Nessun Dorma

I saw the Met's production of Puccini's Turandot yesterday; the Met has been broadcasting their Saturday productions live in HD to movie theaters around the country. I wasn't sure how it would work--is watching an opera at the Hampshire Mall movie theater really any good? Would the sound be good? The picture? The experience? The answer: it was fantastic.

I'd never seen a Met stage set before--it was about three times bigger and more lavish than I would have guessed. (An interesting aside--why have I never seen a picture of a Met production? ) The camera work was great--rather than making it seem like you are watching a movie, they make it seem like a live performance. The music was the usual Met level of amazing--I have listened to the Saturday afternoon radio broadcasts, but seeing it in the movie theater was vastly superior--perhaps the movie theater has a better sound system than my car.

Turandot itself is a pretty good opera. The high point is Nessun Dorma, which is incredible. (You can hear Pavarotti sing it here and here and here.) The opera as a whole has a good emotional range--Liu is genuinely tragic and Ping, Pang and Pong are amusing. Turandot herself is a tough role--she starts out as a sadistic homicidal terror and ends up as a lovesick puppy--this is just a part of the general weakness of the plot, but then, of course, operas don't really exist for their plots.

I took my tutorial to see this on the Mount Holyoke tab. But, now, I think I am addicted. I am definitely buying tickets to see Carmen in January--I hope I can talk one of my family members into going with me.