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Oct. 16th, 2013 09:23 amI went to the Met's staging of Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream last night, with Meryl. Traffic was totally disastrous on 287- it took me 45 minutes to go 5 miles. Consequently, I got there at 7:45 for a 7:30 curtain, despite leaving early enough that I should have had a thirty minute cushion. Per the annoying Met policy, we weren't seated until the first intermission, so for the second half of the first act we watched it in a small viewing room with all the other stragglers.
I think this had a significant impact on my enjoyment of the show. Britten's Midsummer is all about the magic of the forest and the fairies luring you in and then changing the way you perceive the world. Without the opening overture, I felt a lack of investment in the illusion. I also missed a bunch of the great cello glissandi that are my favorite part of the score, and everyone else's, I think.
Still, A Midsummer Night's Dream is a wonderfully fun story and a beautiful opera. Britten manages to balance parody and sentiment so perfectly in a lot of places- the lovers waking up is one of my favorite moments, but above all, in Bottom and Tytania's scene. I always forget how I always leave Midsummer shipping Bottom/Tytania (and Tytania was sung by Kathleen Kim, who always makes me have a plethora of feelings even when she's not singing a role I already adored). And damned if Pyramus and Thisby isn't one of the best opera parody scenes in all of opera. "Presenting the wall..." lololol.
I think this had a significant impact on my enjoyment of the show. Britten's Midsummer is all about the magic of the forest and the fairies luring you in and then changing the way you perceive the world. Without the opening overture, I felt a lack of investment in the illusion. I also missed a bunch of the great cello glissandi that are my favorite part of the score, and everyone else's, I think.
Still, A Midsummer Night's Dream is a wonderfully fun story and a beautiful opera. Britten manages to balance parody and sentiment so perfectly in a lot of places- the lovers waking up is one of my favorite moments, but above all, in Bottom and Tytania's scene. I always forget how I always leave Midsummer shipping Bottom/Tytania (and Tytania was sung by Kathleen Kim, who always makes me have a plethora of feelings even when she's not singing a role I already adored). And damned if Pyramus and Thisby isn't one of the best opera parody scenes in all of opera. "Presenting the wall..." lololol.