Martinee day at the Florentine and I’ve just returned from the Florentine Opera’s Turandot. The notes say it’s okay to pronounce it either way, so file that away for future use.
My sister attended the opening of the Lyric Opera’s splendid new digs in the splendid Kaufmann performing arts center in Kansas City. She, too, listened to Lise Lindstrom sing the icy role of Princess Turandot, she who eventually, after three acts and two intermissions, let’s Calaf (Renzo Zulian) melt her frozen self. It was Lindstrom’s debut with the Florentine, and also the Florentine debut of Rena Harms, who sang the role of Liu to perfection. Frankly, I was rooting for Liu, but alas! she ended up dying onstage, the victim of her own hand.
I treated myself to a box seat, figuring an increase in our 2012 condo fees doesn’t matter a whit, compared to a chance to view Turandot. The box seats weren’t sold out, but the place was sold out when the opera opened on Friday, November 4. A friendly volunteer for the box seat section pointed out that two of his little friends were among those kids in the Florentine’s Children’s Chorus, and he also passed on the information that the Milwaukee production was responsible for adding a bath robed (red!) man and a child sitting on his lap. They were positioned on the far left side of the stage.
This was a very silly decision. I’m just saying. It would seem to me that Florentine fans are intelligent enough to “get” the point that Turandot is a fairytale. Did they really need the addition of those two?
Other than that boo-boo, the event was marvelous, and no one popped open a bottle of water and slurped their way through the production, and I didn’t hear any cell phones ringing in the dark. And no one wore their Packer jacket. I like it like that. This is, after all, an OPERA. That said, the Packers won again.
In the good old days, I never missed a Florentine performance, and for a time I wrote notes for their newsletter. I was there when the Performing Arts Center opened to hoopla in the late ’60s, and for many years I sat in a specific box seat when both the ballet and the MSO performed. Back then I was a culture junkie. Times and what’s in my wallet have changed.
During one long intermission at the matinee, I talked with an aging chap who had traveled the world viewing various opera productions. He said the Florentine is still his favorite, and Turandot remains among his favorites. We rambled on about the problematical Madame Butterfly, and how odd it is to have a 300 lb. butterfly flitting about the stage. I’ve been privy to that stretch of imagination, and was astounded when the rotund lead singer, a fabulous soprano, actually made me believe that she weighed 125 lbs, instead of 300 lbs. It’s amazing what a glorious voice and cleverly draped costumes can do. When I pointed out to the chap that it is equally odd to have an aging fat man singing the role of a slender young lover, he stopped talking to me.
But that was okay. It was a fabulous day at the opera. In February, I guess due to budgetary concerns, the Florentine is presenting not a bonafide opera, but instead Isn’t it Romantic, a concert of love songs from Vienna to Broadway. It will warble forth February 10-12 in Vogel Hall at the Marcus Center.
