Cultural Moment: The Marriage of Figaro (and more!)

Well it's time to start dragging Wade to some sweet, sweet cultural moment worthy events! This weekend he saw his first opera, The Marriage of Figaro, at the Remai Arts Centre (aka. The Persephone Theater). A fantastic opera! Live orchestra, great singing and loved everyone's voices and interpretations of the music and roles. Plus lots of leg room! Good stuff! Even Wade liked it!

The Marriage of Figaro is a pretty nice intro to opera I think. It has a funny story, one or two songs that are recognizable from pop culture, and is one of the few operas where no one dies. Although Wade pointed out that that is how you know when an opera is over...when there are no more characters left. Ha!

Officially, "Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata" (The Marriage of Figaro, or the Day of Madness), K. 492, is an opera buffa (comic opera) composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a 1784 stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais ("La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro"). The play itself ended up being banned because of it's satirical view of the aristocracy (a no-no in the pre-French Revolution days) but the opera is considered one of Mozart's most successful works (and that's saying something!).

The opera was written in Italian but takes place in Spain near Seville. Actually, the opera is part 2 in the adventures of Figaro as it continues on two years after the events in "The Barber of Seville" (actually there were three Beaumarchais plays about these same characters, the third being "The Guilty Mother"). The Barber of Seville was also turned into an opera by multiple people (not Mozart) although the most famous version wasn't done until 1816. That's the version used in "The Rabbit of Seville". Love that! But I digress...


The overture from The Marriage of Figaro is probably the most recognizable (often played separately as a concert piece), although the music isn't featured within the opera itself. You may remember the overture from the 1983 Dan Akroyd & Eddie Murphy movie "Trading Places", in which it forms the opening theme music over the intro scenes.


Lovers of the film The Shawshank Redemption may also remember the duetto (a short duet) piece between the Countess and Susanna from Act 3 called "Sull'aria...che soave zeffiretto". In it the Countess (singing first) dictates a fake love letter to her husband, the Count, in a zany plot to expose his intended infidelity with Susanna (the Countess's maid and Figaro's fiance). Not sure if that is "something so beautiful it can't be described in words". More amusing than beautiful and, in fact it is described in words...they're just Italian words.


Anyway, the story for Marriage of Figaro comes of as pretty convoluted (and it is) when you try to explain it but trust me it's easy to follow when you're there (if they have the subtitles that is). But, here goes: Figaro (the Count's valet) and Susanna (the Countess' maid) are engaged. The philandering Count has the hots for Susanna and "wants to get all up in that" (but the Count and Countess still love eachother and everything). The count has a page named Cerubino who keeps getting in trouble because he loves love too much and it incites the Count's enraged jealousy (repeatedly, it's a running gag). Also, Marcellina, an old chick that Figaro owes a significant sum of money, wants to marry Figaro and gets Dr.Bartolo (who hates Figaro from back in "The Barber of Seville") to help her with the legal matters. It seems Figaro can either pay her or marry her. But it turns out that Figaro is Marcellina and Bartolo's bastard love child so that doesn't pan out, which makes the Count mad because he's been trying to thwart Susanna's marriage to Figaro due to his aforementioned desire to tap that. Mayhem ensues, but eventually they trick the Count into thinking that he's meeting Susanna in the garden for a tryst, but really the Countess meets him there. And he's sorry for his alternating adulterous/jealous ways and will never do it again and everyone is happy. Yay!

On the whole I recommend it highly. Especially since it was good enough to get Wade to concede to seeing another opera!

p.s. To Wade: Yes you did!

p.p.p.s. Last summer my annual opera outing with Talina was La Traviata. But last year was a bit of a wash blog-wise as I was super busy with new job and romance and what-not. That in no way reflects on the quality of La Traviata, as it was delightful, but I've decided not to pretend I have a time machine and I'm going to start fresh with new stuff. But for the record, thumbs up on La Traviata! And I reserve the right to pretend I have a time machine in future if I ever come across the program and it reminds me.

p.p.s. I also dragged Wade to the ballet (Swan Lake) in Regina last winter. Which should also have been a cultural moment post (refer to p.s. above about starting fresh). It was pretty cool as Wade had never been to the ballet before, but it was unfortunate because the performance wasn't the best I've seen. Made worse by the lack of live music and the so-so supporting cast of dancers. But still enjoyable, I may just be becoming a snob.

