did deliver sparks on stage at The OH! last night, as presaged by many who've seen this cast before me. As Marcello, Charles Stanton (USA)
brought strong acting and a mellifluous baritone to the duets with the Musetta (Alyssa Bowlby)(Photos by Gwen Turner Juarez-many thanks)It was another sold out house. This La Boheme at The OH! was the most exciting production, yet, I have seen there. All soloists are outstanding, the chorus women, children and men well coordinated by Chorus Master Fuller, the orchestra played truly well, Maestro Weibel conducted with a deep understanding of Puccini (IMO). What makes THe OH! so unique is the location (a Landmark Old Church building) holding just over 300 people. And the way the audience actually IS in the opera, is part of the crowd scene at the Cafe Momus (La Boheme) is simply exhilarating for anyone. In any given opera: singers, chorus may sing from the aisles, from the balcony, may rush on stage past delighted guest, who are just a handswidth from the larger than life singers (if seated in the first row, LOL) or so close to some orchestra members to feel the vibrations of the strings and the echo of the brass (;-)..you get the idea!
An experience that is so inviting, so involving..you are really THERE, with the singers and players, unlike being across the gulf of an orchestra pit elsewhere.
And sparks
were delivered by Aeros in San Antonio...Aeros 5 Rampage 3.
All I heard from Better Half who followed that game: Rau-"WOW" with 2 goals, "Dimples" Khudobin with an assist!! And "Andy Handy" Hilbert' great game....am not going into the game scores, etc. for that AHL and the Aeros sites have detailed information for my truly interested readers.
As I posted before, with Hilbert, Zingoni and others healthy all season, the team jelling as they seem to promise so early in the season (Sept/Oct/Nov), playing all along as they have played the last 3 of 4 games (all wins) a Play Off spot would have been assured, again! Maybe not a Cup win (who can again out play the Hershey Bears ?) - but a spot in an early round, that, YES!
But, as it were all season..an Aeros game starts out well in a 1. Period, survives a 2. period and either collapses in the 3. or, as lately, revs up in the 3. and may make it.
Tonight it's off to University of Houston to see the Houston premiere of a new American opera"Elmer Gantry"-composer Robert Aldridge, libretto Herschel Garfein based on the novel by Sinclair Lewis, of which more tomorrow.The clip below form the 2oo7 Nashville opera premiere. Opening an opera with"She's half naked" ought to wake some interest eh?
U of H never shies away from controversial subjects and/or interpretations of such, LOL.
Perhaps, this take on an old fashioned survival meeting with rousing singing should have been presented last fall and cause a rousing on the Aeros then.. just kidding!
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