Tchaikovsky and Pushkin
02/26/07 Filed in: Balderdash
Saturday afternoon was spent in the Russian
countryside, courtesy of The Metropolitan Opera's
production of Eugene Onegin.
I've never been to the Met (well, not inside for
an opera, anyway), but this was the next best
thing. Hi Def video feed from New York as part of
the "Metroplitan Opera Goes To The Movies" Series,
direct to our local cinema. Renée Fleming was
inspiring as Tatiana, the spurned country girl who
becomes a princess. I enjoyed the performances of
Elena Zaremba as Olga and Ramón Vargas as the
doomed Lenski, but
baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Onegin, while very,
very good, bears more than a passing resemblance to a
mix of Chad Everett and Tom Wopat, and I had a
difficult time getting past it.
The introduction was by Mikhail
Baryshnikov, and intermission 'sideline
interviews' with the stars by Beverly Sills,
who once again proved why her nickname is
'Bubbles'. I do wish that Conductor Valery
Gergiev had bothered to shave for the event.
Stubble is forgivable on a younger guy. On a
man of Gergiev's age, it crossed over into
'grizzled'.
The introduction was by Mikhail
Baryshnikov, and intermission 'sideline
interviews' with the stars by Beverly Sills,
who once again proved why her nickname is
'Bubbles'. I do wish that Conductor Valery
Gergiev had bothered to shave for the event.
Stubble is forgivable on a younger guy. On a
man of Gergiev's age, it crossed over into
'grizzled'.
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