Quote from: BillO on Sep 14, 2017, 05:20PMPOTO was way better than any 'real' opera. I was able to sit through the entire thing without the insatiable desire to get up and find a bar. Most 'real' operas are maybe 3 or 4 good pieces surrounded by hours of monotonous squawking on the stage. Mind you , it's squawking in near perfect time and pitch, but it is still squawking.
I've not seen Love Never Dies, but it can't be as bad as sitting through any of about 90% of the Ring of Nurburgring.
I think I deserve a medal for doing that whole thing (shudder!!!).
Careful Bill, you will be giving trombonists a bad name!
Much as I admire many of Andrew Lloyd-Webber's works, I think they are musicals rather than operas and as such, are easier to watch or listen to.
One of the high-lights of my musical life was being given a private box at the Royal Opera House, in Covent Garden, London for a performance of Wagner's Parsifal. It was a magical experience, all 4 hours of it, but for myself, as an experienced bass singer in oratorios and light operas, to hear the voices of Willard White and Simon Estes was a treat beyond any expectations. To complete the evening, we had cucumber sandwiches and a bottle of chilled Chablis delivered to the box! The Age of Decadence is now long gone
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It would be interesting to hear how Blast copes with his form of employment. Imagine having to sit regularly in a little hole in a darkened room playing the occasional note on a bass trombone whilst spending the rest of the evening listening to the "monotonous squawking" and probably not being able to see anything happening on stage. Some people have a hard life!
With my pedant's hat on, can I check that it was an opera that you sat through? The "Ring" of Nurburgring is a 14 mile lap race track in Germany. Now sitting and watching cars go past at 150mph+ every 8 minutes for 2 hours could be boring. The opera cycle by Wagner is "The Ring of Nibelung"
Cheers
Stewbones
