Plenty of time to catch the bus. There was a festive atmosphere at the bus stop, what with two guys collecting for charity and jiggling their buckets as they belted out Deck the Halls, and two small children determined on demolishing the stop with sheer enthusiasm, egged on by one of their relatives and being glared at by commuters less enthused by Christmas cheer..
I ended up with the small wriggly people beside me for a while, on the bus. Things were quieter when they got off, and we made good time up to Parliament Square. Then we didn't- but I was in good time and that was ok. Collected my ticket, chatted for a bit with the others there, and then we fecked off and left the Man with the Hat forlorn and alone on the pavement. Where he was to remain until nearly showtime, just to make sure that everyone got their ticket..
Gosh, we were early though- never seen the place so empty. A lone pianist was tuning up. By showtime, that was the whole orchestra, and drowned out by the bedlam of a nearly full audience. And then Manon Lescaut started..
In the slips, you expect to miss a little of the action - but one of the few points where that was noticeable was when the people on the top balcony (on stage) were cut off from the waist up.. Someone in the group later objected to the modern dress, which he found incongruous with the music. That wasn't a problem for me - but we all tended to agree that the "impoverished student", Chevalier des Grieux, looked nothing like one. Aleksandrs Antonenko looked a bit too old, and rather like he'd had far too many Krispy Kremes - it was hilarious, when Manon ridiculed her older lover, saying how could she prefer him to des Grieux, indicating his baldness.. and his belly! Oh Lordy woman, have you looked at the man you're running away with? Twice the size! And it didn't really help that he wore a suit for the whole thing - not very studenty. As I remarked later, he'd have done better with the Man with the Hat's baseball cap.
The opera is in four acts, and after the first, a lady came on with a mic to explain how poor Mr. Antonenko had a throat infection, but would be continuing. Again, as someone remarked later, his understudy must have been infuriated at missing his shot. Well, he did a decent job - opera singing can't be easy - not that I've done it - especially with a sore throat. Someone mentioned they'd seen him sneak sips of water during the performance, which I didn't notice. It was also remarked on that his voice seemed much weaker than Manon's - that might have been the reason..
The bit that showcased Manon's obsession with luxury, and the life she led with her rich, elderly lover, was interestingly done - glass walls, an ornate chandelier, pink bedsheets, and a floorshow that was filmed. Nice touch, I thought. However, I was initially confused by the next scene - it took me most of that scene to figure out what was going on - and I'm afraid I couldn't really get into her death scene (spoiler!). Think the stage design distracted me a bit. Still, Sondra Radvanovsky was good in the role, and overall I enjoyed it. As I enjoyed the smoked almonds that were kindly shared with me at the interval, on the balcony - it was cool enough to need an overcoat, but not that vicious cold of a week or so ago.
Afterwards, the Man with the Baseball Cap had already done his research, and determined that The Sun Tavern was too packed - so we headed to The Covent Garden, where he joined us shortly. And would you believe, of the three things you're not supposed to discuss in polite conversation, we managed to cover two of them.. well, who said we were polite? ;-)
Tomorrow, I'm busily avoiding London Dramatic Arts, at a production of Art at the Old Vic. Got myself a carefully chosen, cheap ticket upstairs, y'see. And they don't like people doing that, y'see.
And on Sunday, I'm off to the British Museum, where there's some storytelling going on. The Kalevala is, apparently, the national epic of Karelia and Finland, and I've signed up with Crick Crack - but am much more likely to hang out with the London European Club, who are going too. Long time no see!
In the slips, you expect to miss a little of the action - but one of the few points where that was noticeable was when the people on the top balcony (on stage) were cut off from the waist up.. Someone in the group later objected to the modern dress, which he found incongruous with the music. That wasn't a problem for me - but we all tended to agree that the "impoverished student", Chevalier des Grieux, looked nothing like one. Aleksandrs Antonenko looked a bit too old, and rather like he'd had far too many Krispy Kremes - it was hilarious, when Manon ridiculed her older lover, saying how could she prefer him to des Grieux, indicating his baldness.. and his belly! Oh Lordy woman, have you looked at the man you're running away with? Twice the size! And it didn't really help that he wore a suit for the whole thing - not very studenty. As I remarked later, he'd have done better with the Man with the Hat's baseball cap.
The opera is in four acts, and after the first, a lady came on with a mic to explain how poor Mr. Antonenko had a throat infection, but would be continuing. Again, as someone remarked later, his understudy must have been infuriated at missing his shot. Well, he did a decent job - opera singing can't be easy - not that I've done it - especially with a sore throat. Someone mentioned they'd seen him sneak sips of water during the performance, which I didn't notice. It was also remarked on that his voice seemed much weaker than Manon's - that might have been the reason..
The bit that showcased Manon's obsession with luxury, and the life she led with her rich, elderly lover, was interestingly done - glass walls, an ornate chandelier, pink bedsheets, and a floorshow that was filmed. Nice touch, I thought. However, I was initially confused by the next scene - it took me most of that scene to figure out what was going on - and I'm afraid I couldn't really get into her death scene (spoiler!). Think the stage design distracted me a bit. Still, Sondra Radvanovsky was good in the role, and overall I enjoyed it. As I enjoyed the smoked almonds that were kindly shared with me at the interval, on the balcony - it was cool enough to need an overcoat, but not that vicious cold of a week or so ago.
Afterwards, the Man with the Baseball Cap had already done his research, and determined that The Sun Tavern was too packed - so we headed to The Covent Garden, where he joined us shortly. And would you believe, of the three things you're not supposed to discuss in polite conversation, we managed to cover two of them.. well, who said we were polite? ;-)
Tomorrow, I'm busily avoiding London Dramatic Arts, at a production of Art at the Old Vic. Got myself a carefully chosen, cheap ticket upstairs, y'see. And they don't like people doing that, y'see.
And on Sunday, I'm off to the British Museum, where there's some storytelling going on. The Kalevala is, apparently, the national epic of Karelia and Finland, and I've signed up with Crick Crack - but am much more likely to hang out with the London European Club, who are going too. Long time no see!
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