Nikolai Lantsov Fashion: Sturmhond Edition

“And you’re Sturmhond.” “On my good days,” he replied. He wore leather breeches, a brace of pistols at his hips, and a bright teal frock coat with gaudy gold buttons and enormous cuffs. It belonged in a ballroom or on an opera stage, not on the deck of a ship.

character ask baba the turk and/or fiorello

both is good.

baba the turk:

favorite thing about them: i love her character sm but i also really love that her whole deal, at least in productions i like, is she’s this loud, self assured bearded lady and she’s thought of in-universe as the coolest thing ever (by everyone except tom and nick anyway).

least favorite thing about them: REALLY don’t like the implications at hand when opera companies cast her as a countertenor!!

favorite line

brOTP: anne trulove. also bringing it up here think her and nick shadow are the opposite of this and that shit is funny as hell like man the rakes progress plot is just part of their offstage tom and jerry ass feud and i love it

OTP: i can’t think of any really i just know she’s a lesbian

nOTP: i find it funny when there’s productions where they really try to justify her being into tom because see above

random headcanon: i think when she’s referring to “returning to the stage” she’s really referring to the theatrical state they’re all existing in, and that ultimately life is meaningless (positive) because another show will happen and everything will happen again. she’s aware of it, and likes it, and is just along for the ride :)

unpopular opinion: “haha it’s funny tom married a bearded woman because” SHUT THE FUCK UP. bearded women are INCREDIBLY sexy and i would be HONORED to marry one (if i was. capable. of being dated in the first place. sigh)

song i associate with them: man idk id have to think

fiorello

favorite thing about them: i think he’s nice :)

least favorite thing about them: he is a background character with less than 20 lines and it’s cringe for me to like background characters with less than 20 lines. at least it’s cringe if i like them. i don’t care what other people do

favorite line: if only he had enough i could pick from

brOTP: i like to think he is friends with figaro and susanna, but i really imagine him as friendless

OTP: lepor(i am shot like old yeller midsentence)

nOTP: there has to be someone somewhere who’s done something terrible with him because the opera rule of thumb is Someone has done terrible things to Every Character Ever

random headcanon: i’ve ascribed him a personality. sort of the anti-figaro if you will. he isn’t the smartest guy, but he’s aware of things others might not be, and he’s excessively kind- almost too much so, because it gets the upper hand of his judgement. he’s very loyal and very extroverted, but he often has trouble making friends because he can come off as foolish. he’d be a dandy if he had the money for that sort of thing, and he loves gaudy fashion, but all he can really afford is embroidery thread for his coat. he’s very lonely, and outside of his job he really doesn’t have any friends or connections. the count really doesn’t like him that much. …maybe i sound stupid.

unpopular opinion: i think he’s important

song i associate with them: idk if he has enough to warrant a song!

Untitled angst for your Thursday evening.  A slight re-writing of the post-Carnival Operation events, featuring Adam and my Detective Aubrey.

Aubrey’s key slid into the lock and she leaned against the doorframe, hand hovering over the doorknob.  There was something unsaid between her and Adam, and she chewed her lip while trying to figure out how to broach the subject.

“You’re tense,” he commented, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his coat.  “Is it about...your friend?”

She closed her eyes at the tone that he used.  Do you have feelings for her? “I don’t regret telling you all that Bobby and I have a past,” she started slowly, turning to face him and raising her chin high. No, I do not.  “But please don’t use that tone when speaking about him.”

She watched as his mouth curled downwards into a deep frown.  “Are you worried about him?”

“It would be heartless of me not to be worried.”  She took a deep breath.  “Do you have time to come inside?”

The frown never shifted from his face, but he nodded.  “It would be wise to check your apartment for dangers,” he agreed, following her in as she opened her door and dropped her keys into the little ceramic dish shaped like a fox that sat on her entryway table.  Her boots came off next, then her coat.  Walking around in her socks, she took stock of her living room - sofa moved over, the easy chair next to it overturned, her coffee table on its side and all the contents that had once sat upon it strewn out nearby - and made her way into her kitchen to fill up her electric kettle.  Aubrey grabbed her favorite mug and plopped two bags of peppermint tea inside it before adding a generous dollop of honey and several spoonfuls of sugar.

“I very nearly married Robert Marks,” she started, her normally quiet voice sounding loud in the silent apartment.  She watched as Adam paused in righting her furniture, his movements deliberate as he placed things back where they belonged from memory.  A small part of her had to wonder if his precise movements were to keep himself from breaking any more furniture, or if something of hers would join Nate’s end table before this conversation was over.  “We dated for almost ten years and lived together for eight of them.”

