oboeinsight

I said Sondheim’s Passion wasn’t my fave … but I am much more fond of it now than I was 2 hours ago! The Live From Lincoln Center broadcast was absolutely wonderful.

It seems much more like opera than a musical, though. Although I’ve yet to figure out what the difference is. Hmmm. Neither can the cast; they are discussing this very thing right now.

Oh … here we go … It isn’t opera “because Stephen Sondheim doesn’t write for opera, he writes for 45th Street, he writes for Broadway.” Thanks, Patti Lupone.

I agree with Audra McDonald, though; it is a chamber opera and certainly opera companies could (and should) do this! Just as they should do Sweeney Todd and A Little Night Music.

Opera San Jose, in fact, should do a summer series of Sondheim. Don’t you think? What a wonderful use of The California Theatre this would be!
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“The pure, piercing wail of an A-440 quiets all the extraneous noise and we begin tuning.”

I don’t know. I realize the sound of an oboe can be piercing, and we can even wail, but when tuning the orchestra? I sure hope that’s not how it sounds!

But this is a fun little read, despite those two words.

Meanwhile … I’m sitting here watching the “live” (if I lived in New York anyway) broadcast of Sondheim’s Passion. It’s not my favorite Sondheim music, but I wanted to see and hear what this broadcast would be like. One thing I can already complain about (since I complain so very well) is the way it is filmed. I absolutely hate it when a live performance is filmed the way this one is. Rather than filming the entire stage, the person who is in charge of the cameras decides what we are looking at, and a moment ago he or she decided we needed to look at books. I prefer to have the camera stay on the complete stage and let me decide if I want to focus on one musician, actor or even a boot.

Call me silly, but I think I should get to decide what to look at. Just as I would at the live performance.
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