# A night at the opera.



## Chris Hobson (Apr 1, 2022)

Last night Liz and I went to the theatre using tickets that daughter Hannah bought for me at Xmas. The show was Carmen, I'm not a really big fan of opera but this is one with some well known tunes in it and one that I've always wanted to see. I'm not really much of an expert on the subject so I might have some of this wrong so, any actual opera buffs might need to correct me. Carmen is a French opera by Bizet. This version is by the Opera North company. The story is set in Spain, well there is bullfighting and some castanettes so I'm presuming it is. It was all done in French with English subtitles on strategically positioned flat screen tellies. There was also a sign language guy at the extreme edge of the stage, it took me a while to realise that he wasn't conducting the orchestra. Strangely the subtitles would occasionally go off, I think maybe because the lyrics were repeating and didn't really need explaining again.  The first time it happened I was worried that there might be a fault and that I was going to have to rely on my schoolboy French to work out what was going on. 

Carmen is the star singer and dancer at a strip club where most of the customers are soldiers. Her love life seems to involve hooking up with men for a bit and then dumping them and moving on to the next one. Enter Don Jose who apparently didn't get the memo. Don is occasionally being persued by Micaela who seems to pop up at random, usually with a message from his mum. Whether Micaela is Don's current or ex girlfriend is never quite explained, it also seems to be implied that she is pregnant. I'm not sure if this is Don's fault, she doesn't seem to want to let him anywhere near her so it seems unlikely. Carmen leads Don astray and he ends up deserting the army and taking up with an unsavoury gang of smugglers. They recruit some of the girls from the strip club as they come in useful for keeping customs officers distracted. Along comes Escamillo who is a matador and appears to be channeling Elvis. Carmen immediately dumps Don Jose for Escamillo and Don doesn't take it too well. I don't think that Don is the brightest bulb because he challenges Escamillo to a knife fight. Er, Don you do know that this guy fights bulls for a living? Anyway Escamillo defeats Don fairly easily but doesn't kill him because it would be like taking candy from a baby I think. Carmen receives a premonition from a fruit machine that she is going to die but seems very sanguine about it really. Then comes the bullfight which is depicted as more like a rodeo hoedown type thing with line dancing and a solo dance by a rather androgynous guy in a rather skimpy cowboy costume. While everyone is watching the bullfighting Don murders Carmen in a jealous rage and that concludes the Opera. 

Although the show is about three hours long with the interval, it is quite fast paced and the music is excellent so it seemed to pass really quickly. It is a really good choice for anyone who doesn't really do opera or wants to dip their toe in to test.


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## ColinUK (Apr 1, 2022)

Glad you enjoyed it!
Seems like they relocated the action away from the cigarette factory it's usually set around. 
It is a great introduction to opera as the songs are well known and the plot isn't a tough one to follow. 
I don't think I've seen it on stage but there's a dim memory of seeing it in English so maybe I have. 
There's Carmen Jones the film musical version I've definitely seen and there's a Matthew Bourne ballet version called Car Man as well. 

What was the theatre like itself? Hopefully the seats were comfortable!


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## Ditto (Apr 1, 2022)

> it took me a while to realise that he wasn't conducting the orchestra.



Funniest review ever.  I'd quite fancy seeing that now. I've never been to an opera. I like ballet and the Halle but haven't been to either for years.

At the moment I'm trying to book tickets for Chris Rock but I think he's gone very popular because of the Oscars thing, just when he's coming to Manchester.


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## Chris Hobson (Apr 1, 2022)

"What was the theatre like itself? Hopefully the seats were comfortable!"

It was at The New Theatre in Hull. It isn't new any more, it was built in 1939, but it had a refurbishment in 2016 so the seats are pretty good and there is plenty of legroom.


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## Eddy Edson (Apr 1, 2022)

Me, finally old enough to enjoy opera 



A terrific performance of La Boheme last Saturday, on the beach as the sun set over the water.  Just a perfect setting.

My eyesight is so crap I couldn't read any of the surtitle screens, but I was in the mood to just go with the music and singing & not wonder much about things like a woman supposed to be dying of consumption nevetheless belting out huge arias or why these beautiful young women were hanging around with podgy hairy middle-aged men.


