“I love tickets!” squeals Cameron Diaz’s character in the first Charlie’s Angels movie. (And why has no one ever made a gif of that?) It’s supposed to illustrate what an eccentric character she is, but I understand completely. I love tickets. And spring is ticket season. Season-ticket season, to be precise. All of the arts organizations announce their upcoming seasons, tickets go on sale, and I spend hours each spring planning what I will be doing on Saturday nights all next winter. Case in point: Seattle Opera.
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What to Make of Mozart’s Bad Boy? Don Giovanni at Seattle Opera
Don Giovanni is tricky. Yes, the character plays tricks, but that’s not what I mean. At least for me, Don Giovanni is a tricky opera. An opera with the hashtag #MozartsBadBoy has immediate draw; the actual experience is complicated by the fact that in this story seduction is interchangeable with rape, and it was written when rape was still considered comedy. Read More
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La fille du régiment at Seattle Opera
Seattle Opera kicked off its 50th season with Donizetti’s La fille du régiment. It seemed like a strange choice to me, because, well, it is not the best opera. In fact, it almost doesn’t seem like opera. It reminded me more of Gilbert & Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance than a comedic bel canto like Così fan tutte. Read More