05.29.05
Tito goes Bananas
Sunday, May 29, 2005
Meanwhile, in France…
Went out this morning with Dad and Himelda looking for a Brunch (pronounced in French Broonch) along Mouffetard. To find a hearty breakfast in France it seems you have to go to the restaurants that cater purely to tourists. Every place we went to was either not serving food (they stoop between breakfast or lunch) or had wee breakfasts of coffee and some small pastry. We settled on a place that looked more like a drinks bar on a nice plaza and Dad and Himelda ordered off the menu. I asked for a Café Au Lait then sneaked off to a Creperie around the corner for a delicious and filling Crepe with Nutella and Banana.
After our late breakfast we went down to the Opéra Garnier for a matinee performance of La Clémence De Titus. Wow, what a performance, it moved me. Lets begin by describing the Opéra Garnier. The building is huge and gorgeous, constructed with a luxurious style and maintained through the years. The anteroom was a show by itself. As soon as I saw pictures of the scenario in the program I feared a recurrence of what is hands down the worst opera I have seen in my life. This was about ten years ago at Seattle Opera, I forget what the title was (I try to forget the experience but cant) but it was a minimalist set, all white with a huge neon cross above a set of chairs. All the characters sat at the chairs from the very beginning and would stand to sing their part then sit back down and stare stoically at the audience until their turn to sing came up again. Awful, painful, boring, utterly uninteresting. Tito opened up to reveal a similar looking scenario, a white room with plastic shields going up about 3 meters all around and neon illumination. It looked like an over-lit basketball court. But then the actors came out and the singing began, and oh my, what glorious song it was. I was particularly blown away by Susan Graham who sang the lead part of Sesto and by Catherine Naglestad who backed her up as Vitellia. They both had power, control and best of all could convey real feeling through their acting and their song. There is a scene where Vitellia is toying with Sesto’s affection and you can see and hear Sesto’s heart break on stage. It was simply magnificent.