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## ColinUK (Apr 1, 2022)

Eddy Edson said:


> Me, finally old enough to enjoy opera
> 
> View attachment 20456
> 
> ...


And the translation of La Boheme is hilariously bonkers!


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## Lanny (Apr 1, 2022)

I love Carmen’s Toreador chorus & hum it a lot! 

A very interesting modern take! 

Carmen was voted the best loved Opera I remember hearing on Classic FM recently!


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## harbottle (Apr 1, 2022)

I saw Aida in a Roman Amphitheatre in Verona around 18  years ago. It was uncomfortable and we ended up sitting by a Canadian woman who was drunk and kept talking! But it was also quite an experience.


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## Lanny (Apr 1, 2022)

Eddy Edson said:


> Me, finally old enough to enjoy opera
> 
> View attachment 20456
> 
> ...


THAT’S the classic argument that polarises Opera lovers & haters: it happens a lot in Opera’s; how can dying people burst into energy sapping high notes? 

I’ve loved Opera since I was 11 years old having discovered classical music & opera in first year high school music class! I take the viewpoint of the human spirit taking flight to fully express the human tragedy as the physical body dies!


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## Lanny (Apr 1, 2022)

ColinUK said:


> And the translation of La Boheme is hilariously bonkers!


It’s basically about a bunch of free spirited “Beatniks” of their time!


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## Eddy Edson (Apr 1, 2022)

Lanny said:


> THAT’S the classic agreement that polarises Opera lovers & haters: it happens a lot in Opera’s; how can dying people burst into energy sapping high notes?
> 
> I’ve loved Opera since I was 11 years old having discovered classical music & opera in first year high school music class! I take the viewpoint of the human spirit taking flight to fully express the human tragedy as the physical body dies!


Ok, that works for me


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## ColinUK (Apr 1, 2022)

Lanny said:


> It’s basically about a bunch of free spirited “Beatniks” of their time!


It's like an old fashioned version of the musical RENT!


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## Robin (Apr 1, 2022)

harbottle said:


> I saw Aida in a Roman Amphitheatre in Verona around 18  years ago. It was uncomfortable and we ended up sitting by a Canadian woman who was drunk and kept talking! But it was also quite an experience.


I saw half of Aida in Verona. We’d just got to the Grand March and the heavens opened, big time. I’ve never seen a cast and orchestra move so quickly! The water was cascading down the stone terraces, and we had to paddle through six inches of water at the exits to get out. they waited an hour, decided it wasn’t going to stop, and cancelled the rest of it.


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## ColinUK (Apr 1, 2022)

Robin said:


> I saw half of Aida in Verona. We’d just got to the Grand March and the heavens opened, big time. I’ve never seen a cast and orchestra move so quickly! The water was cascading down the stone terraces, and we had to paddle through six inches of water at the exits to get out. they waited an hour, decided it wasn’t going to stop, and cancelled the rest of it.


Did the elephants cope with the flooding??


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## Drummer (Apr 1, 2022)

After O levels at school we spent our days playing cricket and performing Shakespeare - we had the option of Antigone but no one seemed to take to it.
I was told that I was an amazing Mark Antony - for a 16 year old girl. 
We did have the option of opera - with score books and LP records - but no one went for that, much to the teacher's disappointment.
During A level we had to do complimentary studies, and Antigone was brought out again - but despite my subsequent viewing of Morse on TV opera has never interested me - I can barely sit through Gilbert and Sullivan.
Maybe it is something in the DNA - or the water - which creates an opera buff.


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## Robin (Apr 1, 2022)

ColinUK said:


> Did the elephants cope with the flooding??


I think they’d sensibly stayed at home that evening, either that or it was an economy production. I think there were a couple of ponies.


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## silentsquirrel (Apr 1, 2022)

Possibly the most atmospheric theatre in the UK is the Minack, if you get the chance to go seize it!  No, the seats are not comfortable, take or hire a cushion, and be prepared to get wet, but the view behind the stage is just spectacular!  If you are very lucky, the actors may have to compete for attention with porpoises showing off.


