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Posted by Karen on

March 22, 2007

The Ballet - Don Quixote

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Ok Culture Vultures. I’ve regaled you with my Opera evolution over the past year. So now I think it’s time to turn the spotlight on The Ballet (you have to say it with capital letters at the beginning).

I’ve been a subscriber to the Australian Ballet season for several years; usually signing up for 3-5 ballets a year. And I don’t quite know why I’ve never written about it before now, but better late than never — so here goes.

Together with my Ballet Buddies, Yvonne and Sandra, I settled into my Dress Circle seat at the State Theatre to enjoy the first production of the Australian Ballet Company’s 2007 Season; Don Quixote. And what a lot there was to enjoy!

As many of you probably know, Don Quixote (aka The Man of la Mancha) is the story of an aging knight who’s a couple of rivets short of a suit of armour. He and Sancho Panza, his trusty ’squire’, roam the countryside searching for quests to perform and generally getting in everone’s way. He sees Kitri, an inn-keeper’s daughter, in the market place and decides that she’s his dream girl, Dulcinea. Kitri is in love with Basilio, a poor barber, but her father Lorenzo wants her to marry Gamache, a rich nobleman.

Kitri and Basilio run off together with Lorenzo and Gamache in hot pursuit. Don Q decides his lady love needs rescuing so he and his trusty sidekick chase after them. The chase goes on around the countryside and ends up at a windmill, where the lovers and pursuers have fallen in with a gypsy troupe. When Don Q turns up, the lovers try to set him to attack Lorenzo and Gamache but he’s distracted by the windmill, thinking it’s a monster. He goes three rounds with the windmill and the windmill wins. The lovers escape during the melee and the chase is on again. Don Q is half unconcious and has a delirious dream about Dulcinea. Then he gets his act together and resumes his quest.

He catches up with the other four at a tavern. Basilio pretends to stab himself in jealous dispair to trick Don Q into forcing Lorenzo to bless the lovers. It works and once Lorenzo has been forced to give his blessing, Basilio does a Lazarus and bounces back to life. Don Q isn’t quite sure what happened but he thinks that he’s righted a wrong so he’s happy. And off he rides into the sunset in search of more quests.

This production was originally choreographed by Rudolph Nureyev in 1970 and is a whirlwind of colour and acrobatic energy. The sets were magnificent; the costumes vibrant; the music enchanting and the dancing superlative. The two principals Kitri and Basilio (danced byMadeleine Eastoe and Matthew Lawrence) danced their very demanding roles brilliantly (Yvonne insisted that I mention that Basilio got ‘good air’) and there were many other cameo solos that were a joy to watch scattered throughout the performance. Not forgetting some great character roles, particularly Gamache, portrayed as an aging foppish dandy, complete with opulent feathered hat, pink heeled silver shoes and a parasol.

A great kick off to the 2007 Season. Bring it on.

Madam Butterfly

Furthering our Opera Education, Allan and I returned to the Plenty Ranges Theatre on Saturday to take in another Melbourne Opera production. This time front row seats for Madam Butterfly by Puccini.

In a word…Sensational!

Basically the story line for this opera is that of Cio-Cio-San (Butterfly), a 15 year old Japanese geisha who marries an American naval officer, Pinkerton. But this is not the story of two star crossed lovers. Pinkerton is an arrogant macho ratbag who thinks the local culture is humorous and trivial (typical colonial attitude I guess). He buys his bride from a marriage broker on the understanding that he can rescind the contract any time he likes. Unfortunately Butterfly doesn’t realise this and thinks the marriage is for real. Seems it was love at first sight for her and she was prepared to renounce her culture and her religion for him. Her family reject her and cast her out for this and she is dishonoured.

After having had his fun, Pinkerton sails off with his ship and three years later Butterfly still hasn’t heard from him and her money is almost gone. But she has complete faith that he will return. She rejects a new bridegroom that the marriage broker tries to foist on her. The American Consul tries to tell her that Pinkerton is not returning. She refuses to accept this and produces a son which Pinkerton doesn’t know about.

At last Pinkerton’s ship arrives in the harbour and Butterfly is beside herself with excitement and prepares for his arrival. She sits up through the night but he doesn’t show and finally she goes to get some sleep in the morning. Pinkerton arrives, together with his All American Bride intending to take his son away with them back to the US. When the insensitive clod realises how devastated Butterfly will be, he bravely dumps the job of telling her on to the Consul and runs away.

Butterfly finds out what his plan is and says she’ll give up her son if Pinkerton comes for him in person. Then she takes the dagger with which her father committed hara kiri and removes her ‘inconvenient’ self from the scene. Pinkerton arrives to find her dead whilst her son sits in his old rocking chair waving an American flag and wearing a blindfold.

Innocence Kit by Lorene Hill. Heartsong embellishments by Amy Cheeseman

Normally I’m not a big fan of the overly emotional love story, but this really got to me. The set was simple but effective, the characters were strongly played and the emotional tension was there throughout for me. And to top it off, Puccini writes a mean score.

Suzanne Donald gave a convincing performance as the shy 15 year old Butterfly, maturing to a young mother but still with the innocence of inexperience. And Stephen Smith, who played Don Giovanni last year, is disturbingly good at playing arrogant ratbag males. So good in fact that when he came out for the curtain call the audience didn’t know whether to clap or to boo him. So they did both!

