Music by George Frideric Handel, Libretto by William Congreve, Performed by Elizabeth Futral. I went to go see Semele tonight at the NYC Opera. It was interesting to say the least. This being my first English written opera to go see, it became clear to me for the remaining need of the sur-title board just before it lost all meaning to me again. That is, I still couldn't hardly follow along with the words since  they were sung with such inflection but then the lyrics were a bit overly simplistic. Every arrangement had about the same two lines repeated over and over to it. Still, the music was lovely and the singing was amazing, plenty of humor, the story was interesting and there were so many old people there waiting for God to come by in the second act to take them to opera heaven.

I think the people to my right and in front were family of someone on stage because when the arrangements were over, you couldn't time the reaction to the clapping obsessively. It was just that fanatic.

Anyway, the story of Semele was modernized to a story between Jackie Kennedy-Onassis and Marilyn Monroe with a greek tragedy twist. Hard to get into it at first but became more interesting after it got going. Not a bad performance overall.

Last night I met up with Jim, my old design professor from my University in Oklahoma, who was in town with a few of his students and we took in a show at the Gershwin theatre called Wicked, the untold story of the witches of Oz.

I have to say without really any expectations, I was amazed by the stage settings, the scenery, the intricate story, but most of all the very powerful performance by the two lead actresses playing the good and bad witch. My favorite song has to be Defying Gravity (via iTunes)

So everyone arrives at the apartment and we have wine, snacks and make conversation with plenty of time before the show starts, eventually leaving confidently to go to the theatre to see The Producers. Nick said he bought all the tickets in April so I assume it's hard to get tickets unless it's well in advance for the show. At least four of the people in the group were from London and felt confident that we needed to get off at Piccadilly Circus to walk down to the theatre on Drury Lane. After a short crowded ride on the underground, we get to Piccadilly only to discover that the theatre we are looking for is about a mile down and time is starting to cut close. With traffic too busy for a Taxi, we ran the mile across London only to make it with seconds to spare, As soon as we sat down, the show started.

Going again to the Sydney Opera House tonight to see the Lord of the Rings Symphony. The performance is sold out and Howard Shore will be there to conduct. Katie Noonan will be singing "Into the West" originally performed by Annie Lennox in the film.

"...The concert will be accompanied by the stunning imagery of John Howe and Alan Lee, the world's foremost illustrative interpreters of Tolkien's work and Conceptual Artists on the films. These beautiful and never-before-seen storyboards and sketches, which were the basis of the design of the films, will be projected onto a giant screen above the orchestra."

You walk in, take your seat in the colorful theatre, you wait for the crowd to stop talking and for the show to start. The lights go out and a single large woman (Rafiki) dressed in funny rags and paint with a mighty voice starts singing the familiar opening theme... 

"Nan ts'ngonya ma bakithi baba sithi hm ingonya"

Went to a performance of the famous Opera <i><a href="http://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/h/event.asp?EventID=479">Madama Butterfly</a></i> this weekend. It was interesting and different from what I expected. Luckily, they displayed subtitles above the stage so you know what they are saying. The story takes place in Imperial Japan, with an American military soldier, all singing in Italian.

It was the eve before last at the Sydney Opera House that I did partake in a play that was written over 400 years ago by a man known as Shakespeare. The play, be it well performed, was a comedy that was without question humorous, entertaining, and thoughtful.

All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages...

We Went to the Sydney Opera House again last night to watch a performance of Beethoven's 5th Symphony as performed by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Now I can say that all of the classical music I know didn't just come from Bugs Bunny cartoons.

What a great thing, to be able to just plan a night out after a day of work for the Symphony, or an Opera, or a play... or something besides a movie and an overpriced coke. Afterwards, to be able to walk around the city with such great views and the hustle of the city going on around you and being lost in the whole thing. I am most definatly, a big city person at heart.