Excuses:
For three weeks I have been gone on the week end although
typically now that there is an official holiday here, we have nothing
planned. The last three week ends in
reverse chronological order were baby-sitting in Boston, the AAUW national
convention in Washington, DC, and opera in Boston. In addition we have visited art exhibits, plays,
ballet and operas in Manhattan and have more coming up so the next few entries
will be things recently visited.
This the rill speaking, opera by Lee Hoiby, June 2011, St.
Peter’s Church, NYC
The setting is a small town in America and the doings of the
inhabitants, a trick that has been done before.
It is a work of small moments with a cast of likable characters. There is no excessive sentimentality nor is
there strong involvement. The
co-producer, Leonarda Priore, writes that, “We revisit that familiar easy,
simple life with pleasure and leave with a smile. And life is good.”
The staging while simple was effective, and Hoiby’s music
is pleasant.
Lee Hoiby died in March of this year. He was born in Wisconsin in 1926, and for
those of us with a Midwestern heritage, it is familiar and loved
territory. His music is modern (in the
nontechnical sense) and pleasant. His
librettist, Mark Shulgasser adopted the play by Lanford Wilson of the same name
for the opera.
There was also a performance of Bermudas, a poem by Andrew Marvel set to music by Mr. Hoiby.
No comments:
Post a Comment