{"id":28451,"date":"2018-09-21T09:35:46","date_gmt":"2018-09-21T13:35:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.runkevinrun.com\/?p=28451"},"modified":"2018-09-21T09:41:58","modified_gmt":"2018-09-21T13:41:58","slug":"september-21-2018-opera-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/?p=28451","title":{"rendered":"September 21, 2018 – Opera Man"},"content":{"rendered":"

Maybe it was because I am reading Great Expectations<\/em>, and Pip had just been handed his titular titles.\u00a0 Mr. Jaggers told him to prepare to head to London by buying some new clothes; Pip must dress the part of the gentleman now.\u00a0 Class matters, status matters, money matters.\u00a0 The townspeople became obsequious, none more so than Mr. Pumblechook, with his feverish handshakes and \u201cMay I\u2026?\u201ds forming a crucial social commentary.<\/p>\n

Whatever the reason, I was hyper aware of clothes and class and my outsider status at the Vienna Opera House last night.<\/p>\n

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I was decked out in Pure American.\u00a0 Jeans, sneakers, an ill-fitting collared dress shirt.\u00a0 I\u2019ve spent a lot of my life as a wallflower, all the more after I realized the shining spotlight of fame was one I couldn\u2019t achieve and even if I did I would find too harsh and too bright; I\u2019d wither there or I could cut out the middleman and just stick to the shadows and sidelines.\u00a0 I try not to draw attention to myself, try to blend in, try to just shuffle along.\u00a0 Ironic given that this whole website is a narcissistic indulgence \u2013 it is after all the \u201cOfficial\u201d website of Kevin S. Hanna (just as kevinshanna.com is come to think of it).\u00a0 And yet, I am self conscious of trying to look like I belong though I don\u2019t really seem to belong to much of anything as was recently pointed out to me (that\u2019s a whole different story).<\/p>\n

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So it was that as I entered the Vienna Opera House with many a folk dressed to the nines\u2026 and some I dare say to the tens\u2026 that I was feeling incredibly ill-at-ease, a Joe Gargery blacksmith of Dickens fame amongst the celestial bodies of the \u201cupper crust.\u201d\u00a0 I was relieved to see a few folks in dress casual and at least I wasn\u2019t the only one in jeans and sneakers.\u00a0 There were by my count two other ugly ducklings amongst the sea of swans.<\/p>\n

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Even the coat check is classier than me.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The building itself is magnificent, ornate without feeling Trumpian ostentatious.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was astonished to be directed to the first floor as I had assumed my \u201cpartially obstructed seat\u201d had to be up in the rafters behind some pole.\u00a0 It was a bit of a thrill to be directed to a box seat, number 6 on the right hand side.\u00a0 Opening the red door into the box seats alcove felt like something out of a movie.<\/p>\n

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Ho hum. Just waiting for the Opera.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Unlike the photo above which was obviously staged, my seat was the last one, a solitary chair shoved beyond a row of two and the front row of three.\u00a0 Technically there was room for it, though it felt more like an afterthought, a \u201cya know, Cedric, for the marginal cost of a chair here, we could generate an equivalent marginal revenue, thus allowing us to achieve maximum economic efficiency.\u201d<\/p>\n

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My view before the other opera goers arrived.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

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My view once everyone was seated and the show was about to begin.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My partially obstructed view was more like a 15\/16th<\/sup> obstructed view.\u00a0 Had there been a bold directorial choice to stage everything down stage right, I would have had choice seats.\u00a0 As it was, despite my efforts to crane my neck and duck and weave my line of sight between bobbing heads of my fellow opera-goers, I saw very little of the production proper.\u00a0 The chair I had sight of on stage though really did its job.\u00a0 One would say it was an outstanding performer, very sturdy.\u00a0 As a supporting character, it really held its weight.<\/p>\n