Cultural Moment: Spamalot!

If it's a musical it counts as a cultural moment! A hilarious cultural moment (up there with Evil Dead but less bloody)! Python nerdy goodness enjoyed by all!
The reviews from the Regina Leader Post are at the bottom of the news page on the official Spamalot webpage (here). It had all the important bits from the Holy Grail movie that everyone was expecting and a mixed up story that was funny and delightful. Yay for culture!

Sorry I'm not writing more, but I'm using my time machine for this post and writing it eight months in the future! Hello future blog readers! Consequently, I'm fuzzy on specifics. But I bought the cast recording (and a fridge magnet for Wade...hi Wade!) and am listening to it...it's good. I already have the evil pointy-teethed bunny because D&T got it for me for my birthday a while back! That's no ordinary rabbit!

Chickens! Cultural Moment: The Dalai Lama

A whirlwind trip to Calgary for a delightful afternoon with LP and His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama (here's his office's official website). He was in town for the UofC's NOW festival to speak on peace through compassion. CBC news report on Dalai Lama's visit to Calgary here, Calgary Herald here, The Star here, CTV here, etc. What an inspirational speaker! It especially resonated with me when he spoke of secular ethics and how it is important for humanity to embrace morals and ethics separate from religion to be functional. I will do a bio post on His Holiness later (I promised LP) when I have more time.

There were several openers, the childrens sang and did a shadow-based interpretive dance. I especially like the singers who did the national anthem in English, French, and Cree. Also, an amazing cellist, Trevor Fitzpatrick, played for us. Here is the song he did:

Chickens! Cultural Moment: Midsummer Night's Dream

Part 2 of this year's Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan festivities. One of the most commonly performed comedies of all time is Midsummer Night's Dream. It is not really known when exactly this play was first written but it was probably some time in the mid 1590's. The SotS took a 20s(ish) take on it with colourful suits and jazzy songs and all of the characters were in the military. Delightful.

This play features three interlocking plots sandwiched between opening and closing scenes relating to the celebration of the wedding of Theseus of Athens and the Amazonian queen Hippolyta. Primarily, we have the love quadrangle between Hermia, Lysander, Helena, and Demetrius. Hermia and Lysander are in love but Hermia's father Egeus wants her to marry Demetrius. Demetrius loves Hermia but she doesn't love him and Hermia's best friend Helena loves Demetrius but he doesn't love her. What jolly farce! We also have the story of Oberon and Titania, the fairy king and queen. They are in town for Theseus and Hippolyta's wedding but are estranged because Titania won't give her page-boy to Oberon to be his minion because the boy is the son of one of her peeps who died. Oberon wants to go upside her head for being so feisty so he gets his henchman Puck to get him a love flower so he can make Titania fall in love with something or other and become too distracted to care about her page-boy any more (and also to be used to sort out the four aforementioned fools who are by now chasing each other through the forest at night). This leads us to the third story, that of the "mechanicals" (laborer/peasant folk) who are to put on the play-within-a-play about Pyramus and Thisbe that is to be the entertainment at Theseus and Hippolyta's wedding. While rehearsing, one of the mechanicals, Nick Bottom, shows himself to be an ass and Puck decides to transform Nick's outsides to reflect this and points him at Titania (who was hepped up on love flower by this point). And bestiality ensued. Eventually, once Oberon gets what he wants, he gets Puck to put everything back to normal except that Demetrius is now in love with Hermia so all is well and all the couples get married and the mechanicals perform their play (badly) and there is much rejoicing. The end.

