Magic Flute and Onegin

Last night I came home from the opera and went straight to sleep. So here comes two days worth of performance thoughts!

Magic Flute at the Deutsch Oper was completely wonderful - even though it was displaced from the Staatsoper because of a gigantic restoration project. It was really interesting to me to see a professional production of this opera, having stage managed the PLU version in the fall of 2012. Their theme was tough to pinpoint..."bad" characters and the chorus were all in black, and the leads and "good" characters all in white. Papageno was dressed as a clown, which I thought was adorable and quite fitting. The special effects and the caliber of the performers were astounding. Overall I really enjoyed the performance - although I kind of forgot how boring the second half is, and had trouble staying awake...yesterday was a big day! Before the opera we saw the Berlin Wall, read all the things for days at the Topography of Terror museum (WWII), and went to the museum at Checkpoint Charlie.

Tonight we saw the ballet Onegin. Oh my word, it was amazing! The choreography was absolutely beautiful with some crazy lifts, the dancers were about as high caliber as they come, the music was incredible, the sets and lighting were great, and the seats at the Schiller Theatre (another temporary housing for the normal tenants of the Staatsoper) were much more comfortable than the ones we sat in for Magic Flute! Only two things about this performance didn't sit right with me - 1) Onegin, the lead male's, dancing wasn't quite up to par for me. I'm unsure whether it was a character choice to contrast with the other leading guy (someone compared him to a butterfly) or if he was just having some issues, but he looked off balance and like he had a very strong gravitational pull toward the stage...not a great look for a ballet dancer. 2) I wish I'd known where all those AMAZING lifts were going to happen so I could have had my camera ready! They were just about perfect.

Off to a church service tomorrow morning at the huge, crazy church we saw the other day. Pictures will come at some point...the internet at this hostel isn't quite ripe for the uploading. Happy reading!