I think stopped rather abruptly.  Otherwise though, it was an impressive vocal feat, especially after 3 hours of singing already.

And then the cabaletta arrived (love those cannons offstage!) and boy did it slam by at a terrifying pace; cruel conducting, or choice by Meade?  I’ve never heard more notes smashed ever so accurately into so short a time.  And where Trebs did runs that started high and ended low (and mushed all over the place), Meade did runs that seemed to have zillions more notes and that started high, glissando’d to the bottom, hammered back up, and ended with terrifying drops into scary scary chest.  I wouldn’t want to hear one of those lows in a dark alley at night, yikes!  And, from the recording I heard of her last week, either she totally rethought what she wanted to sing, or has millions of alternate options in her mind and chooses whatever suits her mind at the exact moment, or maybe, like Dessay, is just making interpolations as she goes.  They were really great.  And how does she actually hit every not so accurately and have time to sing it before zipping on to the next?  Like a vocal machine-gun!  And then, the final note was crazy good, different than Trebs’ crazy good note, but equally crazy good.  I think in her mind she almost chose to scream it up to the e-flat (she didn’t), but it was long, loud, and very good.  Do the e-flat please and somebody record it though, I’d want to hear that.  We know she can do it.

Anyway, the clapping was pretty loud when the red shiny curtain fell, but when they sent Meade forth for a solo bow before doing the regular curtain calls, the sound was thunderous.  Cheering, clapping, musicians in the pit were stomping, people in family circle were rioting and kicking things.  Can’t think of the last time I’ve heard that kind of hysteria; maybe SondRad’s Vissi D’art, certainly Trebs’s poison aria, pretty much any Zajick Aida Judgment Scene, but it was definitely something special.  There was a lot of love for Meade in the audience.  Seriously, in retrospect, somebody should have poisoned Fleming before one of my Armidas so I could have heard Meade tear that up. 

So to sum up, maybe if I could see only one Bolena, I’d choose Trebs, but this was definitely a performance to remember.  Meade needs to sing cabalettas, cabalettas, and more cabalettas.  As fast as possible.  With extra verses and insane interpolations.  And now I am very excited to hear her in Ernani, which is basically one long cabaletta-fest. 

10/20/2011 Nabucco

Ok, now things are exactly as predicted.  Whereas my first two Nabucco’s were solid 8s, here was the 6 I was expecting.  How any person can go on stage in front of thousands of people not knowing 100% whether they will be able to scream out 3 solid high Cs in a scary scary cabaletta with insane runs that go down, what, two octaves, I don’t know. So power to Guleghina for trying. 

After a thunderous high-whatever at end the first scene followed by her best act I aria to date, which had none of her usual pianissimo crystal crap and was actual full-on beautiful singing, the cabaletta from hell began.  First, where there should have been chest, there was either silence or grunting.  The first high C was a total disaster.  I think it was actually sharp, something one wouldn’t expect from often-flat Guleghina.  But it was ugly, awful, and short.  And she knew it.  It was sad, actually, to watch her lose all hope.  And then after that, it was like somebody poked too many holes in a hot air balloon.  The usual Guleghina, who I feel tries maybe even too hard despite hopeless odds, was nowhere to be found.  All singing for the rest of the first act was muted and she was holding back, afraid that she might totally lose control.  It was very sad.

I was delighted to return in Act II to the craziest Guleghina I’ve seen to date.  Out of control.  Demented.  Maybe drunk, who knows.  But whatever she did backstage made her come back stronger and more determined than ever.  She sounded very tired, and a lot of high notes were damned ugly, but they were there, they were strong, and she was great.  I’m pretty sure Nabucco flinched on the high E, it probably broke an eardrum.  The death scene, again, was the best part.  She’s just so crazy with the batsleeves. 

So now, the true test will be November 2 – my last Nabucco.  Was this just a bad night, or is she slowly losing energy and voice as the run continues on.  I’m almost tempted to see the other lady doing this, Cornetti or something, but I’m afraid that might erase demented Guleghina memories, and I fail to understand how someone I recently saw as the mezzo in Trovatore (and liked about 5 times less than Zajick doing same) can sing this role with any of the things that Guleghina brings best (i.e. shrieky high notes and demented acting).  We’ll see. 

Up next, a Meade Bolena.  Listening to some recordings made from her first night, and I’m excited.  Knocks the Act I finale out of the park, goes for the high e-flat at the very end, screams out random interpolated notes, and actually trills.  I think it will be a thrilling performance.  Let’s see if the rest of the audience agrees.