“Apparently that did not come to be.” 

She flipped off the kettle as it finished its heating cycle and added the water into her mug.  “No, it didn’t.”

“What happened?”

Aubrey made her way over to the sofa and curled one leg underneath her.  She flexed her left foot, the same foot Adam knew had been injured to the point of her retiring early from her career as a dancer.  “I met Bobby during an interview.  At the time, he was a reporter for a prestigious Arts and Entertainment magazine in the city and was doing an article on the rising stars of the dance world.  As one of those up and coming dancers, we sat down at a cafe for our interview.  That interview turned into an invitation for lunch, and then a dinner date the next week.”  She cupped her mug in her hands and held it to her chest, not so much to drink it, but more for the warmth it provided.  “I was new to the city, I didn’t know anyone beside the people I’d made friends with in my company, and here was this charming guy, paying attention to me and making me feel like the most important person in the world.  I was young and impressionable.”

Adam moved away from the furniture and strode towards the windows, his hands pushing aside the gauzy white curtains as he checked for damage to the glass.  “You loved him.”  It wasn’t a question.

“Yes, I did.  I loved him very much.”

“And yet you’re not with him.  Why?”

She frowned and set her mug down on the coffee table.  “Because he didn’t love me.”  She twisted her fingers in her lap.  “Don’t get me wrong, I think he liked me, and he never treated me poorly, but he didn’t love me the way that I loved him.  The way that I wanted someone to love me.”

She stared at the space between the sofa and the chairs, swallowing thickly as she remembered how Bobby had fallen, the blue and white swirls of whatever disease the intruders had infected him with spreading over his handsome features.  “He was going to propose to me.  I found the ring while I was packing up his stuff.”  She gave a bitter laugh.  “It was gaudy as hell, but oh, I would have worn it proudly.”

“Why did you leave him?”

“I didn’t.  He left me.”  She reached over and picked up the mug again, this time taking a sip.  “When I was the principal dancer, I opened so many doors that were otherwise closed to him.  Want an interview with a director? Aubrey can organize it.  Tickets to see an opera for free, with backstage access?  My reputation and connections could arrange it.  I didn’t realize it at the time, but he was using me to further his career.  And then when I got hurt…” Her breath hitched and she curled further into herself.

“He cut his losses.”

She nodded.  “Without his meal ticket opening doors for him, he needed to find someone else.  That someone else just so happened to be a stage actress too new to the scene to know he was already taken.  My friends tried to warn me, but I wasn’t worried.  I was convinced that she was another of his close friends.”  Tears prickled at her eyelids and she angrily scrubbed them away.  “I was so stupid.  At least he had the decency to stay with me while I recovered from surgery, even if that meant he was sleeping behind my back for the better part of a month before he finally went you were my well of info, but now that well’s run dry.  No hard feelings, Aubs.”

Adam clenched his hands into fists at his sides.  “He didn’t deserve you.”

“I know that now.  Didn’t make it hurt any less then.  I just lost the one thing I was most passionate about and then the man I was ready to spend the rest of my life with all in the span of a few weeks. I had to get out, so I packed my belongings and came home.  I wasn’t sleeping at night, so volunteering for the night clerk position at the station felt like I was at least doing something productive instead of wallowing in grief.  I liked it so much that I enrolled in police academy training, and the rest is history.”

He seemed to hesitate, but eventually sat down on the edge of the sofa next to her.  “I understand why you’re upset about him now,” he said.  “I apologize for making light of your worry.”

“Thank you, Adam.”  Aubrey took another deep breath before turning so she was facing him.  “You should know by now that I respect you.  And you should also know by now that I...have feelings for you.  Feelings that I haven’t allowed myself to feel for anyone in the past four years.  I want to be as open with you as I can, which is why I need to tell you something.”

“Yes?”

She twisted her fingers again and pressed her lips tightly together, almost as if she could keep the words she was about to say at bay.  “Before the attack, I kissed Bobby.  Had we not been interrupted, I probably would have slept with him if he had asked.”

Adam paused for the briefest of seconds as he let what she just said sink in before he shot up from the sofa.  “Why are you telling me this?”

“Because I know that if...when Bobby wakes up, it’s the first thing out of his mouth!  I wanted to tell you first so it wouldn’t come as a shock.”

“Why would it even shock me, Detective?”  His arms were crossed in front of him almost as a shield to deflect whatever she said next.

“Because of whatever,” she gestured towards him.  “This is between us!”

