Opera Beyond the Met — New York Opera Exchange and More!

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Tonight marks our final season ticket outing at the Met. We’re off to see Cosi Fan Tutte, and I’ll be back to tell you how it was.

This doesn’t end opera season for us. We’re planning to do rush tix this week for La Cenerentola, which will probably be our last Met outing till the fall. But that’s not all folks. Although the City Opera is dead, opera for the people isn’t. In addition to the cheap seats always available at the Met, there are other options for us latter day groundlings.

In the coming weeks, we’ll be exploring a couple of them. Tomorrow I’m going to the final performance of Haydn’s Orlando Paladino at the Manhattan College of Music in bucolic Morningside Heights. Though we live in the neighborhood, I hadn’t heard a thing about this, until I stumbled onto something in The New Yorker. They need to do a better job of letting the neighbors know. Posters would be nice. It’s a student cast, and it sounds like an interesting take. There aren’t a lot of tickets left, but what they got is going for $30 for regular folk and $15 for students and seniors. The website was a little tricky to manevever. I kept winding up at a link that said the service wasn’t available. However, if you click here to the calendar and from there click onto the May 4th event, you should be able to order tickets for tomorrow’s performance. Selection is limited, so good luck!

The other cool thing we discovered is The New York Opera Exchange, which sounds almost like City Opera on a shoestring. It features emerging artists in interesting productions. They’ve apparently been around since 2012. Performances happen at a couple of different venues. We’re going to be seeing a production of La Traviata because you can never see that one enough times. It’s being performed in midtown at a church. It’s  set in “the rubble of post-Mussolini Italy” with Alfredo as an American GI. There are several performances in May. Tickets can be purchased online and all seats are $30. Sounds like fun and I will totally let you know, but since performances start 5/9, and we’re not going till the end of the run, don’t wait for our take.

(Seriously, Marion is busy editing her next great novel, and can hardly afford even the cheap seats these days. There’s no donation link because she’s just too proud, but you could help support her opera habit — and these informative posts– by checking out her work, including this acclaimed novella for less than a buck!)

Come to the Caberet — If You Can Still Get Tickets

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Come to the Caberet? Definitely. We caught a preview back in March. Opening night is tonight, April 24, 2014. I know you aren’t supposed to review previews, but this is just a personal blog, and as many have pointed out, I’m not a professional. Besides, I’m mostly going to praise the hell out of this production.

I probably should have posted sooner because by now there aren’t too many tickets left, and after tonight, there will be fewer still. It’s a limited run with Alan Cumming returning to the role that made him a star (in this country at least) and it features movie star Michelle Williams in her Broadway debut. Per the official website the best ticket availability is in July till the end of the run. My guess is you will never see tickets for it at the half price booth. They were doing rush tickets during the preview, but who knows if they’ll continue? This one is actually Continue reading Come to the Caberet — If You Can Still Get Tickets →

Catching Up with the Idiots at the Opera

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I promised myself I’d review every opera I saw, and as usual I’ve disappointed myself. I’m not so arrogant to imagine that thousands of followers are waiting for my reports. I’m no Operateen.. I am the only one who misses me.  I’m going to play catch up here and briefly mention three I’ve seen this season that I haven’t written about previously.

First up, La Boheme. It was a Zefferelli production with beautiful sets and a spirited (mostly) age appropriate cast. No bells and whistles although the street scene was pretty something. It’s easy to see why this opera has been so influential and is so loved. It would make a great date night or a great first opera experience. I so should have written about it and advised any crazed young romantic without a lot of cash, not to run out on a restaurant bill (as they do) but to get rush tickets for only $20 per because is there anything more romantic than dying of consumption in a garrett? Guess what kids? It’s not too late! The same production Continue reading Catching Up with the Idiots at the Opera →

Idiots at the Opera — Madama Butterfly, Now with Puppets

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We didn’t know much about Madama Butterfly beyond the basics – it’s about east meets west resulting in a cultural misunderstanding, there’s kick ass aria – Un bel di, and like most operas named for their heroines, the title character dies at the end.

There’s a 1930s film version which is not an opera or even a musical, starring nice Jewish girl Sylvia Sydney as the geisha-wife, and Cary Grant as the American, Pinkerton. I never saw the whole thing, but I did catch the last few minutes, in which Cio-Cio San explains to her child that he’s going to be white and American now, and that’s for the best. Then she offs herself, so that he will grow up never knowing the awful truth of his mixed heritage.

Fortunately, there’s none of that in Puccini’s version. Pinkerton is a bumbling American, a callow young man who confides in the Counsel in the first act that he is not taking his temporary marriage seriously. He’s warned that his bride might, and he ignores the warning. It’s clear he’s going to leave her and he’s going to take an American wife. Everyone – including all the other Japanese – understands this, except for Butterfly herself. She is after all only Continue reading Idiots at the Opera — Madama Butterfly, Now with Puppets →

Coming Attractions — A Brief Rant

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There have been no recent blog posts because I had the flu and it apparently turned my brain to mush. Next year I will get a flu shot. Even if I don’t get a flu shot, I will not crack wise when the better-half gets a tiny reaction to a flu-shot because KARMA.

When I do post again there will be deep thoughts on – the republican war on children (and public education), also on silly petitions versus what Anne Rice could actually do to help struggling writers (She could review their books), plus I’ll tell you how much fun The Enchanted Island was and I will apologize for seeing it as I may have given the entire upper west side the flu by going out that night. Sorry! There will also probably be a post about how truly AWFUL Die Fledermaus was. (Hint: It was the worst). Also something on why I will never get a season subscription to the Met again. (Yes, it does have something to do with Die Fledermaus). I am not going to write about True Detective because I don’t have much to say about it. Maybe I should write about hate-watching Scandal and how Kerry Washington has (literally) one facial expression.