10/17/2011 Don Giovanni

Donny G and I are actually kind of sick of each other.  I saw like 6 of them the last time at the Met because each of the many casts had one singer I really wanted to see.  And when I was in college I took “World of Opera” (best class ever) and we had to study this and memorize every single aria; so I know the thing like the back of my hand.  And it’s just so damned long with so many characters and so many arias and ensembles. 

Marius K____ was out, Peter Mattei was in.  Neither of them was Erwin Schrott with Fabio hair and no shirt, so whatevs.  Leperello was way hotter than Donny G, as seems to always be the case.  Peter Mattei’s singing was excellent (isn’t it always – he’s too reliable!).  His acting seemed fine.  Production was fine, but really boring.  I mean, the last one had the crazy swordfight on a flight of stairs, and an excuse for Erwin to pour wine on his chest trying to seduce Donna E one last time.  Well, really every excuse for Erwin to declothe as often and much as possible, so on that front, this production failed.  Voice only takes us so far Peter, take note! (i.e., get buff and take off your shirt.  Maybe Marius will for the HD movie – we can only hope).

Donna A, Marina Rebeka, sounds like a firetruck.  Not the pitch-altering siren, but the scary get-the-hell-out-of-the-way horn that they blow as they slam down 9^th Avenue.  Her voice is crazy loud, in a Radvanovsky kind of earthy way.  She gets the notes.  She can sing soft, but it’s still firetruck soft.  When she was mad, like the recitative before her first aira, it was great.  The aria itself was quite spectacular; fearsome, almost.  But after that, any time she opened her mouth it was just too scary and loud.  Why Mozart?  Sing some Verdi or angry bell canto please.

Donna E, Barbara Frittoli, was, as always, great.  I’m still angry that she canceled Donna Anna a few years ago; that would have been a pleasure to hear.  But her Donna E is pretty moving. Pretty singing, voice nearing tatters but well managed.

Zerlina just always sucks.  And they always seem to put sopranos in the role, which is totally mezzo.  Why waste them?  This one at least acted and convinced us she wasn’t the two-faced slut she usually is.  Her fiancée was appropriately bumbling and sweet. 

Ramon Vargas, recently singing beautifully after a couple years of scary, didn’t get to do much in the wimpy Mozart tenor role, but his big aria was the nicest part of the night.  Beautiful phrasing, perfect ping, just great.

And just when things were starting to get way too long and sleepytime was approaching, there was fire.  Actual real fire.  Not just wimpy Aida torches, not even Nabucco temple scroll-burning, but actual blazing fire.  Like an an airshow when something blows up when they do the mock paratrooper skits and you feel the flame heat on your face – that kind of fire!  They’d better be careful or one night they might BBQ a Don.  It was pretty cool. 

And then, what was my favorite part of the last production, the annoying crap that happens after he’s dead (which I believe should be cut- it’s stupid and happy) was staged less brilliantly than before.  Before, champagne glasses and a bottle came magically out of the prompter’s box, Donna A poured everyone some, and they toasted.  And you got to see which of the singers actually drank, which fake drank, and which ones knocked it back like a drinking match in a Wild West movie.  Here, they just sang, champagneless.  Overall, good fun, but if you’re going to do a new production that brings nothing that the old one didn’t, why bother? 

10/12/2011 Nabucco

Okay, big splurge of the season: side parterre.  I had all kinds of fantasies of seeing someone really famous (Trebs even?) taking in a dose of Guleghina, but, sadly, no-one was in the manager’s box next to me except two old people who fell asleep constantly.  But, whatever, Guleghina arrived after a very rousing overture and the fire was ignited.  She brought all the crazy.  She left some voice at home, I think; less chest, more shrieky on the upper notes.  But still fantastic.

Tenor, sorry, twice and I still don’t like you.  He has way too much going on in his voice.  He reminds me bit of Jose Cura when he screws up high notes and sounds like he’s singing 3 pitches at the same time, like the vocal equivalent of punching the piano.  This tenor obviously doesn’t quite do that, but his middle notes have a lot of that mushy discordant quality to them.  The high notes are pretty exciting, with less ugly going on, but overall, not a fan.  I wonder what he’d sound like in, for example, Tosca, where the tenor only has a few big parts but they are ultra-solo. 

