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monotonous-minutia · 1 year

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I request a detailed tier list of all the Hoffmann productions you've ever seen 🥺

okay BUCKLE UP

from Best to Worst my absolutely objective ranking of all 48 productions of this opera I've seen. and I am only just now realizing what an insane number of productions I have seen of this opera.

the best

#1. 2009/2015 Metropolitan Opera production (designed & directed by Bartlet Sher my beloved) Hands-down the best. Great vibe, great atmosphere, great casts in both productions, great amounts of gay, and costumes/sets that evoke such a fantastical feel it's like we've actually fallen into some kind of creepy fantasy from ETA Hoffmann's universe! A must see for anyone who loves this opera and a great first production.

#2. 1995 La Scala. The cast is to die for, the costumes and pleasingly straightforward, the sets go smoothly from wacky to eerie at the appropriate times. But most importantly it contains hands-down the absolutely bonkers fantastic amazing GAYEST Hoffmann/Nicklausse team EVER--Neil Shicoff and Susanne Menzter. I lost my fucking mind the first time I watched this one and continue to do so every time I rewatch.

#3. Munich 2013. Fun and wacky all over with a great cast and excellent amounts of gay. Delightful all the way. Diana Damrau positively slays as the ladies. Rest of the cast is excellent too, no complaints.

#4. Brussels 1985. Surprisingly gay for being so old. A lovely production overall and, as far as I know, the first recorded production of this opera containing the Violin Aria (so possibly the first recorded Oeser edit?) which makes it extra special.

#5. Orange 2000. Two words: Angelika Kirchschlager (okay, four words: The Hair). Production's a bit odd and it is the cursed short edit but it is quite gay and, well, Angelika Kirchschlager. Outdoor stage lends a great atmosphere to the creepy parts. Natalie Dessay reigns supreme as Olympia again.

#6. Hamburg 2021. Very fun (though fairly, and somewhat distractingly, odd at times) production with another to-die-for cast. Very gay. Brower and Bernheim quickly made it to my top 10 (possibly top 5) Hoffmann/Nicklausse pairs. Olga Peretyatko gives fantastic, wonderfully multi-faceted portrayals of all the ladies and Luca Pisaroni is iconic as the villains.

#7. Paris 2002. Not as much a fan of the production, but it makes my top 10 simply because we get Shicoff and Mentzer in these roles again, and you simply cannot beat them. you just can't.

#8. 1970 German film. The costumes and sets for this are very detailed and evocative of the story and the special effects are amazing. There’s a decent amount of added dialogue, especially at the end with the Muse’s speech, so a few story-related liberties taken, though some of them draw from the original play which is interesting. All-around good cast with another dynamic Hoffmann/Nicklausse duo (the way Hoffmann runs offstage calling Nicklausse’s name over and over at the end of the Giulietta act…oh. my. god.)

#9 Zurich 2021. A bit too dark lighting-wise at times (could give Vienna a run for its money) but another fun and eccentric production. No big names but a good cast overall and another wonderfully gay lead pair but the ending has MUCH to be desired. They straight-ified it. Makes no sense. (does not compel me.)

#10. Royal Opera House 1981/2016. A classic. Very gay despite being the abbreviated version. Luscious sets and costumes. Some unfortunate casting in the tenor role but beyond that quite good, and my first production so it’s got a special place in my heart.

the good stuff

#11. Metropolitan Opera 1988. Featuring Adorable Baby Shicoff in yet another delightfully gay performance with an extra sassy (and impeccably dressed) Nicklausse. Olympia’s phenomenal. Some odd bits but a mostly great cast and fun staging make up for it.

#12. Barcelona 2013. Phenomenal cast somewhat dampened by a strange production—does a good job emphasizing the darker parts of the opera, which is a relatively rare (so interesting) take, but a few directorial choices don’t vibe with me at all. Quite gay though and great acting/singing overall.

#13. Vienna 2000. Unfortunately this exists as a highlights-only reel with absolutely terrible image/sound quality but we get Shicoff yet again paired with an equally adorable Kirchschlager in one of the gayest performances on the planet (making their 2005 performance all the more bizarre, but more on that later).

#14. Toronto City Opera 2019. Hoffmann and Nicklausse are such a dynamic duo in this one in the most adorable way. It’s abbreviated even by Choudens standards which is obnoxious but it’s such a cute and fun production it still makes my top 20.

#15. Paris 2016. Same production as the 2002 one so that in and of itself is not my cup of tea but we get a good cast which carries it pretty well.

#16. Las Palmas (?date?) This one is about as close to full-on Oeser as anyone’s tried (except maybe the Genève 2008 one) so it’s remarkable for that. The production is equal parts campy and cool and the cast overall is very good, especially the villains and especially Dapertutto. Chemistry between Hoffmann and the ladies is pretty great. Decently gay. I need Nicklausse’s Act 1 costume immediately.

#17. Macerata 2005. A low-key production with an even mixture of fun and strange. Nicklausse is adorable and off-the-charts gay. Relatively unremarkable besides that.

#18. Orlando 2015. Why, oh why do we not have a full recording of this production?? It currently exists only as a youtube playlist with videos of some of the most important parts and it just looks SO GOOD it makes my top 20 without even having seen the entire thing.

#19. Regina Opera (NYC) 2011. Straightforward and fun and lots of ingenuity for a tiny space. Olympia and Antonia are particularly good. Hoffmann winds up in Nicklausse’s lap at the end. Nuff said.

#20. St. Petersburg (Florida) 2017. Another highlights-only reel but it looks really good and I’m mad we don’t get the rest of it. Refreshingly straightforward sets/costumes and engaging performance.

#21. 1951 film. This movie is so extra. There’s really no other way to describe it. Everyone is gay. The sets are gay. The room is gay. The air is gay. Ironically though Hoffmann and Nicklausse don’t get much gay time together. A lot of Nicklausse’s stuff is cut and I don’t like how they do the ending. The final trio in the Antonia act is fire though (pun intended—watch it and you’ll see).

#22 Miami 2017. Another highlight playlist on youtube. I like the “pour conjurer le danger” in particular. Nothing else terribly exciting though.

