La Rondine: Love, Lust, Beer and My Soapbox

Opera, in all its forms, requires the wholesale suspension of disbelief.  Whether you're watching the 350-pound maiden play the coquette to drive all the boys mad . . .



(Photo stolen from these guys)

or the witnessing the orotund, balding tenor as he sweats like a dock worker . . .



(Photo stolen from these guys)

or even sitting through the whole Luke and Laura thing from "General Hospital," and what was THAT all about?

(Photo stolen from these guys)

. . . we as the opera audience are asked to suspend our disbelief.

And so it was on Saturday morning when I joined my mom at our local theater for the latest Live in HD broadcast of the New York Metropolitan Opera.  It was the first New York performance in decades of Giacomo Puccini's La Rondine (which is pronounced "La RON-dee-nay").  We suspended our disbelief that this late work of the master Puccini could be almost unknown.  We suspended our disbelief that in the nightclub scene (Act II) the singers portraying the students, shopgirls and wanton women were more likely to be AARP members than Gen-Xers.  And we suspended our disbelief that, at a time when the New York Metropolitan Opera is more vibrant than ever, embracing advanced technology to reach new audiences, and staging immensely talented performers (who also happen to be svelte and attractive) -- at this point in time, our local NPR affiliate, KCHO, has chosen to drop opera from its weekly line-up.  Oh, the shame.

But enough soap-boxing for the moment . . . you came here for a story, right?




(Photo stolen from these guys)

The story is pretty much the same story as told by that awful, awful song "Never Been to Me" from 1977, and if you have the stomach, here's a link.  (I recommend laughing loudly as you watch in case there's anyone in your house who might think you enjoy that sort of thing.)  In a nutshell, the heroine Magda is a kept woman who lives the high life in Paris, but does not love her wealthy banker lover Rambaldo.  While she is comfortable and well entertained, Magda doesn't realize how unfulfilled her empty, loveless existence is, until she is reminded of a brief flirtation she had once, long ago, while she was still young and innocent.  On a lark one spring evening Magda dresses in a simple and girlish dress and sneaks out to that same nightclub of her lost encounter, Bullier's.

Up until this point the opera has been surprisingly straightforward, with not too much monkey business.  And, in fact, compared to most librettos, this one is rather unvarnished, even dull.  Still, missed connections and a lot of people turning a blind eye allows Magda to pretend to be a young shopgirl named Paulette, and she almost gets away with it.

Fake Paulette meets a charming young student named Ruggero, and within minutes they are sucking face in public.  Sounds pretty much like the nightclubs I went to in college, except that there didn't appear to be any beer bongs on stage.  Unrelated: I successfully curbed my urge to yell, "GET A ROOM!"

This story takes place in 1920s Paris and the Riviera, and every vignette looks like a slightly modern Toulouse Lautrec painting, lively and lush.



(Painting stolen from these guys)


(Painting stolen from freeparking on Flickr)


(Painting stolen from maggiedalianmaggie7 on Flickr)

On the stage, as in life, people don't usually get what they deserve.  While nobody dies in La Rondine, and Puccini opts instead for a quiet, tragic defeat of the two lovers, the story is still terribly sad in the end.

La Rondine's stars are Italian tenor Roberto Alagna (a good twenty years older than his character Ruggero, but this is opera, so never mind),


(Photo stolen from these guys)

and his real-life wife, Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu, who is -- gulp -- my age.


(Photo stolen from the Met)

Their voices were beautiful together in the mid-ranges, but when they aimed their voices for the rafters Laurie mentally checked out a bit -- just a bit.  The maid Lisette was played by an adorable young woman named, coincidentally, Lisette.  She was a joy.

If you don't like a lot of kissing then you may want to skip this one, as Ruggero was a lusty bugger, and I think he may have gotten to second base with his Fake Paulette right there in front of God and everybody.

And here in the cultural jewel of the North Valley, as we would have you believe, it's getting harder instead of easier to hear live opera.  Oh, the hand-wringing over lack of art and music in schools!  Oh the finger-pointing in general.  And yet, while in 2008 our local NPR station raised far more money than ever before, it chose to eliminate opera from the airwaves.  Oh, the protesting.

