Ken and Linda treated us to seats at the Metropolitan Opera yesterday for Die Fledermaus, which I enjoyed thoroughly-- the production did not get great reviews, but it was all in English and very funny, and I recognized a lot of the music. It was tinkered with a lot from the original productions, according to what I read, but I also read that tinkering has always been par for the course on this Straus operetta. Lots of talking, lots of wonderful music, lots of dissolution, and gorgeous sets and costumes. It's the whole deal in opera, as far as I can see: eyes and ears and we get a quick lunch at the first interval. The scenes included a wealthy family's parlor in red, a huge gold-and-black party, and a stark but spacious black and white prison. I was especially taken with the counter tenor, Anthony Ross Constanzo, who sang the immensely wealthy Count Orlofsky whose life consists of looking for amusement. Such a beautiful sound. Anyhow, between closed caption boxes and English and reading the summaries, I got most of it and really enjoyed. Also, of course, the place, the atmosphere, the friends. Thank you, Ken and Linda!
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