#23. Las Palmas 2022: WHY, IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 2022, ARE WE STILL USING THE CHOUDENS EDIT FOR THIS OPERA?? At least Nicklausse is adorable and Hoffmann has good chemistry with him and the ladies (especially Antonia), but this fun and quirky production is absolutely wasted on the abbreviated edit. Come onnnnnnnn. (Especially after already attempting the Oeser one a few years back???)

decent

#24. Skanderbeg 2005. Production doesn’t do much for me—looks like it came out of a bad sci-fi movie—and most of the acting isn’t great but it’s got a really cute Hoffmann/Nicklausse dynamic that made it worth the watch. Antonia was pretty good too.

#25. Parma 1988. Unremarkable but pretty cute and gay.

#26. Avignon 2009. Only the Olympia act is available sadly but from little there is you can tell it’s a really fun and adorable production with good acting and signing all around.

#27. Paris 2000. Same production as the 2003/2016 one but the acting is less compelling except poor Kirchschlager who really does her best but it’s hard to sing to a wall and this Hoffmann is pretty much a wall. Nicklausse does get to slap Hoffmann though which is excellent.

#28. Royal Opera House 2000. Same production as the 1981/2016 one but the acting is overall less captivating.

#29. Beijing 2013. Unremarkable production with okay cast and annoying edit but the chemistry between Hoffmann and Nicklausse?? The Violin Aria blows it out of the park. They practically kiss at the end. It’s glorious.

#30. Buenos Aires 2019. I have a visceral reaction to this one and severe love-hate relationship with it. The edit sucks (no Violin Aria) but the cast is great. The sets are cool but the production/staging is questionable. Individual performances are good but there’s not much chemistry between anyone. And finally, despite the fact that we get next to no chemistry between Hoffmann and Nicklausse (and may I remind you NO VIOLIN ARIA) they decide to have Nicklausse and Hoffmann kiss at the end. I ranted about this for a full day once so I won’t go into any more here. But seriously. Come on.

#31. Met 1973. Super old, terrible sound/picture quality, but iconic thanks to the one, the only Dame Joan Sutherland singing all three heroines (not four, no Giulietta act in this one. It’s a really terrible edit).

questionable

#32. Genève 2008. Weird and downright unpleasant at times. Phenomenally gay but Hoffmann is a total jerk. Villains are quite good but the production takes away from pretty much everything. I’d like the heroines a lot better if it wasn’t for that awful bob cut (and Olympia’s costume…or rather lack thereof…). Giulietta somehow makes the hair work. My favorite edit so far—just wish it had a better production to go with it.

#33 Mexico City 2020. They tried, they really did, to do a Kaye edit but they tripped at the finish line. Also the production is kinda “?” Actors are pretty decent but I can’t get over Dapertutto and Giulietta kidnapping Nicklausse while Hoffmann does nothing. Matching outfits are a win but there’s not much else.

#34 Seoul 2019. Interesting production with good acting. Some really odd directorial choices. Edit is awful.

#35 Monte-Carlo 2018. I hate this one for making Juan Diego Flórez one of my favorite Hoffmanns but giving him a terrible production to work with. We get a nicely devious set of villains and Olga Peretyatko is great as the ladies (thank goodness she gets another shot in the Hamburg one four years later) but I don’t even want to talk about what they do with Nicklausse here.

#36 Lyon 1993. I was hyped for this one, I really was. Reviews kept praising it for the cast (which is great) and the fact it’s the first recording to use the Kaye edit, but…it doesn’t really? The edit is practically unrecognizable; aside from some parts of the orchestration I really couldn’t tell you which edit it was using. The production itself is…wild. Disturbing almost. I have no idea what’s going on, it’s almost like some kind of fever dream.

meh

#37. Moscow 2019. Unremarkable to the point of being forgettable. Odd and not compelling. Stop using Choudens people.

#38. Nagoya 2010. Okay production. Odd at points but Hoffmann is really cute and I do like the Antonia quite a bit.

#39. Hagan 2020. I don’t even know what this is supposed to be. I don’t think the director did either.

awful

#40. Berlin 2015. Edit is atrocious and production is equally bad. Nicklausse is pretty good and some of the Hoffmanns are decent (because, yes, there are multiple performers playing Hoffmann) but it’s just…I don’t even know.

#41. Dutch National Opera 2018. Do you know how much I’d give to see (most of) this cast in a Hoffmann production? One that’s not this one because it’s awful? They try to modernize it but it just doesn’t work at all and they make Nicklausse a girl for the entire show and just. Wow. No thank you. John Osborne and Erwin Schrott deserve so much better.

#42. Madrid 2014. I couldn’t begin to tell you what they are trying to do in this one. Another terrible interpretation of Nicklausse and the rest of the characters don’t seem to know what they are doing. I don’t think anyone working on the show did.

#43. Brussels 2019. You could barely even call this Les contes d’Hoffmann because of all the ridiculous stuff they add to make it something it really is not. The production is just plain confusing. Is it the opera? Is it a movie? Is it them trying to film the movie? There’s no consistent reality. They throw the gay out the window here too with another girl Nicklausse. And Hoffmann is quite a piece of work himself.

#44. Salzburg 2005. Another monstrosity that attempts to un-gay the opera and totally demolishes the Hoffmann/Nicklausse dynamic. I can’t believe this is actually McVicar. Why would a gay opera director decide to direct one of the gayest operas ever only to mutilate it to this extent.

#45. Antwerp 2000. Same production as above so same level of terribleness.

#46. Klostenberg 2019. What. Just what. I can’t even.

#47. Bregenzer Festspiele 2015. I’m convinced everyone working on this was high on shrooms while they made it because I can’t think of any other explanation for how bizarre it is.

#48. Mexico City 1987. Didn’t even watch this one because Nicklausse is a tenor which is an unforgiveable sin.

and there you have it! Now I just need to watch two more to make it an even 50!

thank you for letting me rant about this opera yet again:) I never get tired of it!

#asks #les contes d'hoffmann #the tales of hoffman #opera #opera tag #opera reviews #holy heck i've seen a lot of this opera #and now i wanna go and watch a bunch more lol

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muchadoabout · 1 year

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Eugene Onegin at the Zürich Opera House

Music Direction Gianandrea Noseda Producer Barrie Kosky Tatyana Ekaterina Sannikova Onegin Igor Golovatenko Lensky Benjamin Bernheim Gremin Vitalij Kowaljow | 24.02.2023

So, I finally got around to writing about my experience seeing Eugene Onegin at the Zürich Opera House. Let's get into it!

