Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

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Sunday palate cleanser: Faust goes to Mars

Jonas and Bryn in La Damnation de Faust. What more could a woman want?

Well, for starters, a production that was not this weird: Hawking walks and snails mate in mawkish opera

That’s Stephen Hawking they are talking about. Let’s hope he got royalties. The actor playing him looks like an old Alan Rickman. The caged dancers wear Hanes-style undies.

Could someone explain the whole mess, please?

Jonas Kaufmann (Faust),
Bryn Terfel (Méphistophélès),
Sophie Koch (Marguerite),
Edwin Crossley-Mercer (Brander)

Conductor: Philippe Jordan

Best to close your eyes and enjoy the singing.

I hope Bryn & Jonas each got paid enough to pay off the mortgage and put the kids through college.

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Sunday palate cleanser: HMS Pinafore

Filmed in a double-billing with Trial by Jury at the Opera Australia at the Melbourne Arts Centre in 2005, this production of HMS Pinafore by Sir Arthur Sullivan and W. S. Gilbert combines a luminous cast and impeccable orchestra with spirited direction and plenty of good fun.

Sir Joseph Porter — John Bolton Wood
Captain Corcoran — Anthony Warlow
Ralph Rackstraw — David Hobson
Dick Deadeye — Richard Alexander
Bill Bobstay — Andrew Jones
Bob Beckett — Jerzy Kozlowski
Josephine — Tiffany Speight
Cousin Hebe — Roxane Hislop
Little Buttercup — Colette Mann

The Opera Australia Melbourne Chorus
Orchestra Victoria
Conducted by Andrew Greene
Directed by Stuart Maunder

Libretto.

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Sunday palate cleanser: Werther

Staged at the Wiener Staatsoper, November 2015

Werther: Matthew Polenzani
Charlotte: Elina Garanča
Albert: Markus Eiche
Le Bailli: Alfred Sramek
Sophie: Hila Fahima
Schmidt: Peter Jelosits
Johann: Mihail Dogotari
Director musical: Frédéric Chaslin

Music by Jules Massenet, libretto by Edouard Blau, Paul Milliet, and Georges Hartmann.

Libretto

Bonus Massenet:

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