The mezzo was fine; clearly not afraid of heights whatsoever (crazy how she leans over the edge of the scarily high set while the bass is hanging on to the railing for dear life).  Guleghina's high-whatever at the end of the first scene sounded like an ambulance on steroids; it cut through all sound and tore across the hall. 

Act II was much better; I think Guleghina recouped or something.  Maybe she did shots during intermission, I don’t know, but she sure came back bringing extra crazy.  The whole duet with Nabucco was terrifying, and, of course, the high E that keeps bringing me back was there.  Short, sure, but dead-on.  And she was determined this time to hold the final note longer than Nabucco, which was kind of fun. 

Her death is, I think, my favorite part.  Because she sings all of it in that freaky half-voice that no-one else can do that is both loud and pianissimo at the same time.  Also, her sleeves are like bat-wings and she uses them to great silent-movie effect.  Why anyone from Babylon, which apparently has open flames all over the place, would wear extra big sleeves bound to catch aflame, is beyond me.  Maybe she got dressed after she took the poison.  I still don’t really understand why the opera ends here; but I do wish more composers realized that the rule is when the soprano dies, everyone wants to stop listening and go home.

So that’s 2 for 4 of Guleghina Nabucco’s this year.  I was expecting 1 of 4 to be great, so far 2 solid 8s.  Let’s see for next week – will she get better during the run as she learns to work her newly revamped voice to the role, or will she just run out of voice and go back to the old voiceless nothing-above-B that we’re used to? 

10/10/2011 Anna Bolena

Okay, kind of fell off the blogging wagon recently; not off to the best start.  Anyways, seen a lot.  First up – Bolena #2.  Way better than opening night.  Sitting in the Family Circle; my intern AZ’s first opera ever (she says: “Wow, was that really an hour and a half?” after the second half, so good sign, right?). 

Mostly the same as opening night; Trebs’ first aria was still kind of lame and boring.  Seymour was announced as sick but singing; her voice just had a little more wear-and-tear and there were some serious screeches on the high notes, but more than made up for with excellent acting.

The duet with Percy was totally on fire; he looked crazed and desperate, she looked ANGRY.  The high D at the end of Act I was still in that annoying bird-chirp tone, but as significantly better than opening night. 

Act II fared much better than on opening night; Henry was a lot louder.  The confrontation duet with Seymour was spectacularly bitchy, the pleading for Anna’s life seemed less boring now that I’d heard it once before.

And then Percy.  Fearing the strangulation from opening night would return, I’d have to say listening to his big aria was more stress than enjoyment, but he did it and sounded great.  Did they cut some of it though?  It seemed almost twice as long before; although maybe that’s just because it was so painful to listen to?

The mad scene was spectacular.  No crazy grinning, but still totally out of character.  The clapping seemed a lot more genuine overall in this performance – opera lover audience instead of rich people who know nothing.  The final cabaletta was chestier than before, which was spectacular.  I wonder if now she’s done it a few times she knows exactly how much steam to keep on reserve for the finale; here, she clearly had more than enough and rewarded us with some spectacularly angry singing.  Last note, as before, was amazing – facing away, walking through a door behind a thick sound-blocking wall and still HUGE sound. 

Nabucco, Oct 5, 2011, Met Opera (Guleghina)

I sat in the Balcony Box left side, halfway along, so couldn't see about 1/4 of the stage.  Luckily with La Guleghina, no problem, you can hear her from anywhere.

So, I usually am not into overtures.  I thought, ugh.  And sure, the first minute-and-a-half kind of blew.  But then, suddenly, it got exciting. And it was a hit parade of all the tunes I knew from this opera. There was a moment many minutes in, when the thing should have ended, when people started to clap, and then boom, it picked up even more. Lots of energy.  Bu-du-du-du-du, and then into the soprano's famous cabaletta and then the famous bari-sopra duet.  The best! I'm not usually into noticing conducting, but this dude (looked old!) was on fire!  This opera seems to be a cabaletta-fest, perfect!  In my mind I'm imagining the bouncy Italian conductor's hair flopping all over the place doing this opera, but I must note this old dude just kept bringing the energy all night.

So, the set on this is maybe one of my favs so far.  Sure it's cheesy, but whatevs.  Basically it is a giant turntable.  One side is the Jews, the other is the Babs.  Seriously, Jews need more color.  Babs get silver & gold & fire.  Their idol looks like something from the Alien movies, wtf is it?  A melted goat?  Couldn't figure that one out.  Poor other side, no color for the Jews; they get yellow/off-white, some scrolls, and some really boring-looking chorus members.  The Babs get shiny helmets, nifty crowns, and lots of actual fire. 