The show started promptly at 7 pm, but we were allowed to enter the auditorium at 6 pm. Before the performance, there was a 15-minute introduction of the opera. However, since I'm not fluent in German, I could only understand about 80% of it.

The production, directed by Barrie Kosky, was set in an "idyllic forest" and remained more or less the same throughout the entire opera. The stage was a rotating turf surrounded by fake trees. The only time there was an additional set was during the Gremin’s palace scene, but it was dismantled during Onegin’s arioso, creating a distraction for the audience (or at least for me).

I initially didn't understand the director's creative directions, particularly the symbolism of the jam jar that appeared hold significant meaning, until I read this review that shed some light on it.

To my untrained ears, the performers were vocally exceptional. The auditorium was relatively small, and their voices reached even the farthest seat. Each performer excelled in their respective arias, but I was particularly impressed by Kowaljow’s rendition of Gremin’s “All men surrender to Love's power” aria, which I specifically wrote on my note as being sung “perfectly”. Sannikova and Golovatenko shared a believable chemistry, which is an crucial element of playing Tatyana and Onegin. Bernheim, who was on his home turf *ba dum tss*, received the loudest and longest cheers from the audience, which was so well-deserved.

Here are some notable moments of this production:

The whole scene of Olga/Lesky duet was unfortunately completely blocked from my view. However, there was a cute moment when those two were singing, Onegin and Tatyana were busy flirting with each other.

During the party scene, Onegin was jokingly massaging Lensky’s shoulders when he was being sulky. I assumed this was a character choice made by Golovatenko. It was quite funny.

The pre-duel scene between Lensky and Onegin was executed with more respect compared to the Komische Oper's version of this production. Onegin was not mockingly laughing at Lensky. At the end of their duet, they were just sitting side-by-side, with Onegin’s arm over Lensky’s shoulders, which made the subsequent duel seem pointless.

The duel scene in Act 2 was played off-stage. Tatyana’s scream echoed as Onegin returned to the stage with his once white now stained with blood, closing the act with the most dramatic end.

During the introduction session, it was explained that the rain effect used in the final scene was actually warm water to ensure that the performers would not feel cold while singing the most poignant duet.

Overall, it was a great experience. I did not dislike this production. Neverteless, I did wish that some of the moments were played differently. Despite being a simple opera, Eugene Onegin had a lot of nuances that unfortunately only a few productions managed to capture.

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letterboxd-worth-a-damn · 2 years

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#repo! the genetic opera #Repo! The genetic opera 2008 #letterboxd #letterboxd reviews

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fandom · 1 year

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This is the way.

Ted Lasso's AFC Richmond went on the road and the guys (and gals) had quite a night out. The Mandalorian wrapped up its third season and there wasn't a dry eye in the house. It's safe to say Team RWBY had quite the adventure during the finale of RWBY's ninth volume. The latest SpaceX launch was "successful" in that it did successfully launch before promptly exploding. Also exploding is whatever is happening with Twitter Blue. Phantom of the Opera, Broadway's longest running show in history, performed its final act. If you haven't read the latest issue of the Jujutsu Kaisen manga, you should probably filter some tags to avoid spoilers. Finally, can someone explain what's happening in the QSMP? We'd appreciate it. This is Tumblr's Week in Review.

Ted Lasso

The Mandalorian

Elon Musk

Succession

RWBY

The Owl House

Jujutsu Kaisen

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Artists on Tumblr

Obey Me! Shall We Date?

Star Wars

Stranger Things

The QSMP Minecraft Server

Misha Collins

The Welcome Home ARG

Phantom of the Opera

Luz Noceda | The Owl House

Wally Darling | The Welcome Home ARG

Din Djarin | The Mandalorian

9-1-1

#week in review #04/24/2023 #phantom of the opera

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opera-ghost · 1 year

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#modern au where the managers anxiously refresh the google reviews page in notes I/II instead of reading the paper #also now im just thinking about erik lurking in the reviews and replying to critiques he doesn't agree with & threatening to kill them lmao #or someone says 'not a fan of the new prima donna.' and then mysteriously edits their review a day later saying #'christine daae is exquisite and i am not currently being held at gunpoint'#i wanna add on to this lol #phantom of the opera #poto shitpost

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earlgodwin · 1 month

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hot take but the borgia apocalypse script was actually pretty good, and the characterizations were spot on. it's mindboggling how some fans hated on it solely because they expected a sunshine and rainbows ending between cesare and lucrezia. the truth is, they were never meant to be a pure fairytale couple. the most compelling aspect of their relationship is their intense toxic codependency and destructive dynamic. their obsession with each other consumed the energy, love, affection, and innocence of those around them, leading to tragic outcomes for anyone who got close to them. neil jordan stayed true to the plot with the apocalypse script, unlike what we saw in the s3 finale. despite cesare proclaiming his devotion to lucrezia and claiming to prioritize her happiness, he hurt her by killing alfonso and betraying her, alongside rodrigo, while keeping her in the dark about their plan. cesare ultimately turned out to be just like his father—his mirror image, his favorite chess piece, and a future king and pope. it was captivating to watch both rodrigo and cesare spiral into ambition and murder, becoming sociopaths. personally, i'm fascinated with the idea of cesare and lucrezia's relationship growing darker and cesare prioritizing his political gain, which terrifies lucrezia. this is the direction cesare's character would have headed if the show hadn't been canceled and if showtime had allowed neil jordan to film the script. 'world of wonders' should have been the episode that made the audience realize cesare was a manipulative, self-contradicting psychopath but alas! anyway, in the apocalypse script, he reaches the last stage of becoming a complete monster (for example, *spoilers* when he cuts off catrina's lips and poisons naples' water, killing half the city). this transformation occurs as he loses the remaining traces of humanity that were present in the first three seasons. valid criticism of the rushed nature of the script is understandable. jordan didn't have time to edit it and only released it to console devastated fans. i'm confident that his final draft would have been 100% better than what we have. in short, there's no way someone as genius as him would ruin the show he created with a disappointing ending or ooc moments. so if there's an opportunity for him to adapt it for the screen, it would be a serve as i enjoyed the overall conclusion of the story

#like bro idk what to tell you the reviews about the script had me giggle like y'all cannot be serious helpppp #wdym you need a happy ending because the show is literally made like its a tragic opera #the borgias #the borgias apocalypse #lucrezia borgia #cesare borgia #rodrigo borgia #neil jordan #borgia #text post

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literary-illuminati · 8 months

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Book Review 49 – Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

Introduction

I forget who initially recommended me this book, but I owe them an incredible debt. Really the only disappointing thing is that I hadn’t heard of it even sooner, as this really is just perfectly tailored to appeal to me specifically. First science fiction/fantasy novel I can remember reading in a long time that I actively wished was longer. As a testament to how much I liked this book – this review is long enough to need subheadings.