Now, let's talk historical references shall we:

This play draws on both Greek (Theseus and Hippolyta) and Roman (Pyramus and Thisbe) mythology. He was fathered by the Athenian king Aegeus (as in Aegean Sea, see: Minotaur myth re: throwing himself into the ocean) and Poseidon. Interestingly, this idea reflects the Greek understanding of reproduction at the time as they believed the mixture of semen from the two fathers would give rise to a son with characteristics of both. Theseus is also featured in the lesser known Shakespearean play "The Two Noble Kinsmen". In mythology, Theseus does marry Hippolyta, the Amazonian queen he meets and kidnaps in while traveling with Hercules. However, in some stories it is not Hippolyta, but her daughter Antiope that he abducts and marries. Being an Amazonian gave Shakespeare licence to have Hippolyta talk back to Theseus so forcefully during the play (actually Midsummer Night's Dream is touted as having very strong willed female characters throughout). Anyway, of course this caused a big ol' war between the Amazons and the Athenians. The Amazonians lost because they failed to reckon with the fact the Athenians had two demigods on their side (Duh!). He later ditched Hippolyta (or she may have died) once he became King, for Phaedra who was the daughter of King Minos. Theseus is most famous for defeating King Minos' minotaur in Crete (with Phaedra's older sister Ariadne's assistance) when he was a princely whipper-snapper. But, Phaedra falls in love with her son-in-law Hippolytus, Theseus' son by Hippolyta. In Euripides' play "Phaedra", Phaedra sends her slave to tell Hippolytus how she feels, but he is shocked and appalled by the news (he's chaste don't you know). Phaedra then accuses Hippolytus of rape, Theseus has Hippolytus killed, and Phaedra kills herself not necessarily in that order, and in some versions of the story she doesn't commit suicide at all).

The story of the star-crossed lovers, Pyramus and Thisbe, is from the Roman poet Ovid's epic narrative poem Metamorphoses (the 15 books of this collection of relatively unrelated tales of love, seduction, and history were completed in 8 AD). Among other things, this story explains why mulberries are red. Shakespeare liked this story so much he based Romeo and Juliet on it (which he is thought to have written around the same time as Midsummer Night's Dream). Shakespeare also took the name "Titania" from Metamorphoses, as it was the name given to the daughters of titans. Before this, traditional folklore held that the fairy queen remained nameless. Oberon, however, dates back to 13th century french literature as a fairy dwarf in the "chanson de geste" (transl. Old French - songs of heroic deeds) "Les Prouesses et faits du noble Huon de Bordeaux". As in many fairy tales, this one finds our hero charged with completing various impossible tasks for whatever reason (usually princess related), which he is only able to accomplish because early on in the story he was nice to a magical thing of some sort, in this case a magic dwarf. Other likely candidates for helpful things to befriend in such scenarios include: old people (especially crones), talking animals (also preternaturally smart but mute animals), things that are trapped inside of other things, water creatures that like music (only to be attempted if you have some sort of musical instrument handy), and deceptive earthly incarnations of deities. So keep an eye out for those.

Chickens! Cultural Moment: Antony & Cleopatra

You may remember Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan from past posts (Twelfth Night, The Tempest). The Tragedie of Anthonie, and Cleopatra was first published in the "First Folio" in 1623 (see right, click to embiggen). It is set in Rome/Egypt in 40–30 B.C. and follows the love affair and downfall of Mark Antony, one of the triumvirs of Rome, and Cleopatra VII, the last pharaoh of Egypt's Ptolemaic dynasty.

According to the S on the S website:

"Mark Antony is Rome’s most honored soldier; Cleopatra is Egypt’s most beautiful queen who captures his love. Their passion blazes with infinite fire but makes Antony compromise his responsibilities to Octavius Caesar and Rome. To solidify political relations Antony must marry Octavius’s sister; but when he is lured back by Cleopatra’s mesmerizing charm, battles rage; Antony must choose between passion and honour. Antony and Cleopatra is a heart wrenching tragedy that will conquer our stage and your heart this summer."

