I just loved Ottone's lament at the end of Part One - almost reconciled me to the existence of counter-tenors!!! (Practice for ORLANDO this evening!)

Tush-tush,  the critics will have your guts for garters if you let people stand still in opera these days. We're dealing with a public that's bombarded with special-effects and all-singing, all-dancing stuff every night on tv...  you have to be a brave bloody man to dare do anything "still".   I swear that if you staged a riotously fast-paced production of THE REAL INSPECTOR HOUND a critic would still say that "the corpse seemed rather static and curiously uninvolved in the action".

I agree with what you're saying, but sadly I fear the general public (and they can be very general indeed, sometimes) won't wear it, and nor will the Management.

Nor does the character have to be entirely still - it's a question of the overall dynamic.  Have a look at Chris Robson in the dvd of the ENO XERXES, for example.  It's all been very bouncy up this point and he's been swaggering around, and then suddenly he's dealt the body-blow that Romilda plans to marry Xerxes.   He sings most of the aria standing on one spot (this is important for the lighting-cue, as the surrounding area can be masked in darkness to bring him into focus).  It's very important for the dramatic truth of this aria that he stays in one place, because when we're confronted with a crushing disappointment, there is a tendency to hold on to only what is closest.  He stays sitting on the ground for the first section of the aria... the middle section discusses the possibility of a misunderstanding, or a reconciliation, and for that he can stand up, and start to reoccupy his world, one pace at a time... but then the depression paralyses him once more, and he's rooted to his spot.  His body moves - he just doesn't move around. Doing "nothing" on stage is rather difficult, because there is a tendency to slip out of character - this is where Stanislavsky training comes into play. A very nice piece of work indeed.

I notice from young Reno's web site that his hair was specially dyed ice white at the behest of the producer.



Agrippina is due to be broadcast on 19 May.

Half a mo, reiner, let's look up the proggy.

Yes, there we are, "Broadcast on Radio 3". 

Do you remember Agrippina's first aria?  I am sure I recognized the music.  Handel must have re-cycled it as something I've come across.  Any ideas?

Ta for that, Don B :-)   I also felt the first aria sounded very familiar, but I couldn't place where else I may have heard it?  Opilec tends to know this kind of thing...  where is he when we need him?   Can't help you on the Italian original of the Tarantino-style outburst either, I'm afraid, although I think I'm amongst the minority who found it perfectly acceptable in context ;-)

DonBasilio and all  discribe it so well. I almost feel like I was there.
May be they we will have traveling opera with a production.

To be fair to the director of The Gondoliers I think it was originally done for Chichester, where it was probably just the thing. Not for the ENO though, in my opinion.