So! Some Desperate Glory is a space opera, following Kyr (Valkyr, technically), a 17-year-old cadet and genetically enhanced ‘warbreed’ golden girl of Gaea Station – that being the quasi-fascist statelet of militant dead-enders who fled to a desolate planetoid in a dead system to continue the war after aliens destroyed the earth/most of humanity. After she gets assigned to Nursery (read: breeding the next generation of soldiers) instead of a combat wing and has a crisis of faith, she talks herself into running away to help her brother on the suicide mission terrorist attack he was deployed on. With the help of one of her brother’s friends and a captured alien, she manages it, discovers that her brother had absolutely no intention of actually following orders once he’d made it out, and take it upon herself to do her own, better, terrorism. From there the plot gets weird, and I’m going to spoil it shamelessly talking about it, but if you value surprises when reading at all just stop this review and go read it.

The Heroine

Kyr is, and I say this lovingly, the most insufferable bitch of a 17-year-old military brat I’ve ever spent time in the head of (at least at first). Even compared to the other indoctrinated child soldiers she’s the cop nobody likes. She then spends the first third to half of the book unlearning this indoctrination, by which I mean very arduously and painfully reaching a point of ‘the fascist cult was a corruption and black mark on the good name of the death cult vengeful crusade, I’ll do it better’ and ‘it’s probably okay to not, like, personally hate aliens who were too young to have been alive when the earth was destroyed. Torturing them for no reason is wrong, like abusing animals was, back when there were animals’. She spends the entire book expecting on a bone-deep level to get herself killed for the cause, and at the end of the book is only like 10% of the way better (one of the last beats in the entire story is, standing with one of her only friends and sure they’re both about to run out of life support, offering to snap their neck for them because ‘asphyxiation’s a nasty way to go’). Whenever she is confronted with the idea that some people aren’t constantly aware of the possibility of physical violence or get to live their lives as something other than a bullet in the gun seeking vengeance for a dead planet she wants to scream and smash things at the unfairness of it all. I adore her.

Honestly my only real complaint is how quickly she starts mellowing out in the second and third acts of the story. There’s extenuating circumstances (whole extra life of memories, time loop bullshit, forcibly confronted with what she said she wanted and what it looks like, etc), but past the one real big hump it did rather feel like her character development suddenly became a bit smooth and easy/. This is one of the things I’m talking about when I say I wish the book was longer – everything after the first big climax and the time travel/universe editing felt kind of rushed and abbreviated.

As far as being a #problematic fave goes, Kyr was also very carefully kept from being, like, directly personally culpable for anything really unforgivable. Which I do understand why from a wanting people to sympathize with the racist homophobic fascist child soldier, but like – you’ve already introduced time travel and retroactivity. C’mon, don’t get cold feet now. Let her and Avi really share the ‘killed trillions in a universe that retroactively never happened’ credit.

Also, and entirely tangentially – you know how in a lot of action shows, the hero has incredibly emotionally tense rivalries and/or camaraderie with other guys, and then also an extremely conventionally feminine girlfriend off to the side somewhere who does like two things in the entire story and mostly seems to exist to prove he’s straight? Kyr has that, except she is textually gay (if incredibly repressed about it and like 90% of the way to asexual in terms of libido). Sorry Lis, but you are literally barely a character. Cleo’s right there, and already has a personality that’s more than two bullet points and is actually involved in the plot in ways beyond ‘love interest’.

Gaea Station

The shitty fascist asteroid habitat that Kyr grew up on is (if barely) the primary setting of the story, and as far as portrayals of incredibly unbalanced and fundamentally broken society just full of cultlike and ultranationalist neuross. I kind of love it as a dystopian setting, though I feel like the author kind of over-egged the pudding on it by the end of the book.

Society is organized into what feels like an intentional parody of a lot of YA dystopia setups, where you live in a tightly integrated mess all through adolescence (each with their own heraldic animal to idenity with!) but then at 17 your exams determine the branch of society you will be assigned to for the rest of your life to do your duty for humanity. Of course, unlike most YA dystopias, the System isn’t the result of some leviathan-state ruling the fates of millions or a tradition that’s going back generations upon generations – it’s a ramshackle mess that can barely consistently feed its warrior elites enough protein slop to take advantage of their genetically engineered hormone levels for muscle growth. It’s all so clearly and intentionally artificial and fake that it loops around to feeling extremely realistic.

Also do love how the elder generation all have names like Joel or Ursa or Elena, while the younger generation are all Valkyr and Magnus and Avicenna and Zenobia. The only really surprising thing is that they don’t specifically call out how children are raised in common and without individual families as following Plato’s Republic – it’s exactly the sort of attempt to create a grand unifying mythology for all of Earth’s true and vengeful children.

I really do wish Tesh had trusted the reader a bit more about it, though. Like, we can tell that almost all the names of the younger generation are either historical figures form the Mediterranean/Greco-Roman world or Norse mythology (with a few exceptions like Avicenna who fit the general aesthetic if not those exact conditions), which puts a bit of a lie to the whole ‘pan-human’ bit. It’s a clever bit of characterization through worldbuilding! You don’t need to call it out twice in dialogue between characters and then again in an in-universe scholarly essay excerpt at the start of a chapter. I can’t complain too badly though, she’s really not even close to being the worst for that I’ve read recently.

One thing I did like especially because I don’t think it was ever called out and brought front and centre is just the sort of, like, perfect irony of both Kyr and her brother Magnus – ‘warbreed’ engineered supersoldiers with physical capabilities beyond any baseline human, blonde aryan ubermensch, the golden children and eugenic future of Gaea Station/true humanity – both being queer and totally unsuited to their assigned gender roles. If it was, like, specifically brought up in a big monologue as disproof of the Gaean ideology or something it’d feel much too on the nose, but as just a set of facts underlying the characterization of the protagonists I liked it quite a lot.

