Daily Blague

Last night, at City Opera, I had one of the most delightful evenings of my life. I had gotten tickets to see Così fan tutte, an opera about which I couldn't possibly be pickier, just to see what City Opera would make of it. It's a sign of how far City Opera has come from the old days that it mounts a production of this opera at all. Once upon a time, mediocrity at the demotic house would be tolerated, but no longer. And the only thing mediocre about Così at City Opera is the visible flimsiness of the sets. Who cares about that? It makes me feel that I'm in Palermo or somewhere. The singing was fantastic, but more than that, I was sitting in a happy house. Thanks to surtitles, the audience was able to follow the characters' witty exchanges. The translations were absolutely barbaric, but if they'd been accurate, there would have been less laughter. (Guglielmo exclaims near the end, for example, that he'd rather wed the barca di Caronte than Fiordiligi. How many people know what "Charon's barque" is anymore?) I really loved the laughter. Everything onstage and in the pit harmonized beautifully. and Così was sublime and ridiculous at the same time. I promise to name names later. If I single out the captivating Kyle Pfortmiller, it's because he spent most of the opera barefoot. That's not why he was captivating, though.

I can't say more about it now, because I'm packing for our annual Thanksgiving escape. I've only mentioned Così because it's the reason why I couldn't use the tickets to The Vertical Hour that I mistakenly ordered for the same evening. The Vertical Hour is still in previews, so ordinarily I would hold off writing about it until it opened, but my old friend (and he is old) took the tickets off my hands, and I have asked him to give us an idea of the show. If I made him wait, he'd get very cranky. So keep your eyes on the Comments.