Personally, I appreciate the more mature tragic romance of this story than of something like Romeo&Juliet (whom I always felt were idiots). Both the main characters are big (and often flawed) personalities and they have burdens and responsibilities and life experience behind their decisions and influencing the courses they take. Good times.

And now for some fun things to learn and know about Cleopatra VII and her whole deal:

-The degree of inbreeding in the royalty of Ptolemaic dynasty was so great that Cleopatra VII only had four great-grandparents and just six great-great-grandparents (four of which were descended from the other two). Click here for a Ptolemaic genealogy.
-Although Cleopatra is rumored to be the only pharaoh of this dynasty to speak Egyptian, her time was during the Hellenistic period in Egypt and so her main language would have been Greek (the Ptolemies ruled for about 300 years from 305 BC to 30 BC when Cleopatra committed suicide).
-Cleopatra's father, Ptolemy XII, died in March 51 BC leaving 18-year-old Cleopatra and her brother, the 12-year-old Ptolemy XIII as joint monarchs. Due to economic and political strife and Cleopatra's ambition, trouble a-brewed until she was ousted and sent into exile in 48BC. Later, Ptolemy screwed himself over by having Pompey assassinated in a misguided attempt to gain favour with Julius Caesar (with whom Pompey was embroiled in a losing military conflict) when he sought refuge in Alexandria. Cleopatra was quick to take advantage of Caesar's bilious humours regarding Ptolemy, so she had herself rolled up in a carpet and delivered to the Caesar. She had to do this because Caesar's palace was on lock down and she wouldn't have been able to walk in the front door. Anyway, apparently Caesar thought that was pretty cool and nine months later Cleopatra gave birth to their son Caesarian in 47 BC (Caesar was 52 and Cleo was only 21 when the two met). This also led Caesar to abandon his plans to annex Egypt and instead he backed Cleopatra in her attempt to recapture the pharaoh-ship (which she succeeded in doing after 6 months of war and the subsequent drowning of Ptolemy XIII in the Nile). Although this time she had to share with another younger brother, Ptolemy XIV.
-Once Julius was assassinated in 44BC, Cleopatra returned to Egypt with her son and brother where Ptolemy XIV came down with an unfortunate bout of poisoning. She then aligned herself with Mark Antony in opposition to Octavian (who was Julius Caesar's legal heir which made Cleo mad because she had hoped that Caesarion would be heir, being Julius's actual son, if illegitimate). She also had Mark behead her sister.
-Mark and Cleo spend the winter of 41BC together in Alexandria, then she gave birth to their twin children Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene II. Four years later, Antony returned to Alexandria while en route to slaughter the Parthians. He got Egyptian married to Cleo around this time (which made a lot of Romans mad because he was married to Octavian's sister Octavia too) and they had another baby, Ptolemy Philadelphus.
-Then some other stuff happened (i.e. war with Octavian, Cleo turning tail and running during battle, Mark Antony following her, etc.) and she committed suicide soon after Mark added some speed holes to his own torso. Famously, she did this by inducing an asp to bite her on the arm (although Shakespeare says it bit her on the breast, probably for shock value...or artistic license whatever). While this seems melodramatic of both of them (and it was), they were probably going to be executed by Octavian for all of their tomfoolery anyway so it's not like the pulled a Romeo & Juliet or anything.

Chickens! Cultural Moment: Evil Dead The Musical

Weee! So much belated birthday fun thanks to my awesome bro LP (all it took was a whirlwind weekend drive to Calgary. FYI Drumheller had the cheapest gas by far). The story of Evil Dead: The Musical was actually a combo of the 3 Evil Dead movies with some poetic license. For example, many of the characters from "Evil Dead II" are missing and "Army of Darkness" was relegated to a few quotes (like the "boom stick" monologue) and a statement at the end. Also, Ash's hand gets bitten by the demon moose head instead of evil Linda and that's why it turns evil. Anyway, especially amusing in the play were all the inside jokes making reference to Bruce Campbell, Sam Raimi, or horror movie standard plot devices. The show is put on by Ground Zero Theatre and Hit & Myth Productions at the Playhouse at Vertigo Theatre Centre in Calgary (which I had never been to before) and it is the first Canadian EDtM show outside of Toronto.