Trio Dynamics

They don’t actually have all that much pagecount spent together, now that I think about it, but as far as I’m concerned the absolute heart of the story is the dynamic between Kyr, Avi (Avicenna, genius-level hacker and cynical rat bastard discontented Gaea Station restaurant) and Yiso (young and rebellious Prince of the Wisdom, taken captive by Gaea when they’re personal ship came too close and then liberated/kidnapped by the other two in their escape attempt). It’s peak trauma-bonding in that the first time it involves a) Avi torturing Yiso to force the alien supercomputer to let him access it and b) Kyr shooting Avi in the head after he uses access to the supercomputer to wipe out 90% of galactic civilization as payback for the whole ‘destroyed Earth with an antimatter missile’ thing (she got a case of morals when confronted with what ‘winning’ would mean. Also her brother shooting himself.)

By all rights they should absolutely hate each other and after two temporal recursions and oceans of retroactively unspilled blood on all their hands they’re the only people who even slightly understand each other. At one point Kyr tells Yiso ‘just so you know, I don’t really care about you as a person,’ and then immideately thinks ‘that was a lie. Why did I say that?’ Avi and Kyr both deprogram themselves from the cult that raised them but only the ‘loyalty to the cult’ bits and not the ‘alien race war vengance death cult’ bits. Yiso meets Kyr in an atemporal training simulation and gets retroactive Stockholm syndrone even though the first time they actually meet she breaks their ribs for repressed teenager reasons. They all drive me absolutely insane and I absolutely adore them. Even if Avi’s redemption felt waaaaay too rushed and unjustified in the final recursion, willing to forgive it here.

Time Loops

The big twist of the story is that, having fucked up and enabled Avi taking vengeance for Earth by doing the same thing to every other alien species, Kyr jumps into the alien supercomputer time manipulation buisness wholesale and goes back to prevent the destruction of Earth. Which then fast forwards to her being a newly minted officer in the Terran Expeditionary Fleet that is the imperial power dominating the known galaxy in increasingly high-collateral damage ways as time goes on. Yiso, in this timeline the beating heart and soul of the main alien resistance group, seeks her out and restores her memories and they go back to try and hijack the alien supercomputer before the government office whose hijacked its crippled remnants (as helmed by the alternate-timeline version of Gaea Station’s great leader, now a fleet admiral of the ‘Providence’ division) manage to literally destroy the universe.

It is mostly down to all the fanfic I’ve read, but I really, really adore timeline divergences that ropagate out and leave all the major characters different but similar people in alien yet appropriate situations. I also adore time travel stories about someone turning the timeline into swiss cheese trying to brute force their way to the one and only golden ending. So I adore this whole conceit. Really my only complaint is that there were only two (one and a half, really) recursions. Not that I’m demanding a full groundhog day here. But, like, it’d have been nice. And Kyr/Avi/Yiso continuously bumping into each other in different configurations and usually ending up at gunpoint would have been ann absolutely amazing bit.

Space Orcs

I can’t be sure Tesh actually had any exposure to the whole online meme of ‘humans as space orcs’, but I do and it’s really impossible to read the book as anything but an examination of the idea. Compared to every alien species ever encountered, humans are tall, heavy, muscular, impulsive, and violent. In a one-on-one confrontation they’ll snap any other species’ neck. The very first pages of the book are an excerpt from an in-universe text writing for an aliens about how actually really humans are very intelligent, and then talking about how threat displays and ‘human culture’. In the original timeline they even fit into the usual social niche of orcs in a lot of fantasy these days – the scattered and diminished remnants of a brutal empire that was defeated and mostly-exterminated in their attempts to conquer the universe.

The book’s handling of this doesn’t really have a point, as far as I can tell – the worldbuilding’s sufficiently divorced from anything real that trying to call it a commentary on racism or genocide or conquering empires is a stretch. (It is after all a fundamental point of the book that the obliteration of earth and extermination of the vast majority of humanity really was the only way the Wisdom could prevent the Terran Federation from conquering the known galaxy. Which is I’m extremely sure not something the author intends to be a historical analogy.) I found it a fun bit of worldbuilding and interesting subversion of normal space opera tropes regarding humanity’s relative abilities, anyway.

Theodicy

Is an incredibly pretentious way to title this section, but also in a sense kind of the core of the book’s plot? In an interesting way, and I think it’s really the book’s greatest weakness that it doesn’t explore or grapple with it enough.

Which is to say – the Wisdom is at the heart of galactic civilization. It’s an alien AI with vague but vast (though limited) reality-warping and precognitive powers. It does not rule the civilizations that accept it, but guides them as a benevolent god towards best, happiest outcomes with whatever support they ask for or need. To determine what ‘best’ means, it creates its Princes, vat-grown heirs to the dead species that created it, with a lifespan of millenia spent going through simulations and interacting with the world to provide the data and decision-making it requires to make that sort of strategic decision.

The Terran Federation’s attempt to reverse-engineer or hijack the Wisdom put it in a situation where the only solution its princes could find was to destroy the better part of humanity and even more of their industry and culture. Through the plot of the first acts of the book, Kyr and her genius-level-hacker friend hijack a node of it and Kyr convinces/forces it to accept her decision-making instead of its prince (who they just killed). This results in an explicitly colonialist human empire ruling over aliens as oppressed subjects, and using the half-wrecked and poorly understood Wisdom to eliminate threats before they occur (shunting the reality backlash off to alien worlds they don’t care about). The next acts of the book mostly resolve around fixing or reverting this, and end with Kyr diving back into a node and having another conversation with it.

A conversation which is basically it giving up. It reverts things back to the human-genocide timeline, then shuts down its infrastructure and goes dark, leaving the entire mostly pacifistic and loosely governed galactic civilization it had protected suddenly on its own. Humanity were such assholes we found a loving god and then convinced it to kill itself.

Which, like, could 100% totally work. As far as high concept short story prompts go its incredible. But as far as actually driving the action goes the Wisdom is the one who makes the most important deciisons in the entire book, and determine the entire shape of the plot. For it to land, it really really needed more than two and a half short conversations on screen, at least to me.

TL:DR

Good book, lesbian doing space atrocities, should have been longer.