Who knew that there would be death-defying height stunts at the opera.  Nabucco's actual daughter (pretty mezzo, whatever) plus the bass (who sucked at first, got way better, and then ran out of steam by the end of the night, but was overall a B-) are standing on this crazy-ass high platform at least as high as Dress Circle.  And crazy mezzo girl clearly has no fears of height whatsoever it seems.  So while the poor bass is terrified and white-knuckled constantly holding only the wierdo table-railing in the middle of the super high platform he's trapped on, crazy mezzo girl is standing 3 inches from the corner of the thing and leaning over like she's standing on the subway platform looking to see if the 1-train is coming.  Except she could fall 30 feet to her death if the air-conditioning makes the wind change.  It made me nervous, and I was sitting down behind a railing.

So then the drably dressed chorus sang for a long time.  Ugh.  Move along please!  And the finally, La Guleghina arrived.  Dressed in gray, looking psychotic, wig not looking as blonde as in the pics, but more like a fittin grayish blonde.  And she was heaving her giant sword all over the place, spewed deliciously filthy chest in all directions, and screamed out some great notes.  It was great, her voice is really in good shape, possibly the best I've heard her.  She tore up some high notes, mostly in pitch.  None of her nasty vibrado - no, now it's all vicious brutal screamy attack-notes.  Love it!

Eventually Nabucco arrived and woofed some stuff out.  He has a beautifully loud voice, but it's wierdly omni-directional.  Really really nice breathing.  Sort of like Hvor_____(many letters) except without the gasping for air.  And, btw, the tenor, who sounds so so good on recordings, and I really want to like him, really has too much going on in his voice live - he sounds like the note he's singing the right note plus all its nearby friends, and it's not a wobble or a pitch thing, just a wierd overtone thing.  Maybe b/c of my seat way off to the side there was some funny echos happening?  I really did not like.  Everyone in the house did though, so I shall reserve judgment until my next Nabucco (parterre box, hurray, only 6 days from now!).

So then everyone sang all together.  And Guleghina went way off to the left where I couldn't see, and the horrible old man next to me kept poking my back if I leaned too far to see her.  Couldn't figure out what the hell was going on, but despite the fact I couldn't see her and she was practically facing way, Guleghina dominated.  And it wasn't her usual scary mega-vibradoey voice, it was very focused.  And then out of nowhere she screamed (well, actually sounded like singing, surprisingly) a crazy high note, and it was delish.  Like at least a Csharp or D.  It wasn't so long, but it was huge, focused, and perfectly in pitch. 

And, by the way, who knew there was so much actual fire in this opera?  They burned down the temple by shoving actual burning torches into cubbyholes of scrolls or something.  The smoke was billowing up.  And then there was a total fireball on stage and it was amazing.  Fireballs + Guleghina hurling out high notes = demented opera heaven.

And then the turntable turned FOREVER.  So frigging slow.  Seriously, like 5 minutes.  Old conductor looked like he might expire before the next scene began.  And then the stupid thing turned sidways in such a way that all the action happened in the one corner I couldn't see.

Guleghina came out before her big aria and totally screeched some off-tune highs that were really awful.  And then, who knew it was still possible, she cranked out a beautiful lyrical aria.  None of her usual crystal soprano junk, but just a pretty mid-volume soprano voice with extremely impressive breath control.  Like Radvanovsky on steriods.  It was like Guleghina lip-synching to a fantasy-version of her former self.  It was really quite impressive.  The crowd went unsurprisingly wild.

And then the mega-cabaletta.  So good.  There were highs, chests, good mid-range, and more accuracy than Guleghina has ever achieved.  But man, the first 2 C's were vibrado-free lazers.  Harsh, sure, but none of the formerly common nasty spreading displayed most poorly in Guleghina's Turandots.  The spectacular high notes were, as some reviews have said, "brutal."  But nonetheless fantastic.  Her first try on the nasty double-octave drop wasn't so good; she kinda flubbed the chesting at the bottom and missed lots of the notes on the way down there, but she got it when she did get there.  The second time the high C was way more urgently exciting and lazer-ey, the run was a bit better, and she chested the hell out of the bottom and held the low C nicely.  It was impressive, I mean come-on to, to sing high C then a zillion notes down and then low C in chest over only mere seconds later takes serious talent.

