East Coast Elitist behavior

I went out last night and behaved like an east coast, liberal elitist again. Yup. I went to the opera.

"Der Freischutz" or in English, "The Marksman" was last nights offering from Opera Boston. I was put in mind of Anna Russell. The story doesn't have to make sense as long as you sing it.

In this case the plot had holes you could drive a truck through, but honestly, if you attend the opera that is usually one of your least concerns.

Sarah Palin might have actually felt comfortable with this particular production, not because of all the basques, dirndls, alpenstocks, or lederhosen on the stage, but because of all the guns. Plus at one point an eagle was shot. I'm not even going to get started over that prop. But what could be better than killing an endangered species if you are a moose hunting, red blooded American like Sarah?

But back to the opera. I will keep this short and sweet. Opera Boston produced another fine show. As always the orchestra was magnificent. Also no surprise, the talent were all very good. Excellent indeed. In the first act, Kaspar was a little wobbly in the upper range, but once he had warmed up it was all smooth sailing. The rest of the cast were superb throughout. It also has to be noted that the baritone singing both Samiel and The Hermit was a real hottie as well as a very talented singer.

Musically, von Weber is well worth listening to. As an opera, there is a reason sometimes that certain operas are rarely produced. I would happily listen to this opera again. On CD. At home. Enjoying it simply for it's value as beautiful music, but I don't think I will ever need to sit through a production again.

Having got that bit of snippiness out of my system, I also have to say that I was once again impressed with Opera Boston's dedication to staging works that are not in the top 20.

You will all be relieved to know that their next production is not being staged until March and I doubt I'll be able to come up with the cash for any of Lyric's productions this year, so you will be able to enjoy the long lull until they put on Shostakovic's "The Nose".