#book review #sff #some desperate glory #emily tesh #lesbian space atrocities #space opera

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thesongofpurplesummer · 2 months

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What are some of your controversial opinions about The Tony Awards or Olivier Awards? (Shows/People that should have won)

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jessfandrawer · 1 year

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...Only small actors. - Konstantin Stanislavski

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abellinthecupboard · 6 months

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Maria Callas

Because my mother loves you, you sing in my apartment. An aria ends drip-drying. The first breath is the cleaver, rising. Then the rupture from you goes– That is what you do. Your vocal cords weathered decades ago, and today, a wedlocked immigrant’s daughter cradles her phone to hear you. The apartment condenses with your call. Even so, you are only to be listened to in moments when I miss her. For if brought out too often, just as any gold-rimmed porcelain becomes a dinner plate you shall only be a voice.

— Haro Lee, featured in Pine Hills Review (source)

#Maria Callas #Haro Lee #Pine Hills Review #poetry #writing #literature #opera #loss of a parent #poets on tumblr

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lucygold95 · 10 months

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POTO Busan review (centered on actors).

(*I wrote longer reviews in Korean on another SNS before. **It's a long review with bad English grammar, so if you're busy, I recommend you to read only keywords.)

0. I saw POTO Busan performances for the first time on April 30(Both matinée and evening performances). I had saw POTO World tour and London (+ JOJ concert in Korea😄) before and (as you all know) the POTO Korea set was the original version, not the world tour version or the London reopening version. The costumes were similar to the recent London costumes, but have more beads except Star Princess costume. The directing and choreography(except Masquerade) were Broadway versions before COVID.

I finished brief introduction, so I'll talk about actors now. (I know that POTO Korea video bootlegs exist, but most of them were recorded in very early days including previews. And some actors(particularly 조승우 and 송은혜) were sick at the beginning of the Busan run. So later performances were much better than those videos.)

1. Raoul actors

송원근's Raoul is gentle, romantic and mentally mature(He looks younger than his age, but he is actually 40). His Raoul resembles Steve Barton's Raoul in many ways. I think he's one of the standard ALW Raouls. (If you like the original London cast, I recommend 손지수 Christine and 송원근 Raoul pair.) His gentle voice, good romance acting and nice dance skills are his strengths.(He is now a famous musical actor, but long ago he was an unfamous idol/dance singer. He has also been a drama actor since 2013.) + Personally, his stifling acting at The Final Lair was very impressive.

황건하 has a very unique voice for Raoul. He has a very heavy tone. His deep voice color reminds me of Bengt Nordfors's Raoul. However, his Raoul is not as mature as Nordfors's. His Raoul is young(황건하 is 25 years old, so I think that's the reason.) and and full of enthusiasm like the Leroux Raoul. But his Raoul isn't fragile like the Leroux Raoul. His Raoul is weaker than Ramin and Hadley's, but it has a similar sense of mettle.

Doesn't 황건하's impression resemble that of Hadley and Ramin? +I think 황건하's strength is his nice singing skills.

2. Christine actresses

To be honest, Korean audiences gave 송은혜 a better rating than 손지수 on the reservation site during Busan run. On the contrary, I've seen many non-Korean old phans tend to prefer 손지수. If you want to know why, go to 2-4). (* I love both of them similarly.)

2-1) Voice color: Both Christines have quite different voice colors. 💙송은혜 Christine has a clear and very light voice color. Her voice is transparent and light like a shiny glass bead. Her voice color resembles previous Korean ALW Christines (Especially 김소현 Christine) voice colors.(+ Emmy Rossum's voice color a little bit too.) 🤍손지수 Christine has a light(but less lighter than 송은혜's voice), warm and very soft(<-->clear) voice. I think her voice color is very unique! Her voice reminds me of soft and warm angel wings.

2-2) Singing style: 💙송은혜 sang POTO numbers more like musical singing style than opera " .(She majored in opera, but worked as a popera singer/an ensemble in the musical Elisabeth.) I think her singing style resembles previous Korean Christines (Especially, 최현주 Christine's POTO Korea 1st revival run. *최현주's stage name in Japan was 'Sai Tamami'.) and Sierra Boggess (Particularly WYSHA) a lot. 송은혜 has a girlish voice and face(I think both Christines look younger than their age. 송은혜 is 30 years old and 손지수 is 33 years old.), but she is an independent and modern Christine 'compared to the other Christine'. But her voice is light and less powerful than Sierra's, so sometimes I think her singing resembles Amy Manford too(But less operatic way).

🤍손지수 sang POTO numbers in an operatic way. (She is an opera singer.) And her calm and classical singing style is very reminiscent of Sarah Brightman's singing style. (+ Rebecca Caine's West End run.) But warmer and softer than them(I think Caine and Brightman has cooler voice and more vivid voice).

I prefer 🤍손지수's WYSHA🤍 more than 송은혜's and I prefer 💙송은혜's TOM and POTO(I like her cadenza & high notes)💙 more than 손지수's. Personally, 손지수's WYSHA is one of the top five WYSHWs I've heard.

2-3) Character interpretation: 💙As I said above, 송은혜 Christine was an independent and modern Christine 'compared to the other Christine'. Also, her interpretation influenced a lot by 최현주(최현주's Korea run. But I think 송은혜's voice color and face resemble 김소현's.) and Sierra's. But I think her Christine is less stronger than Sierra's. + 송은혜 Christine's love for Phantom is more Erosive 'compared to the other Christine'. ++ I like 송은혜's Serafimo.

🤍In every way, 손지수's Christine evoked the nostalgia of Christines in the 80s and 90s. (Her special voice color that distinguishes it from others, operatic singing style and Leroux-like Christine interpretation.) She was a very soft and warm Christine. She respected and relied on Phantom, her teacher and guardian. And her love for the Phantom was close to the Virgin Mary's agape love for humanity. I really love her classical Christine interpretation!

2-4) Points to be improved: I really love 손지수's classical Christine, but she need to develop her dialogue acting and body acting. She is a native Korean and speaks Korean naturally in her daily life, but on stage, she spoke lines as if she were reading a textbook. She spoke strictly and exaggerated at the same time. I know POTO is a sung-through musical but her Little Lotte dialogue acting was not good. But if you are not a native Korean speaker, it will be hard to notice. (+ Interestingly, her songs contained a variety of emotions and her pronunciation was not strange when she sings.) I think this is why she is preferred by non-Korean phans over Korean audiences. If you want to know her strengths, read the keywords from 1-1) to 1-3).