While I understand that a public radio station is a business, whether it's a not-for-profit business or not, and KCHO can't air the Saturday Metropolitan Opera broadcast if no one wants to hear it, I still cry bullpucky! 'scuse my vulgarity.  I accepted it, with sadness, when KCHO dropped the opera this year, because they said they needed to establish Saturday programming with a broad appeal.   Bullpucky -- she did it again!  I've been trying to listen on Saturdays, and the awful stuff they've replaced La Rondine, et al with is mostly unlistenable.  I just can't see throngs of people lining up to hear third-rate folk and world music, which I like, in theory, but which has really stunk every time I've tuned in, and jeebus, don't we have ENOUGH folk music on Sundays?

So much for our claim to culture here in the North Valley.  I can no longer suspend my disbelief.

If you have any interest in my previous opera reviews, which were much more fun and probably even less informed than this one, check out these links:

La Fille du Régiment

Juan Diego Flórez

Carmen

Il Barbiere di Siviglia

I kid, I kid, because this truly was a wonderful experience, and I highly recommend going to see the command performance of La Rondine on January 21st (tickets can be purchased on-line or at your local theater).

Comments

[deluol dit genest]

ah! Angela....! super!

[MommyTime]

I adore your opera reviews, grousing, *gulps* and all. And I wish NPR would give your opera back to you too! Where do I write to tell them so?!?

[Bob Cleveland]

uhhh .... Laurie .... "in the end" is the operative phrase there.

Ahem.

Think about it.

[Harry (and co-opted by Foolery)]

"..I think he may have gotten to second base with his Fake Paulette right there in front of God and everybody.."

Wonder what rehersals were like and if Paulette could tie a cherry stem with her tongue?

FOOLERY HERE . . .

Piggybacking because my own site won't let me comment! If you're having the same problem and have something to say, feel free to e-mail me at foolery (at) clearwire (dot) net.

Meanwhile, my comment . . .

CBW, I was pronouncing it LA RAWN DEEN, too, but I think that's actually a Simpson's character, wife of Cletus.

Rick, I LOVE Click & Clack! And folk music, too, but just not all Saturday and Sunday. I'm championing diversity -- equal time for Italians, French and (ahem, okay, if I have to) Germans!

Bob, I don't think there's anything sad about YOU. But you're right about Brunhilde -- she's gonna blow.

Steven -- a local viewpoint! Thanks so much for commenting. It's hard to imagine not being able to belt out an aria I don't know the words to, right along with the tenor as he sings it in real time in New York. Even better in the park, I'm sure.

And I am thrilled that four of the five commenters thus far have been MEN. Even if one of them is Harry come back to haunt me. : )

MWAHH! Thanks for reading my little screed, everyone -- and sorry it's so darned LONG.

-- Laurie

[Steven]

I do miss the Saturday Met show...what were they thinking? Back in a previous life, whenever I raced at Bidwell Park, my reward after the race (despite my next to last place finish) was to turn up the volume to FULL on the car radio as I drove home from the park, listening to opera as it should be heard. There's something about endorphins and opera that go well together.

[Bob Cleveland]

"...terribly sad in the end...."

Maybe I WOULD like opera. That phrase pretty well describes me, what with that prostate surgery and all....

And I don't know much German, but I think "Bewag" means "stand back"; if anything busts on that gal, somebody's gonna have to PAY.

[Rick's Cafe]

Maybe it was the opening picture of your post or that the opening comment was made by CBW, but all I can think of is "The Ride of the Valkyries" and the sisters of Bünnhilde(hubba hubba!).

The music will stick with me the rest of the day.

A mental image of a modern-day viking lady (trim and healthy from working out at the YMCA) being played by CBW, will also be hard to get out of my mind.

But I digress.

Am so sorry that your local PBS station has chosen to replace Opera with Click & Clack shows....just doesn't seem fair.

[Chesapeake Bay Woman]

Wow. I am impressed. The only opera I've seen is that Buggs Bunny one you've taken pictures from. Also, I was pronouncing it la RAWN DEEN.

That first picture? She looks extremely familiar. Are you sure you don't have a secret camera hidden in my house snapping pictures of me while I bark out the orders to kids getting ready for school?