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    A Drop of Hell, A Touch of StrangeAnne Branigin
    11/18/17 10:00am

    Opera is, besides the pageantry and music that is the public face of the endeavor, a vehicle for signalling social status among different hierarchies. It’s a form of conspicuous consumption, whether that consumption takes the form of spending tons of cash for good seats, clothes and the like in order to see and be seen by the correct people. It’s expensive dinner theatre, like that Medieval Times place but for rich people instead of tourists.

    The other hierarchy consumes knowledge to advance their position. An intricate knowledge of the form and it’s terminology is how they decide their pecking order and work betide the uninitiated should they fall into the pit of mockery reserved for the ignorant. Spending time and effort to impress their peers, but otherwise the same process.

    If I, a white man of little means, find these class and knowledge barriers to be, if not insurmountable, a serious barrier to enjoying the form then I cannot imagine the fortitude of a woman of color seeking out these experiences despite the internal issues of representation of race, gender and culture within the works themselves as well as the external issues mentioned previously. Congratulations and I admire your ability to disentangle an art form from the matrix of it’s birth and appreciate it in a vacuum, so to speak. Thank you.

    TLDR; IMO Opera is for the rich white aristocrat men who commissioned it.

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      carlvenkmanA Drop of Hell, A Touch of Strange
      11/18/17 8:27pm

      Wow. This is funny. Thanks for supplying some hilarity into an otherwise dreary Saturday night. Dismissing an entire art form as exclusionary because you have not taken the time to understand the complexity of it is what the Internet is all about. Some good stuff there.

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      A Drop of Hell, A Touch of Strangecarlvenkman
      11/19/17 8:38am

      Have fun understanding the complexity of the 18th century equivalent of soap operas. Just because something is old, rich people like it and intellectuals pat themselves on the back about it doesn’t mean it’s any good. But if enjoying it gives you a sense of unearned superiority over the plebs there’s nothing I can do about it.

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    James RyanAnne Branigin
    11/18/17 3:25pm

    My first introduction to opera left me with a lot to unpack as well. It is a lot to take in, considering how many moving parts (acting AND singing AND staging) have to be on their A-game at the same time.

    Yes, Turandot has issues for a modern audience, maybe not as many as Madame Butterfly but still. My hope is that if you are willing to give the whole thing another try, you might look for a production without as many trouble spots, like Mozart’s The Magic Flute or Puccini’s La Boheme. And if you want to see an East-Meets-West presentation with a lot less baggage, there’s John Adams’ Nixon in China.

    Whatever you do, if you have any concerns about how you feel going to see a staging beyond the obvious: Avoid Wagner. At. All. Costs!

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      PooJavelinIsSickOfLosingBurnerPasswordsJames Ryan
      11/22/17 7:56am
      Avoid Wagner. At. All. Costs!

      #NotAllWagner!

      https://Vimeo.com/115773980#t=30s

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      KateFromIowaJames Ryan
      11/22/17 9:53am

      Did the whole Ring, just to see if I could take it. I could. My version of a marathon; there are problems, you ask yourself why you’re doing it, at the end you wish you hadn’t and your ass is sore, and you feel slightly stupid for doing it throughout. Wagner, for all his problems, did write some beautiful music (which I won’t be listening to/watching again.)

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    Yes...They Are Real!Anne Branigin
    11/18/17 10:06am

    The photo oh Pavarotti reminded me of the most amazing mashup I ever witnessed. Last week a friend insisted Pavarotti did “It’s A Man’s World” w/James Brown.

    I really thought he was somehow mistaken. I refused to believe him. But he pulled it up on YouTube, and sure ‘nuf, it’s them. I was surprised at how well the two genres and languages worked together.

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      Michael KingYes...They Are Real!
      11/18/17 1:59pm

      You mustn’t forget Pavarotti together with the Walrus of LOVE himself - Barry White singing ‘My First, My Last, My Everything’ either...

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      Yes...They Are Real!Michael King
      11/18/17 2:37pm

      How is it that I never heard of any of these pairings before? While Pavarotti did the damn thang with B. White, I like him with JB much, much better.

      Thanks for sharing the video.

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    PooJavelinIsSickOfLosingBurnerPasswordsAnne Branigin
    11/18/17 11:06am

    Not the clip I would have picked. By ‘94, his voice was past its best – you can see him drop the high C at the end, the note he was famous for – but the money and fame was just really kicking in.

    This is him in ‘77 at the Teatro Di Verona…

    * OK - Kinja is refusing to insert the clip. Try following this link!

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    KateFromIowaAnne Branigin
    11/20/17 9:30am

    Welcome to being an opera fan of color! Come join us in the white-person-free back corner of the theater, where we try to ignore both the problems coming from the stage and the stares coming from the audience and ushers!

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    NycknameAnne Branigin
    11/18/17 5:19pm

    I honestly want to like opera, but the sopranos, and especially the tremolo, is like an icepick to the base of my skull.

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      KateFromIowaNyckname
      11/22/17 9:54am

      Maybe try some where the principal role isn’t a soprano? La Cenerentola and Carmen are probably two of the most often performed where the sopranos take a backseat.

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    balaclavaAnne Branigin
    11/18/17 9:58am

    wow! this was so powerful, i know im going to be be thinking about this for a while. thanks for writing. <3

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