A wonderful night’s entertainment and I think I can safely say I’m no longer an Opera Virgin. But this is my third opera experience in less that a year. So does that mean I’ve become an Opera Buff?!?

Posted by Karen on

December 4, 2006

Turandot…or, “Mastermind: Chinese style”

Dear gentle and cultured reader, you may recall a post I wrote a few months ago called ‘No longer an Opera Virgin’ where I went to my first Opera performance. This was Don Giovanni and was sung in English rather than Italian. And although I really enjoyed it I felt that I should reserve judgement on whether I am really an Opera Lover until I went to a full blown production sung in Italian.

Well Saturday was it!

I met up with the girlfriends that I go to the ballet with and off we went to the Opera Australia performance of Turandot at the State Theatre.

The storyline for this opera revolves around a beautiful but callous and cold hearted Chinese Princess who plays mind games with her suitors. They have to guess three riddles and when they fail then it’s off with their head. Presumably this serves to lift the mental average of the male population but you’d have to agree it’s a tad drastic.

Enter the hero Calaf, who takes one look at her, falls in love (presumably with her face rather than her personality) and immediately signs up for her quiz show. He wins and because she is such a poor loser, he offers her a deal whereby if she can guess his name in 24 hours he’ll forfiet his life (what kind of a dumb offer is that?). So our Royal Ray of Sunshine grabs the little slave girl who’s in love with Calaf and tortures her to get his name. The Slave Girl kills herself in case she weakens. I’m mentally screaming “he’s not worth it girl”. Then the Hero tells the Princess his name, kisses her and she is smitten by love and we head off to the big romantic finale.

Having given you that facetious synopsis I must also tell you that it was a wonderful production. The music and singing were sensational, the sets and costumes were gorgeous and the overall vibe was totally fantastic. The production was directed by Graeme Murphy who is one of Australia’s best choreographers. And his use of the stage and the large body of chorus members was a piece of visual art.

Our seats were in the circle which was absolutely perfect as the surtitles were at eye level and it was easy to glance at them to keep track of what was going on without them being distracting. So whilst, unlike Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, I wasn’t in danger of peeing my pants, I did enjoy it enormously and will look forward to the opportunity of seeing another Opera. Not only have I well and truly lost my Opera Virginity, but it looks like I’m well on the way to becoming an Opera Lover.

And yes, it finished with the fat lady singing!

Jack has left the building

In response to popular demand (that means you Heather) it’s time for another music related post.

Went over to the Greyhound Hotel on Sunday to watch Ian Bland finally emerge from the shadow of his alter ego (and some might say, arch nemesis) Jack Rabbit and launch himself as a solo performer. It was a good performance and, in a first for Ian, it even started on time!

With a strong Aussie Country type flavour, Ian played his own material ranging from the haunting Kilkunda Wind (personal favourite) and The Drifter (strong social comment, another favourite) to the desperate Beer With No Pub (yes, I’ve got that the right way around). Ian has a very distinctive voice which lends itself well to the narrative style of song and everyone in the Pub enjoyed his act … as did I.

So hopefully we’ll see and hear more of Ian in the coming months.

Music In Warm Places

Yes it’s another music post. When Fate decides to have a laugh at your expense she makes it a good belly laugh (anyone who doesn’t understand the reference please read Music…Ughh! What is it Good For?). It’s just that I’ve been to such a great variety of music related events in the last couple of months (and I haven’t even written about them all!).

This one was yet another special experience. The setting was a mid 19^th century bluestone farmhouse set in the middle of old Germantown, now in the heart of suburban, brick-veneer Thomastown, Melbourne.

The Farmhouse together with an old German Cemetery (1850) and Australia’s oldest operating Lutheran Church (1856) is situated in lovely open parklands surrounded by well established trees. I lived and worked in the surrounding suburbs for twenty years and I never realised this place existed. It’s a bit Brigadoon-ish.

Ziebell’s Farmhouse has been rescued from disintegration by a group of volunteers and supported by a grant from the local council. My sister Elaine found out about this concert (and Music in Warm Places is the name of the concert) and arranged for tickets. Apparently they hold a couple of music afternoons each year. And what a fabulous setting to do it in!

Carol Appelt (flute) and Igor Pelka (guitar) treated a small audience of a couple of dozen to a great repertoire, ranging from Bach and Mozart to Villa Lobos and an Afro-Cuban Lullaby.

Rows of chairs filled the front parlour with the musicians at one end of the room and it was a very intimate event. The audience was very connected with the musicians (so there was nowhere to hide when a wrong note escaped) and being such a small group, it felt very personal and special. A roaring fire at the other end of the room added to the atmosphere. Mulled wine would have been nice, but you can’t have everything.

After two highly entertaining brackets everyone adjourned to the farmhouse kitchen where a magnificent afternoon tea was laid out. It was a traditional CWA/WI type spread with a host of magnificent cakes, sandwiches etc. And we all crowded around the farmhouse kitchen table whilst the cast iron stove burned in the corner to keep the chills away. How good was that?!!

But wait, it gets better…. It was all free!!!!