See a star being born

[Lord Jim]

I'm with you, Jim. Magic Flute for opera, Nutcracker for ballet, and that's about it.

[Gob]

Nice pair of knockers on her.

[Lord Jim]

[Sue U]

Not really; opera, like the movies, tends to feature physically beautiful people being alluring and sexxxy while swathed in luxuriant music. At its best, it is very much a sensual experience intended to arouse passions. You should want Giulietta and Romeo or Rodolfo and Mimi as much as they want each other. You should feel the libertine ferocity of Carmen and the pathos of Butterfly. Sure, come for the pictures, but stay for the articles.

[Gob]

It's not, she's got a cracking pair.

[Lord Jim]

Not really; opera, like the movies, tends to feature physically beautiful people being alluring and sexxxy while swathed in luxuriant music. At its best, it is very much a sensual experience intended to arouse passions. You should want Giulietta and Romeo or Rodolfo and Mimi as much as they want each other. You should feel the libertine ferocity of Carmen and the pathos of Butterfly. Sure, come for the pictures, but stay for the articles.

So, in order to appreciate opera properly, I should interpret it as a form of porno...

I await Dame Nina Hartley's moving interpretation of Carmen...


I still think it would be much more compelling if there were at least a few space aliens or zombies involved...

[Sue U]

I await Dame Nina Hartley's moving interpretation of Carmen...

Well, maybe you'd like to start with Elina Garanca:



As for Flute, here is the most terrifying portrayal of Queen of the Night I have ever seen (very much in the nature of a zombie or space alien but even more frightening when it's your mom):

[Big RR]

La Boheme! Which is the opera Rent is based on (shouted out in the repeating theme song - La Vie Boheme).

But I agree, you don't need the language to understand the story.

sorry guin, I meant to write La Boheme, but my typing got ahead of me. You are right of course.

[Big RR]

Not really; opera, like the movies, tends to feature physically beautiful people being alluring and sexxxy while swathed in luxuriant music. At its best, it is very much a sensual experience intended to arouse passions. You should want Giulietta and Romeo or Rodolfo and Mimi as much as they want each other. You should feel the libertine ferocity of Carmen and the pathos of Butterfly. Sure, come for the pictures, but stay for the articles.

Not exactly, the first opera I saw was La Traviata (when I was around 10) and Violetta was about 5'5" and 300 lbs (dying of consumption, no less). But the music generated the passion and she carried the part well despite her not being physically beautiful or sexy in the traditional sense; I could honestly believe she was a desirable courtesan. I loved it, and have been a an opera fan ever since.

More modern productions have tried to do just what you have said, and I think it's great. But IMHO first and foremost opera is about the music (not even the words) and the feelings and passions it provokes. The stories are often silly and the lyrics even sillier, but the music drives the production and spectacle.

[Sue U]

Well, I am a relatively recent convert to opera, and in the last 15 to 20 years all the international superstar sopranos I am familiar with are totally hot:

Anna Netrebko
Elina Garanca
Angela Gheorghiu
Aida Garifullina
Natalie Dessay
Renee Fleming
Joyce Didonato
Anne Sofie von Otter

There are lots more on the Met's Artists page.

ETA:

Anna Netrebko & Elina Garanca:



Aida Garifullina:



Angela Gheorghiu:



Natalie Dessay:



Renee Fleming:



Joyce Didonato:



Anne Sophie von Otter:

[Big RR]

Absolutely, but look at the stars of years past--great singers all but some made Momma Cass look anorexic (ditto for the men). And I think the modern practice is sometimes taken too far (usually just for women); I recall Deborah Voigt (with a voice clearly among those you mentioned) was fired by Covent Garden for being too fat. She underwent bypass, and eventually became addicted to alcohol rather than food. She has been through rehab and still performs, but it hasn't been easy for her.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Meade thinks he might give culture a try

[Sue U]

I heard Voigt on the radio (Terry Gross, maybe?) talking about that (and her book). And I think it's true that -- as in movies and showbiz generally -- there is a bias in favor of the young beauties, especially since the performances are seen so much more widely these days through the interwebs and movie-theater simulcasts. It's no longer just LPs and Saturday afternoon radio, when you could only imagine the performers. Now they really have to look the part, too. And so much of opera is about beautiful young lovers, I'm not really seeing a leading role for Kathleen Battle these days.

[Sue U]

Meade thinks he might give culture a try

See, that's your mistake: Opera is not "culture," it's entertainment, showbiz, spectacle. Though it is often a place where high culture and pop culture meet, it's really just a musical (which is why Boheme = Rent).

[Big RR]

I heard Voigt on the radio (Terry Gross, maybe?) talking about that (and her book). And I think it's true that -- as in movies and showbiz generally -- there is a bias in favor of the young beauties, especially since the performances are seen so much more widely these days through the interwebs and movie-theater simulcasts. It's no longer just LPs and Saturday afternoon radio, when you could only imagine the performers. Now they really have to look the part, too. And so much of opera is about beautiful young lovers, I'm not really seeing a leading role for Kathleen Battle these days.

Ditto for someone like Maria Callas, and that is a shame. But the audience commands what it wants, or the directors give the audience what they think it wants. And we may be missing out on some great artists because of it.

[MajGenl.Meade]

I'm sure that Maria Callas hasn't looked good enough to be on stage since 1977

[Big RR]

I don't know, I heard she lost a lot of weight since then.

[Gob]

Anna Netrebko & Elina Garanca:

I wouldn't mind being the filling in that sandwich.

[MajGenl.Meade]

The bread just barfed

[Gob]

Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez?



From the movie "Diva", a fantastic movie, see it if you have not yet!