3h 30min | Comedy, Musical | TV Movie 25 November 2006
Director: Francesca Kemp
Nicholas Hytner ... directed for stage
Iván Fischer ... Himself - Conductor
Stars: Miah Persson, Topi Lehtipuu, Luca Pisaroni, Nicolas Rivenq, Anke Vondung, Ainhoa Garmendia.
Amazing that such a trivial plot can go on for 3.5 hours. Very little happens, and we have only 6 characters. But they sing every thought, often in unison.
So there was plenty of time to ruminate. I marveled at the young cast, glad that young folk are/were still willing to put in the extraordinary effort to become proficient opera singers/actors. And they did act, and move around, and do business. Anke Vondung, the brunette, actually ate the food, a lot. The young men got to grope the women's breasts (over the costumes), and flirt and snuggle. You can see by the poster it's a friendly show.
In this opera, I was amazed at how often pairs of characters sang identical words together, and they're not repeating what one said alone. I'm supposed to suspend my disbelief that characters sing everything, but somehow having simultaneous eruptions so often stood out. And the pairs were the women together, the men together; it wasn't a unity of romance, but of planning or of remorse.
The filming gave us plenty of closeups; makes you wonder why anyone would go to the theatre instead, and pay much more for the privilege, I'm sure.
I'm happy with the purchase. Now off to take the Great Course: The Operas of Mozart, with 7 of 24 episodes dedicated to this work (not this performance).
BBC, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Opus Arte, NHK, cond. Fischer; 8