“There is -”

“No.” she stood up and faced him, her arms stiff at her sides.  “I heard you talk with Nate tonight.  He can tell, just as I can that you feel something for me.  The carnival?  That picture?  Adam, that was real.  You can’t stand here and tell me otherwise.”

He sneered.  “If it was so real, then why were you so willing to sleep with your ex-lover tonight?”

“Because I was upset!  Jesus, Adam, I just…” she ran her fingers through her short hair, pulling at the strands in frustration.  “To hear you say that you felt nothing for me hurt, then for Bobby to show up when I needed someone the most...Look, I know it was wrong and I know that I would have regretted it tomorrow, but I’m so fucking tired of having something I want dangled in front of me only to be pushed aside and I wanted someone to touch me, someone to want me, even for only a moment.”

She stared up at Adam through blurred vision, willing the tears welling in her eyes to stay where they were, even as her lip trembled with each breath.  Those green eyes of his were cold, like flecks of glass, and her heart broke at the fact that she had been the one to dash any hopes of maybe someday being with him.  “The apartment is secure,” she said hoarsely, breaking eye contact.  “I’ll be fine by myself.”

Adam gave a slow nod before taking a step away from her.  “Lock the door,” he said quietly.  “I don’t want...it would be inadvisable to leave it unsecured.”

She silently nodded, hands clutching at the sleeves of her sweater.  How was it that only a few hours ago, she’d been so happy?  Aubrey followed him to the door, turning the deadbolt and the lock below it before pressing her palms to the door and looking out the peephole.  Adam was standing in the middle of the hall, his face to the door.  She watched as he raised a hand as if to knock, but then paused, letting his hand fall back to his side before slowly turning away.

Something hot slid down her cheek and she pressed her forehead against the wood, finally letting herself cry.  She let out a shaky breath, swearing that it felt as if someone was on the other side of her door, palms pressed just inches away from hers.

She was too much of a coward to look to see if it was the case.  Instead, she turned away and crawled into bed still in her street clothes, the blankets wrapping around her as she curled into a ball and fell into a restless, yet blessedly dreamless, sleep.

Lope Hernan Chacón: THE VISIT (Der Besuch der alten Dame )

The opera is based on Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s stage play Der Besuch der alten Dame, an international success, filmed (1963) with Ingrid Bergman in the title role. The Visit of the Old Lady is a modern morality tale of small-town greed and hypocrisy- that resonates as well today. The teenage Claire Z, made pregnant by a small businessman, is abandoned and driven out as a whore in Güllen, a town without pity. She returns 50 years later- immensely rich through various marriages. She’s back for revenge, blood money; and meanwhile Gullen has fallen on hard times. Gottfried von Einem’s opera, with Dürrenmatt’s own libretto, premiered in 1971 at Vienna State Opera, with Christa Ludwig, to triumphant acclaim. Einem’s music is ‘eclectic, varied, rhythmic’ – pushes ‘tonality’ to its limits- but it’s still accessible. I’ve seen the play, heard the ‘soundtrack’, a radio broadcast, and now eagerly anticipated the opera, Theater an der Wien’s new production- celebrating von Einem’s centenary. Well, even though Dürrenmatt collaborated on the libretto, it’s hard to imagine he’d approve of this (Keith Warner) production. The opening set- monotone greys- consists of cut-out facades of civic buildings, decrepit, faded grandeur. Lined up are the very respectable inhabitants, all dressed in grey- hateful, smug and self-important. Then we see a poster (cleverly) advertising a puppet show: ‘Der Besuch der alten Dame’. Posters and placards are used for scene changes: next at a railway station, (expecting a train from Stockholm), they’re all waiting feverishly for a VIP. So far, musically it’s impressive. RSO Wien under Michael Boder, points up the brass section, the shrill wind instruments, and the very prominent drums. It is very well sung, Arnold Schoenberg Choir providing the chorus. One of the problems is with Warner’s conception. Dürrenmatt’s text is implicitly social critique, but Warner sees it as rabid satire, the Old Lady as a caricature figure. He describes Claire Zachanassian as ‘creepier than the witch in Hansel and Gretel; the embodiment of crass materialism. But this is a misreading. Katarina Karneus’s Claire is not a sympathetic figure. Yet but the Lady is the victim of an amoral, and patriarchal, society. In Dürrenmatt’s parable, she returns to put these censorious bigots to the test; they’ll do anything for money. Karneus’s character forfeits our sympathy. She’s so loud; gross like a Dame Edna Everage uber creation, a larger than life drag queen (no disrespect!) Karneus’s magnificent mezzo copes nevertheless with the extreme vocal demands. She staggers on in a garish leopard- print coat, brilliant red hair. From baby-blue girls dresses, tied with pink ribbons, her wardrobe goes to new extremes with every scene. And the entourage. Is the black panther, on a leash, for real? And wearing a diamonte necklace. Koby (Antonio Gonzalez) and Loby (Alexander Linner)- both bald with glasses- are said to have been castrated (Claire’s ‘false witnesses’, now her eunuchs.) Roby and Toby carry her sedan chair. And she has ‘a coffin which might come in handy.’

