A Synonym For Love
Aug. 25th, 2012 12:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sabotabbyJust came back from a really spectacular opera: Volcano Theatre and Classical Music Consort's co-production of A Synonym For Love, based on Clori, Tirsi, e Fileno (Cor Fedele) by Handel. For some reason, that website is really hard to navigate, so all I knew about the opera was that it was Handel and Ashiq Aziz was conducting, which is intriguing enough to make me want to go.
Anyway! It turns out that it answers the eternal question of all opera-goers (okay, maybe it's just me): "Well, why don't they just go poly?" In this adaptation, Clori is open about being poly and bisexual and thinks her various lovers are okay with it—because, after all, they say they are. But her long-term partner Theresa is jealous and wants monogamy, and her new boyfriend Phil is an incurable romantic who wants to be more than just a fling. Clori and Phil have checked into the Gladstone Hotel for the night; unbeknownst to them, Theresa is also there. This goes as well as you might imagine.
The really neat bit (beyond the singing; all three leads are excellent) is the staging. For non-Hogtowners, the Gladstone is a once-sketchy hotel that was the victim/beneficiary of gentrification (depending on whether you're a well-off hipster or one of the evicted former residents) that has turned into a boutique hotel, with decor by local artists. The opera happens in various locations throughout the hotel, with the audience split up to follow each character. We followed Clori into the "Love Nest," a ridiculously pink Rococo suite, then up a staircase, and finally back out into the main lobby, passing musicians on the rooftops and doorways on the outside of the hotel.
I would, in theory, disapprove of rewriting the original lyrics into modern English, but it works incredibly well here (it helps that the English lyrics are quite lovely and powerful).
Anyway, go see it if you have the chance. It's on until the 31st.
Anyway! It turns out that it answers the eternal question of all opera-goers (okay, maybe it's just me): "Well, why don't they just go poly?" In this adaptation, Clori is open about being poly and bisexual and thinks her various lovers are okay with it—because, after all, they say they are. But her long-term partner Theresa is jealous and wants monogamy, and her new boyfriend Phil is an incurable romantic who wants to be more than just a fling. Clori and Phil have checked into the Gladstone Hotel for the night; unbeknownst to them, Theresa is also there. This goes as well as you might imagine.
The really neat bit (beyond the singing; all three leads are excellent) is the staging. For non-Hogtowners, the Gladstone is a once-sketchy hotel that was the victim/beneficiary of gentrification (depending on whether you're a well-off hipster or one of the evicted former residents) that has turned into a boutique hotel, with decor by local artists. The opera happens in various locations throughout the hotel, with the audience split up to follow each character. We followed Clori into the "Love Nest," a ridiculously pink Rococo suite, then up a staircase, and finally back out into the main lobby, passing musicians on the rooftops and doorways on the outside of the hotel.
I would, in theory, disapprove of rewriting the original lyrics into modern English, but it works incredibly well here (it helps that the English lyrics are quite lovely and powerful).
Anyway, go see it if you have the chance. It's on until the 31st.
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Date: 2012-08-25 06:43 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2012-08-27 09:57 pm (UTC)