The fist half of the show basically covers the first movie (Evil Dead) in which our main characters Ash (sole survivor who, as such, loses all loved ones and his own hand to evil forces and is covered in blood repeatedly), Scotty (Ash's friend, man slut, coward), Linda (Ash's love interest and fellow S-Mart employee come evil demon), Shelly (ho that Scotty picked up in a bar), and Cheryl (Ash's sister, accosted by trees while following mother's advice to always investigate scary nigh-time forest noises alone with out waking the others) head to a cabin in the woods for some romance and relaxation (1 - Cabin in the Woods, Housewares Employee). They find a recording in the basement which turns out to be translations of the "Necronomicon" by the ill-fated Professor Knowby. [Side note: This was actually called the "Naturon Demonto" in the first movie and renamed "Necronomicon Ex-Mortis" in the sequels. Both are translated to mean "book of the Dead".] They then inadvertently bring on their own personal zombie laden gore-fest by playing the recording and all of the main characters proceed to by horribly killed except for Ash (2 - Look Who's Evil Now, What the F^%# Was That?, Join Us). Now the first movie ends around here with Ash destroying the book but with a cliffhanger of a demon coming out of the forest to get him.

Fun facts about Evil Dead:
The film was shot over a period of 1.5 years with an operating budget of $375,000 (even though it went on to be one of the highest grossing horror movies of all time). Not surprising then that the inconsistencies within the film are both rampant and glaring (imdb has a big list of them), but I think that adds to the humour. It was non-union so a lot of the actors used stage names to avoid penalties from the screen actors guild. Bruce Campbell was basically the only actor who stuck with the project to the end and was available for re-shoots so Sam Raimi resorted to using "Fake Shemps" for replacements. Although it featured a lot of slapstick, the movie was before its time in gore level (and also featured an infamous "tree rape" scene that garnered it wide disapproval), which got it banned in several countries including the UK (and an X rating before that). Although Quebec rated it 13+, go figure.

In the second half of the play we got mostly Evil Dead II plot stuff but they basically culled the characters down to Annie and Ed (archaeologists) and Jake (reliable). Features a lot of people running out of the cabin and coming back dead and Ash gets his chainsaw hand (3 - I'm Not A Killer, Bit Part Demon, All the Men in My Life Get Killed by Candarian Demons). Annie explains how to summon/kill all the demons then gets demonized herself (4 - Ode to an Accidental Stabbing, Do the Necronomicon, It's Time). Finally Ash kills everyone and all the demons spray blood on the people in the "splatter zone" and we find Ash back a S-Mart telling of his adventures (5 - Blew That B@#%* Away). The review "play enjoyed by all" speaks for itself.











Fun Facts about Evil Dead 2:
Goofs continue to be rampantly hilarious. Did you know that you can see the clawed Freddy Krueger glove at various points during the movie? They did that because the Nancy character in Wes Craven's "A Nightmare on Elm Street" can be seen watching Evil Dead while trying to stay awake near the end of the movie. Which was in reference to the torn 1977 "The Hills Have Eyes" (also by Wes Craven) poster visible in the cellar in Evil Dead. Oh movie types and their inside references.

History of the Necronomicon:
Made up by horror writer H.P.Lovecraft and included in several of his short stories. Lovecraft also wrote a fictional "History of the Necronomicon" story. Pop culture references include "Evil Dead" (duh!) and the Simpsons (of course) in which Bob Dole reads a snippet at the Republican party meeting in the first 2 minutes of Season13Episode7 (Brawl in the Family). Also the crux of a low budget movie called Necronomicon (1993).

