Divas Take Over New York, Bloomberg Jealous (Part I?)

I think I may do this in two parts, one for the performance and one for the extra fluff. (Not that we don't love fluff) This first part is for, as Jane Austen puts it, the "all important nothings."

Quick little blip: We didn't have subtitles until "Pura siccome" which was slightly annoying, although I'm sure everyone in the movie theater knew at least the gist of what was happening. Also, for the first few seconds of Susan Graham's opening statement my theater didn't have sound. I was so worried that I accidentally let a little swear word pass my lips, followed by an ardent "Sorry!" We got sound after a few seconds and had no audio problems (or subtitle problems!) after that.

(I've heard that other theaters had the same problems, so it must have been the Met or the satellite, not the theater.)

Susan Graham was so adorable as the hostess! I think she did a wonderful job considering she problem didn't have much rehearsal or prep. I thought she looked stunning, but personally I think she's better as a brunette.

All the interviews went wonderfully. Christine Baranski and her daughter were funny and Nico Muhly was very articulate and cute! I'm looking forward to his new opera which is coming out "in the next million years" even though online stalking is not exactly my favorite topic. =) I always feel so artistic and intelligent when I see someone like Francesco Clementi speak. He's so informative and I feel like he knows so much. His portraits are so beautiful and I can't wait to get to the Met to see them. Diana Damrau looked beautiful, as usual. She's such a cutie and I can't wait to see her in Lucia, which she was very reluctant to talk about. Obviously she's very nervous???

I liked the montages of Renee Fleming's life story and the opening night designer costumes. The interview with the costume and wig designers had some fun little trivia in there, like all of the REAL jewels in Renee's jewelry for the evening. You heard some whispers as you saw in the background shoe boxes that said things like "Great Gastby, Upshaw" "Frittoli, Fiordiligi."

Deborah Voigt, looking very slim and healthy, really enjoyed her time in Times Square! I had to laugh at the faces she made at Paulo Szot (although he did deserve those fluttering eye-lashes). She's such a ham! Those few lines from "Some Enchanted Evening" were amazing, by the way. He got me! =) Debbie got some other cute interviews with the opera-goers, some of them unsuspecting spectators.

Intermissions:

I'm a tad miffed that in no way shape or form can Martha Stewart's "Grande Dame" cocktail be made "virgin." What like some underage kiddies don't want to drink an operatic cocktail? How about a Diva Daiquiri? That's easy to take the alcohol out of!

I find it amusing that Susan Graham suggested Mister Mayor Michael Bloomberg appear in an opera at the Met! He even said "I can't sing a note!" However, Susan's right he wouldn't have to say a word. That would be a funny cameo!

The guy who took Joe Clark's job (gosh I can't recall the job title or the new guy's name!) seems extremely competent. Everything ran smoothly and I wish him luck in this extremely difficult job!

THE GOWNS:

Hated the first Traviata gown. Renee can wear a dress, let me tell you, but this wouldn't look good on Grace Kelly. It's like they ripped apart an ugly sofa and made a dress out of it. The dress for scene II was SO MUCH BETTER. I thought it was beautiful. That red was gorgeous and I love the acres and acres of fabric!

I was not happy to notice that someone tampered with the Manon dress, aka attacked it with a Bedazzler. What was with the rhinestones? It looked almost like a copy of the dress in Vogue (seen above). Having said that, I did adore the cape for the St. Sulpice scene. I want it, I want to own it, I want to wear it. I love capes like that, I love them!!!!! The glorious Capriccio gown was my favorite. It was many people's favorite as well, from what I hear. That coat really made the dress, even though one lone feather stuck to La Fleming's back and irked me considerably. I almost (ALMOST) wanted Renee to wear the feather in her hair like in the above photo, but the at first horrifying bob wig grew on me and by the end of the act I didn't mind it very much. The only gowns that actually lived up to the Vogue hype were the Act II Scene II Traviata and the Capriccio. I would give A LOT to be able to wear those gowns just for a few minutes.

More on the actually singing later...

Happy Listening!!! =)

HAPPY 2008-2009 SEASON!!!!!!!!!!