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## Chris Hobson (Apr 1, 2022)

I think that there is a fairly fuzzy line between opera and more modern musical theatre. Operas often have little or no dialogue with nearly everything being sung, whereas musical theatre tends to be more like a play punctuated with songs. However some musicals are mostly sung so are more like an opera. Due to my daughter's love of musical theatre I went along to a lot of shows while she was growing up and I've also seen quite a few videos of stage productions. I never liked the film version of Grease but the stage show is really good.


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## ColinUK (Apr 2, 2022)

Chris Hobson said:


> I think that there is a fairly fuzzy line between opera and more modern musical theatre. Operas often have little or no dialogue with nearly everything being sung, whereas musical theatre tends to be more like a play punctuated with songs. However some musicals are mostly sung so are more like an opera. Due to my daughter's love of musical



Let’s not forget that operas were just the musicals of their day.


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## mikeyB (Apr 5, 2022)

I’d turn that around. Musicals were developed after opera so that folk could understand what was going on. Only at operas do you get a plot summary explained in the programme.

I don’t like Opera. Last one I attended was a performance of Eugine Onegim in Moscow, but that was only because the friends we were staying with had got two extra tickets.


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## Lanny (Apr 5, 2022)

mikeyB said:


> I’d turn that around. Musicals were developed after opera so that folk could understand what was going on. Only at operas do you get a plot summary explained in the programme.
> 
> I don’t like Opera. Last one I attended was a performance of Eugine Onegim in Moscow, but that was only because the friends we were staying with had got two extra tickets.


Somehow, THAT doesn’t surprise me @mikeyB  YOU being a medical man know for certain it’s impossible for the likes of Mimi in La Boheme who’s dying of TB to belt out huge aria’s or Madame Butterfly who’s just stabbed hetself in a ritual suicide after her child is taken away to belt one out too before she succumbs to her wounds bleeding out to die!

I KNOW that too but, it calls out to me for that expression of tragedy: I could NEVER achieve those high notes being  asthmatic; still doesn’t stop me FEELING like belting out a huge aria at times, though, in my spirit! 

It’s why Dusty Springfield You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me keeps popping up in my head going round & round at times complete with her pleading arm movements etc. on the videos I’ve seen of her performing that song! THAT I CAN just about manage to sing along with!


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## travellor (Apr 5, 2022)

Lanny said:


> Somehow, THAT doesn’t surprise me @mikeyB  YOU being a medical man know for certain it’s impossible for the likes of Mimi in La Boheme who’s dying of TB to belt out huge aria’s or Madame Butterfly who’s just stabbed hetself in a ritual suicide after her child is taken away to belt one out too before she succumbs to her wounds bleeding out to die!
> 
> I KNOW that too but, it calls out to me for that expression of tragedy: I could NEVER achieve those high notes being  asthmatic; still doesn’t stop me FEELING like belting out a huge aria at times, though, in my spirit!
> 
> It’s why Dusty Springfield You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me keeps popping up in my head going round & round at times complete with her pleading arm movements etc. on the videos I’ve seen of her performing that song! THAT I CAN just about manage to sing along with!


I don't believe Tom Cruise can jump over a helicopter either, but thats the thing about entertainment, it's a pact. 
You suspend belief, and they entertain you.
It would be a very grim world if there was no fantasy, and only reality could be played to the audience.
Some days a good opera is a time to suspend belief.


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## Robin (Apr 6, 2022)

I’ve had an ear worm of the final duet from Aida ever since I mentioned that opera, even thought we never got as far as that bit in the Verona performance before it was rained off.
That’s another medical case in point, there they are, walled up and left to die, and singing their little hearts out. You’d think they’d be running short of oxygen. 
My favourite Verdi is Simon Boccanegra. Complicated but believable political plot (need surtitles for that one). No Big Famous Aria (the title character is a baritone, and everyone knows tenors get the best tunes), just good quality stirring music from start to finish.


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## ColinUK (Apr 7, 2022)

Ticket booked for La Traviata next Tuesday evening. Royal Opera House. Another £11 wonder but this time there's an actual seat and I'm going to screenshot the available seats earlier that day so hopefully I can wangle myself another decent seat for 10% of the cost.


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## Eddy Edson (May 4, 2022)

Wonderful production of Turn of the Screw tonight. Such a strange story, such excellent music. 

Then 45 min to get out of the frikkn car park.


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