1307

I love the spoof advertisements of posters for the Broadway mainstays Les Miserables, Hairspray, and Mama Mia! that were done up for the Toronto incarnation of the musical (click to embiggen):










Original "Evil Dead" (1981) Movie Trailer

Original "Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn" (1987) Movie Trailer

Original "Army of Darkness" (1992) Movie Trailer

p.s. I don't know how many of you watched the cartoon Reboot but they did an homage to Evil Dead 2 and the Evil Dead series of games (and there's also a Michael Jackson reference in there - RIP). The various games actually added significantly to the storyline. And speaking of games did you know that Bruce Campbell does the voice over instructions for the Spider Man movie games? Funny times.
p.p.s. FYI a movie version of the musical is in negotiations. Also, an Evil Dead 4 movie is in the works with Sam Raimi in the process of writing the script.

All the Great Operas in 10 minutes

Recent cultural moments reminded me of a hilarious short film that I saw when I was younger (it was hard to find because I couldn't remember the title). This short film was made as a final year project in 1992 when Toronto animator Kim Thompson was studying at Ryerson University. It is made with cut-out animation and has a delightfully Terry Gilliam Monty Python-esque style. With dead pan narration (and no music) the film goes through a brief plot synopsis of 8 (well actually 11) operas and gives a death count and list of crazy stuff that happens.

The operas included are Verdi's La Traviata and Aida, Puccini's Tosca and Madame Butterfly, Bizet's Carmen, Mozart's Don Giovanni, and Wagner's Tristan and Isolde and The Ring of the Nibelung (The original Lord of the Rings, actually 4 whole operas, often called The Ring Cycle). While mostly good choices I would definitely argue whether these are actually the greatest operas. What about the Barber of Seville or the Marriage of Figaro? And why did she put both Tosca and Madame Butterfly on there but not La Boheme? Oh well. The total death count is 38. Silly operas.

Chickens! Cultural Moment: La Bohème

The latest offering by the Saskatoon Opera is Puccini's La Bohème. Puccini's best known work (except maybe for Madame Butterfly) and considered one of the most romantic love stories in opera. It is arguably the most commonly performed Italian opera and has inspired several popular movies, plays, etc. including Rent and Moulin Rouge (actually a cross between La Boheme and La Traviata). Pop culture references that I know off the top of my head include The Simpsons (of course) and Kate and Leopold (who doesn't love Hugh Jackman?).

The story is actually based on the novel "Scènes de la Vie de Bohème" by Henri Murger. Murger's work enjoyed little initial popularity but a subsequent play based on the collection of stories increased exposure and demand. It inspired another opera called La Bohème by Ruggero Leoncavallo, which descended into relative obscurity while Puccini's work became one of the most popular operas of all time. The story is set in Paris in the 1840's and follows several struggling artists, particularly Rudolfo and to a lesser extent his friend Marcello and their respective loves Mimì and Musetta.

Unfortunately, my musical knowledge doesn't really extend to the intricacies of operatic performance (yet) so you'll all just have to be satisfied with my juvenile "them thar singy peoples made my eardy boneses happy" impressions as opposed to an intelligent critique of their prowess. That said, I think it was a delightful opera and I enjoyed it thoroughly on the whole. You know, while "the man" says this is in the running for most popular opera ever, I can't say I recognized any of the songs offhand. The "Sì, mi chiamano Mimì" song stands out in my memory because I thought it was funny (what's wrong with the name Lucia?). Similarly the story has a few parts along these lines that are nonsensical prattling on, playing, or running around, but it's funny and adds to the charm and feel of the thing I think. Anyway, the tenor that played Rudolfo (Christopher Bengochea) was also in Rigoletto as the Duke. I actually liked him much more in this role, it suited him better than the playboy Duke character and I enjoyed his singing more because of it. While I generally don't prefer sopranos, the one that played Mimì (Marianne Fiset) was excellent and Musetta (Karen Charlton) was good too (she was a hussy but Marcello deserved it) and the better actress of the two. There wasn't too much in the way of lower registers in this one, but the part of Marcello is a baritone (played by Alexander Dobson) and was enjoyable and fun to watch, he played his character well I thought. And remember, if you get to go to the performance, keep your eyes peeled for JT as a hilarious Parpignol (and doubling as one of the background guys too). Yay JT!