As a bonus, instead of the usual lazy soprano/tenor practice of copping out when the chorus joins in to save up to blast just the final note, she sang along (and impressively audible even though she was facing away while walking up the scary stairs!) and then La Guleghina ripped a fantastic last note that was: 1) loud; 2) not flat; 3) very long ; and 4) somehow achieved without the usual mouth-open-so-wide that is her usual.  Hysterical clapping throughout the house.  Well deserved.  I can't imagine any other singer I have seen live doing any justice to this role.  Sure, she's not perfect (more chest please!), but man, a thrill.

Also, with her scary vibrado on occasion, there were some times, where I thought, wow, she's trilling?  Oh no, sorry, that's just her vibrado.  Sometimes it worked though.  Trebs needs to take lessons from La G.

Intermission was a unified Soviet effort to fight to the bar for hard liquor.  Serious.  None of the usual politeness.  Everyone was speaking Russian and fighting to the booze line.  And everyone was deleriously happy after such a good first half.  It was pretty fun.  Everyone seemed happy.  And nobody was drinking champagne.  It was all hard liquor. 

So then Act II started, a bit boring, I must say.  But then came the confrontation between Guleghina and Mr. Woofy Nabucco, and he really proved his singing and acting skills, turning his character (who I suspect with lesser singing actors is just a lame-o) into a very sympathetic and desperate dad.  And Guleghina was such a raging nasty bitch.  I mean, sure, he tried to dethrone her and all, and to call her out as a daughter of slaves, but she was mega-pissed.  She raged through all kinds of unfamiliar music, and it was amazing. 

They had their famous duet, and it was delish.  Didn't realize that the famous bit was only the cabaletta-ish part of a much larger duet that is like 12 minutes of great singing.  And then, in a moment of delicious opera heaven, La Guleghina went to scream her high Eb and, although somewhat rough to find and hold, it was there and eventually on pitch, it was almost musical, and it was like a nuclear explosion.  Audience went wild.  I must state that she really does do exceptionally well blending in duets and ensembles - she is actually very considerate and musical, just maybe the voice doesn't do what she wants it too sometimes.

Then the chorus had their famous bit.  Not the hugest fan of it, actually, but they did great.  I spent the whole thing trying to see if I could identify an acquantance in the Chorus, Brandon Mayberry, who is very tall, very cute, and usually very easy to pick out on account of his cute tallness.  I think he was the dude in the green pants (the only Jew with color, really), but wasn't sure...

A special note to Amber Wagner, who sang at the met council auditions a year/few years back and had a bit part here (the bass's sister, I think?).  She tossed out a few nice high beautifully-sung notes in act I, a few more in act II, but what impressed was a few larger ensemble bits where she DOMINATED.  Cast this girl as Freia in Rheingold please, she has the goods.

Then, after a few dull minutes, Guleghina came out in yet another new outfit.  Dressed even chestier and lower-cut than before, she sang her death aria with surprising emotion and beauty, with some crazy long breaths and none of that unstable crystal piano singing she used to do; it was gorgeous and stable.  And then, near the end, she was basically in the push-up position about to expire (she takes poison).  Instead of slowly slumping down and dying, she slammed to the floor with a horrifically violent thud.  If you've seen Monty Python's Flying Circus, it was like the giant foot of God had just stomped on her.  I'm surprised she didn't break her face.  It was demented.

And then the opera ended rather abruptly, like "soprano's dead, everyone go home!"  No complaints here.

The curtain call was amazing.  Guleghina came out to hysterical screaming.  And she did little diva claps to everyone - audience, cast members, chorus, set, cieling, god, satan, orchestra, conducter, herself - it was great.  And somehow there was some kind of upper-body wardrobe malfunction b/c there was some serious cleavage going on while she clapped.  Maybe just the high angle from where I was, but it was some good stuff.  The chorus got a huge ovation for their great work. 

And, hurray, my recording from the broadcast worked (well, mostly, it cuts out a bit, somehow always during good high notes), so I can relive the experience.  And wow, Guleghina sounds 50 times better live than recorded.  Anyone wanting a night (and short, too, 2.5 hours including intermission!) of great great opera, you must go to one of these with La G.  Despite her apparent recent rejuvenation, Guleghina's years are numbered, and this must be one of her greatest roles.  Don't miss it!