Don Giovanni...

[fajrdrako]

I went tonight to see Don Giovanni, put on by Opera Lyra at the National Arts Centre. Enjoyed it very much. My favourite of the singer was Taras Kulish, who played Leporello. The set was fun, too: a kind of bronze Italian Baroque that sometimes looked Victorian and sometimes even Edwardian, without breaking the mood. Nicely staged, nicely sexy - and my favourite bit was the statue.

Why do I so enjoy the protagonist's shamelessness?

I'd come home for supper, and then walked to the NAC in the rain. It had been dry when I came home from work, but raining fairly hard at 7:30 p.m., and it took until the Intermission for my clothes to dry. (My gloves never did.) Walking home, it was only a light drizzle, and the city was nicely quiet - until I came across little Pekingese being walked on Queen Elizabeth Drive, who wanted to bark at me. Reminded me of Mr. Muggles.

Comments

[takhys]

Leporello was great! I really liked the bit where he was trying to distract Donna Elvira with the list of Giovanni's conquests.

Also, I loved the opening scene with the Don behind the curtain and all the women.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I agree - in fact, I thought all the business with the screen was really well done. Especially that first scene. The party scene near the end was spectacular, too.

[takhys]

The folks I went with really didn't like the staging and, from what I could tell, were pretty critical of the whole thing.

Eh. Maybe I'm just a pushover, but I had a good time.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

They didn't like the staging - ? I thought the staging was terrific. I don't know a lot about singing and I'm not very musical, so I can't judge that much except to say "I liked it" - they had some problems with word clarity, but that was no big deal.

But I do know staging, and I thought the staging was great fun. I liked the ambiguities of it, the way the same set could be so many things, all with a Baroque/neoclassical flavour mixed with art nouveau.

I haven't seen enough opera to make a lot of comparisons, but I enjoyed it very much.