Now, since I haven't had a non-english Simpsons in a while, here is El Homer de Sevilla (The Homer of Seville - Simpsons season 19 episode 2). The reference to La Boheme happens about 8 minutes in):

A Chickens! cultural moment: Rigoletto

Big thanks to Talina for bringing me to Rigoletto! I'm sorry to say I didn't recognize the what opera it was until the program said "La Donna e Mobile". Possibly one of the most recognizable little ditties of Italian opera. For little cp, here is the score (Hint: play the last note low and repeat song for full effect):

JT was excellent as one of the courtiers, though he was a bit of a man-slut at the beginning. Ha! My favorite was Michael Uloth the bass who played Sparafucile the assassin. Yes, I'm biased towards bass it's true but that long low note at the end of the Rigoletto-Sparafucile duet was pretty impressive. Anywho, the story of Rigoletto is another one of those, over-protective father shelters daughter, daughter falls in love with the first thing she sees (who turns out to be a huge womanizer), father sends assassins to kill wamanizing jerk, assassination is botched and daughter ends up dieing in jerk's place kind of stories. It was Gilda's own stupid fault though. Rather than give her life in place of the Duke couldn't she have, oh I don't know, called the police or yelled out to give him a heads up, or maybe tried reason with her father to call off the kill?! Oh well, what would opera be without melodrama?

Here is what the Saskatoon Opera has to say on the subject:

"For our 30th Anniversary season and the first in our new permanent home, The Frank and Ellen Remai Arts Centre, Saskatoon Opera presents Giuseppe Verdi’s early masterpiece, Rigoletto, the story of the hunchbacked court jester whose life turns to tragedy when his beloved daughter falls in love with the lecherous Duke of Mantua.

Saskatoon Opera audience favourite, baritone Gregory Dahl, returns to our stage to sing the first Rigoletto of his career. His innocent daughter and her heartless seducer are sung by Vancouver coloratura soprano Lambroula Pappas and tenor Christopher Bengochea in their first appearances with Saskatoon Opera. Featured performers include Henri Loiselle as the heroic Monterone and, in their SO debuts, Katarzyna Sadej and Michael Uloth. Verdi’s magnificent score, including two of opera’s most unforgettable arias, the ethereal ‘Caro nome’ and the brilliant tenor touchstone, ‘La donna e mobile,’ has made Rigoletto a perennial favourite with opera-goers everywhere."

Chickens! Cultural Moment: The Tempest

A little while back, coinciding with Carrie's bday, there was super-fun Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan time. This year was The Tempest, a delightful play showcasing everything we love about Shakespeare: dry wit, young idiots falling in love with each other on sight, various rustics and comic relief figures, public drunkenness, clearly evil grotesqueries of nature, magic, a lesson on not to be too vengeful (just vengeful enough), gay fairies, paternalistic monarch figures, and all delivered with artistic flair and quotable dialogue- everything you could want in an evening at the theatre.

Fun things to learn and know:

The Tempest was probably written aroung 1610 and is generally touted as the last play written solely by Shakspeare himself.

Caliban is also a 5-piece German metacore band with Slayer/Hatebreed/Poison the Well influences.

The image below is of the painting Miranda the Tempest by John William Waterhouse, an artist that the Moth enjoys.














Quotable Notables:

Your tale, sir, would cure deafness.
Miranda, Act 1 Scene 2

You taught me language; and my profit on't
Is, I know how to curse: the red plague rid you,
For learning me your language.
Caliban Act 1 Scene 2

He receives comfort like cold porridge.
Sebastian, Act 2 Scene 1

When they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar, they will lay out ten to see a dead Indian.
Trinculo, Act 2 Scene 2

How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in't!
Miranda Act 5 Scene 1

Chickens! Cultural Moment IV: Phantom

Woohoo! Culture!










