Once I arrived the city, I settled myself at Lincoln's Barnes and Noble bookstore, where I could finish my work. Working with the backups would take some time, one of my largest files 90GB, which would have needed to be broken into 1.5GB files, and then transfered to the USB drive, would take about 2.3 hours, so I decided to start the process, and considering that I had enough time, head to the Opera to watch Turandot.
I wished Ewa would have been able to stay in the city, so we could have enjoyed this Opera together, Ewa always praises Turandot - I guess when Pavarotti sings it, there is every reason to praise any opera.
I ran to the Opera house, I only had 5 minutes left, and at 7:55PM I was by the ticket counter, where I was given a few choices - $80.00 sits and $17.00-$22.00 standing sits, well I picked the standing ticket... and I liked it a lot - though my body did feel the lengthy standing and the hard floor (very thin and barely cushioned carpeting).
The house was almost sold out, but only a few standing sits were purchased, this was nice, since I had more space for myself, as a matter of fact, there was nobody on either side of me, and I was next to the staircase, so I could see the stage without having to overlook anything...
I found the story very cruel, specially towards the end, a bit cold - I felt sorry for Liu (the platonic lover of Calaf). The Met did a great job with the stage scenes and the performers did very good reflecting Chinese opera dancing moves and singing tone, specially the Turandot's three ministers (Ping, Pang, and Pong) - they acted like the actors in the Chinese opera (if you ever want to suffer for a few hours - you can watch, and listen, to a Chinese opera and you'll see what I am referring to).
The main characters did not sound as good to my ears as I would have hoped for - this is probably because I am not used to Turandot, being this my first time - it just didn't sound appealing nor it was pulling my soul begging for more or to never stop. Maria Guleghina (posing as Turandot) sounded like she was screaming rather than singing, and Salvatore Licitra (playing Calaf) was somewhat shy and not pouring his soul out - I am particularly referring to "Nessun Dorma", given that this is the song that Ewa has played most for me in Turandot. When I heard "Nessun Dorma" from Pavarotti, he held his notes, and he lengthen the finale by Licitra was nowhere near.
One of the greatest pleasures in the Opera was seeing the musicians leaving the stage, this time I was able to see them in person, usually Ewa and I would have stayed until the lights were on again, but since I wanted to check on the progress on my computer work and the time was approaching 11:10PM (Barnes and Nobles closes at midnight), I needed to leave as soon as the opera was over - leaving the place this soon avoided the mass crowd traffic. On my way out I was surprised to see 4 musicians leaving from the highest floor - how did they get there? Is there another set of musicians upstairs?
I wouldn't mind going again and perhaps see if I learn to appreciate them more, most likely is my inexperience that leaves me feeling that Turandot has been underperformed. I would like to hear what Ewa's opinion is with regards this performance. They also will play Turandot on Jan 23rd and 28th.
Tomorrow... today is Carmen - I hope I can watch it too, I wonder if Ewa would like to come and see it along.
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