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My comparison review to Berlin therefore must be taken with as a blind taste test, for my Vienna\u2019s viewing could only charitably called \u201cmyopic.\u201d\u00a0 The Vienna orchestra was shockingly more expressive and impressive than Berlin, but the actors\/singers were in my opinion not up to snuff.\u00a0 Maybe seeing their movements on stage would have enhanced my appreciation but I found their vocals not as emotionally resonant for me.\u00a0 The acoustics of the Vienna house though were sublime.\u00a0 They played with sound, the party ongoing offstage as a more intimate moment between Violetta and Alfredo played out.\u00a0 This is a ridiculous comparison but there was a Dolby Surround Sound feel as moments backstage reverberated throughout the theater making it seem as though we were onstage ourselves and the party was happening in another wing of the mansion.<\/p>\n

Speaking of the staged mansion, when I did catch a glimpse of the scenic design, it was\u2026 minimalistic.<\/p>\n

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Huh. So that’s what it looks like.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I think it\u2019s Brechtian to use limited prop\/scrims to suggest the scene but I may be using the wrong term.\u00a0 Ya know what it also kind of reminded me of was Lars Von Trier\u2019s \u201cDogville\u201d staging\u2026 which again I think was inspired by Bertold Brecht, but I can\u2019t be too sure of that as my mind is not what it used to be on such things.\u00a0 Yes, yes\u2026 I could google it but, well, let\u2019s make this interactive, shall we?\u00a0 You can google it here.<\/p>\n

And one final note \u2013 spoiler alert<\/strong><\/em> \u2013 Violetta still dies at the end.<\/p>\n

I decided to stand up for this part because, really, I wasn’t blocking anybody’s view… and what were the ushers going to do?\u00a0 Throw me out?\u00a0 I’ve seen this picture before, buster.\u00a0 I was impressed with the staging in Berlin, especially given how the whole thing seems to have a “last scene of the Sopranos” abruptness to it — Violetta recovers, for a moment, and then – dies.\u00a0 CURTAIN.\u00a0 There’s almost no space between the death and the curtain.\u00a0 In Berlin, they kinda recreated Michelangelo<\/span>‘s Pieta, with Alberto desperately cradling Violetta in his arms hoping she’ll pull through and then — BAM.\u00a0 Curtain.<\/p>\n

Vienna’s closer was almost comically overdone.\u00a0 As we shuffled out of the theater following the seven (7!) curtain calls, the hoity toity seemed to find it all \u201cartistically brave\u201d and \u201cinspired.\u201d\u00a0 The hoi polloi though were laughing with tears as they re-enacted the melodramatic diva literally hitting her mark.\u00a0 She was standing apart from all, her arm raised to the sky for 15 seconds, followed by a wet bag of cement collapse to the stage floor for her death scene and the end of the show.\u00a0 Wish I could’ve gotten a photo of that.\u00a0 Maybe that’s classical Operatic technique but, hoo, I’ve seen better deaths on stage.<\/p>\n

That being said, I\u2019m glad I went, albeit I think 34 euros was too high a price for a 1\/16th<\/sup> view of the play.<\/p>\n

Adding a bit to minor buyer’s remorse, I also found out they were livebroadcasting the performance to the main square on a jumbotron.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I normally feel videos of theater never quite have the visceral appeal of being there in the live audience, seeing the show with one\u2019s own eyes.\u00a0 But in this case since I saw very little of the show with my own eyes, the Jumbotron folks may have gotten a better experience.\u00a0 Still, I got to sit in a box seat at the Opera, and that\u2019s not nothing.<\/p>\n

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I cannot tell a lyre, I’m glad I went.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maybe it was because I am reading Great Expectations, and Pip had just been handed his titular titles.\u00a0 Mr. Jaggers told him to prepare to head to London by buying some new clothes; Pip must dress the part of the gentleman now.\u00a0 Class matters, status matters, money matters.\u00a0 The townspeople became obsequious, none more so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28451\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}