The billboard advertises KONRADSWEIL, the date 1955 – 55 years ago when she met Albert III (Canadian tenor Russell Braun), powerfully sung, and sympathetically enacted, Braun’s a dignified, heartfelt performance. He’s married a shop owner called Mathilde (Cornelia Horak) has a son and daughter by her; now he’s trying to charm Claire into investing her money. So he turns on the charm, recalling their romantic times together. Karneus and Braun’s scenes – especially their duet in Act III – are outstanding, von Einem’s score sounding lyrical, the lush strings recalling Richard Strauss. Braun’s Alfred gets physical, but the Lady – so it seems – isn’t all flesh: has too many other parts. In Güllen she’s staying in the Golden Apostle Hotel, where there’s a reception of the town’s bigwigs. As the Burgermeister, Raymond Very’s tenor is richly melodious in his welcome. Now, in a dazzling silver outfit, Karneus’s aria reminds her audience of how she was bullied and humiliated at school; of the paternity suit filed against her; of the witnesses bribed to free Alfred to marry Mathilde. Now she will donate a million to Güllen: but subject to one condition. Justice for what she suffered; one of them must kill Alfred. In Warner’s version, it’s all about consumerism. But Dürrenmatt’s plays, like The Physicists, are about moral dilemmas; here the conflict is in the sacrifice of human decency for the ‘Golden Calf’. A million to buy justice. Strident clarinets, fierce trombones: hers is the devil’s pact. They must pay their debt. Act II opens with a mart (Braun’s) offering expensive items on a one-day-only offer. They’re buying the expensive stuff, and buying it on credit: they’ll bankrupt him. The Priest Alfred goes to (Markus Butter’s tremendous bass baritone) advises him to flee. Braun’s Alfred, grey-suited, carrying a suitcase, is intercepted at the station, trying to catch a train. The staging in Act III is really all too much unless it’s farce you’re into. Except for Karneus in her contemplative moments. She sings poignantly, it was winter when she left ; she’s come back for just one more time. Against a Year 2000, Super-Saving-Event poster (price-tags in Swiss francs?), Braun and Karneus’s scene is affectingly warm – the scoring, gushing strings, and Straussian. Braun sings, he and Mathilde have a child now. After the gaudy, trashy sets, the finale ‘Goldene Dusche‘- a festival of bling – is appropriately effective. The neon sign suggests the apocryphal gold raining from heaven: also a golden shower (in S and M terms). Here are plush velvet armchairs , braided in gold. Everyone’s wearing brilliantly coloured designer clothing. ‘Wealth is only justified when it’s foundations are just’… but these upright citizens are deciding whether to accept the golden pay-out. Braun, dressed in a modest suit, ‘will end a senseless life’. Karneus sings of a sweeping blue panorama. Your love has been dead for years; her love -she’s just married another husband – is constantly being renewed. Nothing more remains of him than a dead lover- a ghost in a destroyed home. Adieu Alfred. Braun is escorted from his armchair by a spookily Nazified head of police to a room at the back of the stage. We can barely glimpse the the physical beating. He’s carried out: a heart attack, overdosed on pleasure. Now, finally, finally, the silver coffin at the front of the stage is opened up to take in three black body bags. Adieu Alfred. She, Karneus, is dressed in black- in a Versace take on a Salvation Army uniform- like an avenging angel. This Warner production doesn’t help us, give us any insight into the moral compass of the opera. It’s more like a show, a ‘Mormon’ entertainment. His production- Warner explains in the programme interview- is his instant reaction to the contemporary world in moral crisis- the world of Trump Towers, Brexit, Merkel-land. No wonder my Viennese neighbour, a subscriber- an opera lover who really knows about opera – admitted she didn’t really understand the opera. PR.18.03.2018 Photos: Katarina Karneus (Claire Zachanassian), Ernest Allan Hausman (Moby), Mark Milhofer (Boby Butler); Adrian Eröd (Teacher), Markus Butter (Priest), Raymond Very (Bürgermeister), Katerina Karneus (Claire Z); Russell Braun (Alfred III; Carolina Lippo (c) Werner Kmetitsch

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