Mad World

So some reason I failed to get this up after Jennifer, Patty and I went to go see Houston Grand Opera’s newest production of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor.  Better late than never, right?!

Lucia, as it’s generally referred to in the biz, is one of those TOP 10 shows that companies around the world can always pull out and sell out.  In short, Lucia is in love with some dude but her brother has promised her to another dude for money and stuff.  She is forced to marry dude #2 and on their wedding night goes buh-crazy, murders him and attends  their reception in a blood covered wedding dress (this is known appropriately enough as Lucia’s “Mad Scene.” Basically it’s what people come to the opera to see—and do a little judging of the soprano in the process).   Oh… and dude #1 kills himself in the end.  Who said opera was boring??? There’s not a typhoid infected lead in the bunch!

“Ummm ma’am, you got a little something on your blouse there…” (Projection from the HGO lobby)

 

I was actually very excited for this particular production because it was directed by John Doyle, who spearheaded the productions of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd and Company in which the actors were the orchestra (Patti LuPone playing the tuba anyone?)  Too bad he couldn’t seem to elicit the same kind of biting performances on the operatic stage. 

I can’t help but watch Lucia’s mad scene without thinking of the The Fifth Element where the Diva performs (the “opera” portion before all that crazy 27 octave techno cacophony in the movie is a portion of the longer mad scene).  One of the first mixed CD’s I ever received had the movie version on it, the irony being that my friend who made the CD, Jamie, introduced it thusly: “Now, I know you don’t like opera but….”

 

I was reminded I hadn’t put any of this up yet when a co-worker (whose daughter is an undergrad music student at the University of Houston) said she had seen Lucia at HGO and kept chuckling all throughout the stunning sextet because all she could think about was Disney’s Willie the Whale Who Wanted to Sing Opera.  I had never even heard of it so of course I went and watched it on my break.  The plot line is pretty self-explanitory: So there’s this whale who wants to sing opera… Nelson Eddy, operetta star of the highest order, IS the entire cast.  He reads as the narrator, voices each character, and sings all of the music (which, in addition to the the Lucia sextet, also includes Boito, Rossini and Wagner!!!) Certainly opera and cartoons have been paired before, most notably What’s Opera, Doc? and The Bugs Bunny Opera, but how on earth did I miss this one?!

 

O. M.G!

Artist: Gary Jules/ Album: Donnie Darko

I would be absolutely remiss if I didn’t include any “actual” clips from the opera, so if you have about 20 minutes to spare, PLEASE watch Natalie Dessay perform the mad scene.  I try to refrain from putting up too many opera clips because I understand a lot of you may not even watch them.  Dessay—who for my money is one of the most stunning operatic actresses out there—gives an amazing performance (A French translation of an Italian opera set in Scotland!!) of an amazing aria.  Just consider it your culture for the week, and if you can only muster just the first half then I’ll give you a pass.

Enter crazy, stage left: (Oh, and I guess I need to slap a NSFW label on clip 2/2 due to the bewb action at 4:55)

 

   

THE ARISTOCRATS!!!!

A [Double] Old-Fashioned Christmas

 

My favorite author, David Sedaris, also get’s a read during December with his book Holidays on Ice, which for some reason I always wanna call Holidays on the Rocks. It’s a collection of all his holiday themed stories and reminiscences.  We meet David the Macy’s elf in “The SantaLand Diaries,” the Dutch version of St. Nicolas (aka the former Bishop of Turkey now residing in Spain with his six to eight black slaves good friends who help him) and my absolute favorite, “Seasons Greetings to Our Friends and Family!!!”, best summed up in this way by the book’s Wikipedia page:

A Christmas letter from the Dunbar clan detailing matriarch Mrs. Dunbar's slow descent into insanity during the holiday season — belied by her insistently cheerful tone — as she is forced to cope with the discovery of her husband's infidelity, the resultant prostitute stepdaughter left in their care, and her drug-addict daughter's premature pregnancy.

[THE ARISTOCRATS!!!!!!]

Excerpt from Chapter 1, via The New York Times (follow the link for the full chapter)

I am a thirty-three-year-old man applying for a job as an elf.

I often see people on the streets dressed as objects and handing out leaflets. I tend to avoid leaflets but it breaks my heart to see a grown man dressed as a taco. So, if there is a costume involved, I tend not only to accept the leaflet, but to accept it graciously, saying, "Thank you so much," and thinking, You poor, pathetic son of a bitch. I don't know what you have but I hope I never catch it. This afternoon on Lexington Avenue I accepted a leaflet from a man dressed as a camcorder. Hot dogs, peanuts, tacos, video cameras, these things make me sad because they don't fit in on the streets. In a parade, maybe, but not on the streets. I figure that at least as an elf I will have a place; I'll be in Santa's Village with all the other elves. We will reside in a fluffy wonderland surrounded by candy canes and gingerbread shacks. It won't be quite as sad as standing on some street corner dressed as a french fry.

I am trying to look on the bright side. I arrived in New York three weeks ago with high hopes, hopes that have been challenged. In my imagination I'd go straight from Penn Station to the offices of "One Life to live," where I would drop off my bags and spruce up before heading off for drinks with Cord Roberts and Victoria Buchannon, the show's greatest stars. We'd sit in a plush booth at a tony cocktail lounge where my new celebrity friends would lift their frosty glasses in my direction and say, "A toast to David Sedaris, the best writer this show has ever had!!!"

[…]

But instead I am applying for a job as an elf. Even worse than applying is the very real possibility that I will not be hired, that I couldn't even find work as an elf. That's when you know you're a failure.

 

I actually had the pleasure of getting to meet David Sedaris (why am I using his full name?) when he came to do a reading from his then new book, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, at a bookstore in Austin with my friend, Jamie.  Here’s how that conversation went:

David Sedaris: “Hello—oh, you look familiar, have we met?”

Me: “Uh, no… unfortunately not!”

David Sedaris: “Oh, okay. Well, where are you in from?”

Me: “I came in from Waco—I’m a student at Baylor University. In Waco.”

David Sedaris: “Waco, huh? I stayed at a hotel there once I believe.  It was… nice."

Me: “Yeah, it’s interesting.  I mean, Waco IS famous for basically two things: A. Dr. Pepper and B. The Branch Dividian compound massacre.”

David Sedaris cricket:  *chirp* *chirp*

David Sedaris: “Uh huuuuuhh. Well… thanks for makin the trip?”

The David Sedaris honorary wing of my library. (Chipmunk Seeks Squirrel and Holidays on the Rocks Ice are currently on loan to other lifestyles throughout the apartment)

 

Artist: The Carpenters/ Album: Christmas Portrait

- So no, this isn’t the real name of the song.  That would be “An Old-Fashioned Christmas,” but just this once I’m changing it up a bit because, quite frankly, I have no idea why someone hasn’t written a song called “A Double Old-Fashioned Christmas”… isn’t there some statistic somewhere that says sales of alcohol goes up 60 percent during the months of November and December? Is it also true that I may or may not have just made that statistic up? WE’LL NEVER KNOW!!