송은혜's lines and body acting were okay, but often 손지수's facial expressions were better than her. (The interesting thing is that 송은혜 said she has been a phan for more than a decade, but the other Christine – who wasn't a phan – is preferred to her by a global phandom👀(I think it's because 송은혜 is a fan of Sierra and old phans tend to prefer classic POTO over 25th anniversary.)) And neither of them can do ballet professionally.

3. Phantom actors (* I didn't see 조승우

Phantom's performance in a good seat, and his condition was not good at that day, so I'll exclude him from this Busan review.)

전동석's Phantom was a romantic and soft phantom like Kopit's Phantom(* He played Kopit Phantom. But still, his ALW Phantom was stronger than his kopit Phantom). His Phantom seemed to have loved Christine for a long time. Not every performance, but he would often greet Christine (as if he were worshiping her) during the POTO number like the picture below.

And he carefully stroked her face when she fell asleep during The Music of the Night. His phantom reminds me of Earl Carpenter's phantom, who was also a soft phantom and liked to stroke Christine's hair.

* 전동석 sang POTO numbers by mixing musical and opera singing styles.(Although he majored in opera, he has worked as a musical actor for a long time, not an opera singer.) And he sang high notes well.

On the contrary, 김주택's Phantom was a very strict teacher and musician who wants to strongly control his student – Christine who will show his music to the world – 'at first'. He looked domineering and sometimes very dangerous villain. During STYDI, 전동석's Phantom seemed so sad and he couldn't hurt Christine, but 김주택's Phantom was very angry and seemed to strangle(but not kill) Christine if she was caught. But he got shocked and recognized his love to Christine when Christine handed over his mask during STYDI. After that 김주택 Phantom changed a lot. Even his voice changed a lot.

* At first, 김주택 Phantom's voice sounded very heavy and Phantom is in his mid-40s to early 50s, but after STYDI, his voice changed softly and Phantom is in his mid or late-30s except some scenes. (* 전동석 Phantom's voice sounded like he is in his mid-30s. And his voice color was lighter than 김주택's.) Also, 김주택 sang the numbers very operaically(It's natural that he is an opera singer(Baritone). *POTO is his musical debut).

I expected he still had a very scary side during AIAOY reprise 1, but I was surprised that he cried really a lot during AIAOY reprise 1. He broke my predictions several times and gave me fresh shocks as if I had never seen the Phantom of the Opera.

From here, I'm going to compare the two phantom actors. During PONR, 전동석's phantom was very sexy and I am sure his 'Don Juan Triumphant' must be loved by the audience. I saw the performance from the perspective of the Paris Opera audience who enjoyed the show. On the contrary, 김주택 Phantom's 'Don Juan Triumphant' seemed very dangerous. I felt a dangerous criminal go crazy and snuck in. I saw the performance from the perspective of the Paris Opera staff who were nervously watching the performance. And I love 김주택's AIAOY reprise 2.

At the final lair, 전동석 Phantom tended to recite that Christine was the only light to him after she left. I think his experience of Kopit Phantom was melted here. I like the way he emphasized Phantom's love to Christine. From beginning to end, the most important thing to him was Christine. Even during the 'Why So Silent', he thought that 'you' were Christine, not André and Firmin. Anyway, he let Christine go and cried, but he also smiled (like Ethan Freeman's Phantom) because his soul was saved by her kiss. 김주택 Phantom's final lair was scary and nervous. But Christine, especially soft and angelic 손지수 Christine, melted that dramatically with a warm heart and kisses. I think 김주택 Phantom and 손지수 Christine are a really good match for each other. They have similar singing styles(They are both opera singers and studied at the Conservatorio di Musica Giuseppe Verdi di Milano.) and the height difference between 김주택(178cm) and 손지수(early 160s) is also appropriate. (*송은혜 is taller than 170cm and she wears Christine's heels on stage, so she has better chemistry with tall phantoms. **The phantom in the image below is 전동석, who is 186cm tall.)

Let's get back to the point. I think 손지수's interpretation of Christine goes well with all Korean Phantoms. But I think 손지수's soft and warm Christine goes best with 김주택's strict and scary phantom. It reminds me of a fairy tale that the goddess of spring softly melts the god of cold winter. + 김주택's Phantom also smiled (like Ethan Freeman's Phantom) at the end.

4. Carlottas, Piangi, Meg and André.

Both Carlotta actresses are young and are not much older than Christine actresses. For example, 한보라 – one of the Carlotta actresses, was born in 1988, and 손지수 – one of the Christine actresses, was born in 1989. So that reminded me of the relationship between Patti sisters(Adelina Patti/Carlotta Patti) and Christine Nilsson(*Both Adelina and Christine were born in 1843). 한보라, in particular, has a light tone like Adelina. (The other Carlotta – 이지영 has a calm voice.)

박회림 Piangi was really good at both singing and acting. The long extension of Hannibal high note at the end of the Busan run was very surprising.

조하린, who played Meg, has a sweet and girlish voice :) I like her Meg, though she sometimes struggled with the high notes. Her dance was great too.

Finally, I admired 윤영석's André. His André really loves music and art. It was really impressive that his eyes were shining when he saw arts. His André was as good as his Phantom in both singing and acting.

#the phantom of the opera #poto korea #poto busan #review #오페라의 유령

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phantomato13 · 7 months

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It is once again time for another reviews my brethren, but this time it's a movie that isn't Phantom related - HOWEVER, it's a movie I firmly believe every Phandom Pham should watch! It is called Beauty and the Beast (Panna a netvor originally). It is from 1978 directed by Czech filmmaker, Juraj Herz.

It's a grimy, foggier retelling of the classic tale except in this one our Beast is a bird-man called Netvor. Just like the original story, Julie (this version's Belle) sacrifices her life for her father by going to the Beast's castle. The Beast falls in love with her while trying to hold back his wild, animalistic urges. The reason I think fellow Phantom fans would love this is because it has a similar concept where the male love interest is afraid to show his face/body to the female love interest. I watched the whole film with English subtitles on YouTube (link). Next to The Phantom of the Opera, Beauty and the Beast is one of my top favorite stories ever so don't be surprised if you see more of it on my blog every now and then lol (the 1946 version is also amazing). Here's a link to the Letterboxd page as well!

