SF Opera: Lucio Silla
Sun Jul 17 2005 11:08 MDT #Last nights opera was Mozart's Lucio Silla, and it showed. The music was stunning. The singers where often used as musical instruments - No need for words just have them sing. But the singing was truly the focus, even though there where many places for the symphony to shine -- including a long opening number with no one on stage. In particular Celena Shafer was amazing as our heroine Gunia
The thing was that the plot on the other hand was very thin on the ground. In opera it can take a full minute to sing a line - so most operas like to fit 2 plot twists in, this one could barely get half an idea out. This meant that much much was left, to the director. And he did quite a lot. The main actors where dressed in a Baroque fashion - except way way over the top. The we had the a set of 4 dancers who provided comic relief - and acted as a silent greek chorus, all dressed in suites. As was the actual chorus. And the action all took place on a very modern set - that reminded me of a sci-fi movie -- huge moving black walls, and a tree here an there. In addition there where projected movies - an interesting an kinda cool touch. Anyhow it the was plenty of stuff to keep your eyes occupied - even if there was no action happening vis a vis the plot. And since the it lasted over 3 and a half hours that was important. Surprisingly the disparate settings, the Roman setting, the Baroque Music and costuming and the modern set (and costuming) all worked well enough
On the whole an excellent night out. The Music was amazing, the rest enjoyable, and on the whole I had a lot of fun.