The Phantom of the Opera's only stop in Saskatchewan and last stop in Canada. This was my first time seeing Phantom (I haven't even seen the movie), also it was my first live opera. Anywho, I thought it was delightful. I like the songs and it was a good story and it had neat sets. We were in the second balcony so I don't think we got the full effect of the falling chandelier but we saw the sneaky phantom when he was hiding above the stage and in the hanging angel thing. The picture to the left is of the spotlight that they were shining on the Hilton hotel (click to embiggen it).


Phantom of the Opera
Artist: Nightwish
Album: video from "End of an Era" live concert but an alternate version appears on the album "Century Child"
Year: 2002

Chickens Cultural Moment III: Carmen

The ballet adaptation of one of the most popular operas ever. Definitely different than the opera and notably lacking because the musical score did not feature those classic tunes that everyone knows from classic cartoons (see below), but having a live orchestra makes up for it and it was still very good. Here are the stats.

You know it's quite the sordid tale. At first you think Carmen is a manipulative hussy but then you realize that Don Jose is a stupid jerk. The story is set in Seville, Spain, circa 1830. Carmen is a gypsy who has a tryst with a corporal (Don Jose). She gets in trouble with the law and seduces Don Jose and ties him up while he is sleeping and escapes prison. Don Jose gets dishonourably discharged when he is discovered. Mayhem ensues as we find out that Don Jose totally had a girlfriend, then he turns to a life of crime after he kills his superior officer (who deserved it because he was trying to rape Carmen at the time). Carmen sets him up with some gypsy friends after that but doesn't what to go with him because she has fallen in love with Escamillo (the hot toreador). Anyway, Don Jose repeatedly tries to get Carmen to run away with him but she won't and then he kills her in a jealous rage when he sees her with Escamillo. That Don Jose, he was the orchestrator of his own downfall. Just let it go dude! What the heck?!

Anyway on the topic of cartoons and opera, Tom and Jerry did a cartoon with the Carmen opera score (Itchy's a jerk!):



And here is that Bugs Bunny and Elmer classic featuring snippets from Wagner's operas (of course Bugs did some other opera themed cartoons like Rabbit of Seville and Long-Haired Hare which also hold a special place in my heart).



And finally, in all fairness to opposing musical genres, METAL!

Title: Kill the Wabbit!
Artist: Ozzy Fudd (Mark McCollum)
Album: Dr. Demento's 30th Anniversary Collection

A Chickens! Cultural Moment II: Swan Lake

The first time I have seen Swan Lake. A lovely time was had by all I think. Ballet is at once impressively athletic and beautifully artistic. I only wish there had been a live orchestra. And kudos to Denise and I for introducing ballet to some newbies. Click here for Denise's post about the delightful performance of Giselle that we went to in September. I loves me some culture.

I'm pretty sure that the following Russian cartoon from 1947 is an accurate depiction of what we saw (although some of the animals may or may not have been played by people.



p.s. A musical aside (Cara sez, "Improve your wordiness"):

Symphony = an elaborate instrumental composition in three or more movements, similar in form to a sonata but written for an orchestra and usually of far grander proportions and more varied elements. Also, a concert performed by a symphony orchestra.

Symphony or symphonic orchestra = a large orchestra composed of wind, string, and percussion instruments and organized to perform symphonic compositions.

Orchestra = a group of performers on various musical instruments, including esp. stringed instruments of the viol class, clarinets and flutes, cornets and trombones, drums, and cymbals, for playing music, as symphonies, operas, popular music, or other compositions.

Philharmonic = fond of or devoted to music; music-loving: used esp. in the name of certain musical societies that sponsor symphony orchestras (Philharmonic Societies) and hence applied to their concerts(philharmonic concerts). Also, of or presented by a symphony orchestra and/or the society sponsoring it.

A Chickens! Cultural Moment: Twelfth Night

Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan was the first professional summer Shakespeare festival other than Stratford and Toronto. Unlike Calgary's sumer theatre it is held in tents by the river which are set up and completely torn down every summer. Also, while it is done by professional actors it costs money. Anyway, was rally good and I was pleased.