“and he immediately falls in love with her because she’s the first woman he’s met that he isn’t related too.”
Thanks BB - nope, GorillaMan, no need to fake anything. They know I am active in other cultural organizations in the area, but I will be subjected to intense Opera events beginning my first week and need to start curing my ignorance. I understand that the Death by Aria event (four hours of the seasonal singers performing their audition pieces for the festival directors and office staff) is a lot even for the afficianados.
Still, it all sounds like fun and the more I know going in the more I will appreciate it.
Y’all, I had never heard of this whole “watch the Met at your local theater” thing. Holy crap, there’s one near us! (And somebody wrote an opera about Nixon?)
NO! “She’s the first woman he’s ever met who isn’t his aunt.”
I’m not making this up, you know.
Do you remember the Rhine? 
That really is an extraordinarily pretty movie. Of course the music is gorgeous, but the rest is almost as lovely.
And they proceed to tell the whole story, right over again from the beginning!
Please do listen to Russell’s Ring Cycle analysis; she’s wonderful.
Last week, on Der Ring das Niebelungen…
Although not about opera, **Godfather III **has Cavalleria Rusticana as performance in the story and as ironic part-theme in reflecting Michael’s need for revenge.
After all, the Corleones were peasants at heart.
The transmissions are wonderful! You should really try it out. They always have a diva soprano conducting interviews around the intermissions (although it was once Placido Domingo), and you learn a lot about the productions.
I’m going to see Nixon in China this weekend. It was written in the 80’s, and that’s all I know about it. It will only be my second opera in English. I didn’t care for Peter Grimes at all, so I’m curious about how I will like this one.
Bergman’s “film” adaption of The Magic Flute is an interesting watch. First of all, it has everybody singing in Swedish, but Magic Flute has had a tradition of being performed in local languages anyway (Lincoln Center had an English version going last Christmas). It was filmed on a replica of the stage where the show first premiered in 1791, and although it was filmed with camera crews (and the music lip-synched), it was still shown as a theater performance, complete with audience reaction shots (and Bergman’s daughter hogging the camera) and shots where you can clearly see that it’s on a stage. There are also a couple of liberties taken with the storyline (Sarastro is Pamina’s father, Papageno/a are humans, many of the scenes get reordered, etc) Also, one of the Three Ladies is the most absolute adorable performers EVER.