Apologies for the hiatus! Holidays/travel/ya'll know the drill.....
So after returning from Christmas in Arizona with only the slightest of travel inconveniences (my apologies to the people sleeping in the Continental service line), my first order of business was seeing The Magic Flute at The Metropolitan Opera. This was the shortened, holiday production and was being presented in just the way I like my operas: abridged and directed by Julie Taymor.
I'm pretty much an opera novice, and the only operas I've seen are all by Mozart and all happen to be featured in Amadeus. I was obsessed with Amadeus in 4th grade and played the soundtrack constantly. There's nothing like hitting the outdoors for Field Day and blasting Mozart's Death Requiem on your walkman headphones to endear you to the elementary masses. This 'music by way of film' obsession would blossom further the following year when my new infatuations became the Stand By Me soundtrack and, especially, The Color Purple. Anyway, I digress. The production was fantastic. The English translation is a little hokey but the show zipped along and, even after all these years, I still remembered the snippets featured in the movie, including the Queen of the Night's big aria, and the Papageno/Papagena duet. From Amadeus: Here's a clip of the Taymor version we saw. Hungarian Erika Miklosa is on vocal duties: A YouTube rabbit hole led me to all sorts of clips of vocalists tackling The Queen of the Night along with all sorts of productions (on a giant aerobed, on harnasses, etc.). And people take their favorites very seriously. Do you prefer Miklosa or Diana Damrau or Natalie Dessay? Let's hope I don't suddenly get into opera - that's a recipe for disaster for a music obsessive.Had Mom in town recently which meant we were running around the city like fools and there was no time for posting. But I'm back now and wanted to share this nifty little experience from Monday night. I was lucky enough to catch Liza Minnelli at the Gramercy Park Hotel's Rosebar. It was a very small room and we were perched dead center to see the legend at work. What a trip.She has a new album, Confessions, that's out now on Decca and this was the intimate NYC launch event. (Oprah was the significantly less intimate launch event last week).
Her voice may be a bit raggedy and syntax a bit strange but she's a gifted storyteller, heavy on the eye contact and acted things perfectly, even if the notes aren't quite there. She has that uncanny ability to make you feel like you're the only person in the room.