#phantomato13 reviews #beauty and the beast #beauty and the beast 1978 #juraj herz #films #horror films #letterboxd #film review #movie recommendation #movie review #the phantom of the opera #70s #70s aesthetic #70s film #1970s #adjacent

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fadinglandtragedy · 10 months

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POTO Korea Review

August 9, 2023 Seoul

Cast : Jeon dong-seok, Sohn ji-soo, Song won-geun

[first review]

This one was my favorite.

JDS is insane. His voice is in the best shape these days, and his performance is very engaging. He seems to be gradually stepping out of the shadow of the Y&K Phantom and steadily building his own phantom. He still can't quite touch Christine and doesn't know how to treat her, but his attitude and mood captures the sassiness of the ALW phantom.

It's been a few days since I saw his previous performance, but I was surprised to see that his movements were more organized. This time I was able to see him more closely from a different angle, he really organized his hair nicely and walked like this :

Now I know why Christine actresses said he was so cool in that moment. Really seductive.

And he kept trying to whisper in Christine's ear at MOTN. It was like... it was the one scene that summed up why Christine couldn't resist the Phantom.

At the Red death scene, I was told it’s an recording, but he broke through the recording and sang it really loudly live. (I think the people in the front row could hear it.) His voice and the recording resonated, which seemed like another Phantom’s trick. and reminded me of the LEROUX Phantom playing with his voice... It was quite fascinating.

PONR… I like that he matches his movements with her in the Christine part.

My favorite scene was the one in Final lair where he was arguing with Raoul behind the bars. The original line, ‘I love her, does that mean nothing?’ was changed to ‘I love her, Why don't you believe in love?’ in the Korean. JDS, who had been bit relaxed, was momentarily unable to hold back his tears. I realized that his Phantom was the one who believed in the miracle of love more than anyone else in this musical…

With that, he started crying a lot... again, and I think it was more than the last performance. He kept showing signs of pulling himself together to hit his lines (especially when he heard ‘I gave my mind blindly’), and I could keep hear him sobbing in the silences. really don't know how he sings steadily in the middle of that… When Christine came to return the ring, he looked like wanted to tell her not to, but all I could hear was a sob.

He's crying like the world is ending, and behind him, Raoul kisses Christine's hand… yes it’s sad but also too beautiful. Can’t deny it.

I know it’s weird, but I like the moment right before he lassoed Raoul the best. His impressive use of elongated limbs reminds me of Leroux's Phantom. Sexy

I'd love to see his phantom on west end stage, if that's possible.. he'd look better in west end makeup

The chemistry between JDS & SJS is really 🤌 They're both settling into their acting, and when JDS shows his charms, SJS responds well to it.

I think Sohn ji-soo is going to be my new favorite Christine… Her dialog is a little awkward, but she's a former opera singer, so she's very good at conveying emotion through song, and also (of course) a good singer.

Overall, she is more passive, serene, and calm than SEH Christine. This time I saw in her a Christine from the 90s and 00s. A very early, almost archetypal Christine. She plays Christine as fragile and vulnerable, but that's what makes her shine in the graveyard scene. While SEH showed us a beautifully radiant prima donna making her debut in TOM, SJS brings a lush sadness to the Wishing.

She seems overwhelmed with how to get through this, but in the end, she moves forward unbroken. So her first step, Wishing, is even more impressive.

Her feelings toward the Phantom are similar to those of a mortal facing the Absolute. In The mirror scene, she fearfully soothes the Phantom, but when his anger is unabated and he tries to reveal himself, she willingly tries to open the dressing room door, despite her fears.(She must have thought he would be at the door. Love this detail!)

She was afraid to face the Phantom in STYDI (on the other hand, SEH didn't avoid his gaze.), but when he turned away in pain, she reached out her hand as if she wanted to hug him.

In the Final lair, she's upset to see herself in a wedding dress, but when the Phantom starts singing (this face, which earned~), she turns toward him as if mesmerized. (This reminds me of Claire Lyon in PONR)

She was clearly afraid of him, but also attracted to him. It's such a natural and obvious Christine’s trait, but it was great to see it again with the chemistry between JDS and SJS. I still remember her reaching for him as he painfully yelled at her to leave…

I saw her respond to being told that she had the biggest role in Don Juan by saying, "me…?". Funnily enough, JDS once interviewed that when phantom said, 'I've written you an opera,' the 'you' was referring to Christine.

I thought that Christine would have instinctively sensed the Phantom's obsession and affection and already known that she would be the one to play Aminta, but her Christine seems to think that his anger is simply a hate of her.

She was a relatively innocent and naive Christine, which seemed to work well with JDS's romantic side.

She and SEH Christine both sing along Carlotta's TOM in small voice, which is a detail I love because it's so cute and shows their desire to sing🥹

Oh and Korean fans call her a hamster… i can understand. She’s so lovely Christine!

I’m not sure about SWG Raoul… his presence was barely felt. I'm not sure if it was tiredness or what, but his performance had very little impact, and I felt like I was watching a character from another musical he was in.

But he was definitely milder than HGH, and I love the detail of him hugging Christine in the final lair, even though he's in a lasso.

I really like LJY Carlotta! Her performance was appropriate and impressive as a prideful prima donna. At the same time, her mean and demanding personality was well portrayed, making her an appealing character. Like the scene in Il Muto where she throws Christine into bed (Andre's panicked reaction is hilarious) or in Don Juan rehearsal where she gently teaches Piangi and gets annoyed with Monsieur Reyer in an instant are good examples.

When she says "she’s crazy," it's no longer sarcastic, but more like she's looking at a mentally ill person with disdain, which, coupled with PHR Piangi's reaction afterward, further emphasizes the relationship between the Phantom and Christine. (It shows how strange their relationship is and that it can't be shared with anyone.)

There were a lot of little funny scenes. The most interesting was the conductor's panicked performance with Andre in the Il Muto ballet scene. It was quite funny to see her panicking, searching for the score, and ruffling her hair.

why do the ballet girls' screams seem to get louder and louder...? 😂

The supporting cast is also working well together, and the performance is gradually becoming more complete. I was actually thinking that this production might not be for me, but um now I just wish I could follow this show and witness every moment..

If you sit in the first row, your neck can get sore, and you can barely see the Phantom on the angel. On this day, JDS was very emotional and the angel was swaying SO much that I wondered what was going on overhead.

There are no tickets left for me right now, but I hope this isn't the last time I see his phantom. I'd love to see it again as a JDS/SJS/HGH/LJY pair if I get the chance🙏

#phantom of the opera #poto korea #poto review

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