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Oct. 17th, 2004 11:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickI had a busy weekend that was, as I mentioned on Friday, mostly out of the house. I spent Saturday in a hotel conference room in Maryland, fighting about issues that don't particularly confront me any more... so I was more consensus-oriented than I might have been otherwise. This is not a bad thing. I don't think the working groups I participated in came out with bad conclusions. While I would have liked slightly different answers, the ones that the groups arrived at didn't, in my humble opinion, entirely suck. The Saturday meeting neatly concluded my involvement in the con, so now I'm done with that.
I spent the night at Aisha's house, and the following morning I got up and, after a brief Borders visit (coffee and manga), I headed off to the opera, which was Puccini's La Fanciulla del West, the original spaghetti western. It had gunfights, poker, whiskey, Wells Fargo, actual real, live horses(!), and a decent tenor, the same guy we saw last year as the lead in Il Trovatore. He still has really good hair. As the opening opera of the season, La Fanciulla del West was a hit even though I'd never heard of it at all before. The sets were complex, visually interesting, and very western-looking. In particular, the trees were stunning. The costumes were good, with muted colors that I thought were nicely realistic-looking. The leather duster worn by the Wells Fargo guy could have used some more distressing (it looked kinda new and pimp-daddy-ish), but other than that I liked the costumes. Everyone had cowboy boots, which I personally found amusing as hell. It's probably a given that I will like real, live horses (!) on stage, but even so, the real, live horses(!) were damn nice. There was a Belgian-looking carriage horse, who was really pleasant, patient, and nicely turned-out. There was also a "mail by pony express" horse that was a lovely dark bay, built kind of like a Morgan, maybe an appendix QH. Anyway, both were very nice horses and behaved excruciatingly well on stage.
The story is that there's this chick, Millie, who runs a bar. There's a sheriff, who has the hots for Millie (she's the only chick in the entire opera). There's a Dick Johnson (you know damn well I was straining internal organs to not fucking snicker at that name) who is, in reality, Evil Bandit Ramirrez. There's the Wells Fargo guy, and a bartender and a bunch of incidental miners and Millie's household help, dressed up like indians because they're supposed to BE indians. They sing in Italian. Everyone, I should note, sings in Italian. That said, I assure you it's a western.
Millie the saloon owner is not married, nor is she a roundheel. The sheriff hits on her but he has a wife back east and anyway Millie doesn't want him. She likes this Dick Johnson fellow who handily shows up after a fair amount of the stage being set for him. He's got good hair and a nice tenor voice. If I liked cowboys who sang in Italian, he'd be my choice, too. The Wells Fargo guy and the Sheriff are busy looking for Evil Bandit Ramierrez. Er. Dick Johnson is Evil Bandit Ramierrez.
Millie goes home for the night. Evil Bandit Johnson shows up. There is nookie of the kissing sort. Bandit goes to sleep in bed, Millie goes to sleep on the hearth in front of fire. There is a knock without, and lo, it is the Sheriff, looking for Evil Bandit. Millie claims he's not there. Sheriff leaves. Millie yells at Evil Bandit that he's (Ricky Ricardo voice) got some 'splainin' to do. He explains that he only inherited the bandit gang and was using it to support his widowed mother and many, many young siblings. On Sundays. To church. Millie doesn't particularly buy this and she sends Evil Bandit out into the night. There is a shot, offstage. She hears it and goes out in her nightie, looking for Evil Bandit. She helps him back to the house, bleeding from what looks like a sucking chest wound. Millie puts him in the attic to hide. Sheriff shows up, having tracked (it's snowing outside) Evil Bandit to her door. He searches the not-very-large cabin. No Evil Bandit. But then, he sees the blood and figures it out. Evil Bandit climbs down from the attic and passes out. Millie offers herself and Evil Bandit if Sheriff can beat her 2 out of 3 at poker. Of course, if Sheriff loses, Millie gets to keep Evil Bandit and doesn't have to sleep with Sheriff.
Millie cheats at cards by pretending to faint and swiping new cards out of her sock. This fools ex-card-shark Sheriff, but that's okay because he doesn't keep his word and goes after Evil Bandit anyway. Evil Bandit (miraculously recovered from his sucking chest wound) is captured by the posse. They're going to hang him but Millie shows up, begs for his life, and suckers all the miner types into letting her have him. They go off into the sunset, to live happily ever after in somewhere that isn't California.
I guess, what with the theme of redemption-at-any-age, the happy ending was pretty much required. However, I don't LIKE happy endings. If it had been my opera, Sheriff would have hung Evil Bandit over Millie's protests. Evil Bandit, good hair or no, would wind up with a serious case of the deads. Millie would be bitter, drunk, and clinging to her saloon instead of happily wedded to anyone. Sheriff would be without Millie because she'd never go for him once he hung Evil Bandit. Yep. That's the way I would have ended the opera.
I am not sure why Puccini did this one as a happy ending. He was able to do some really good unhappy endings. La Boheme is practically the textbook definition of a three-hankie opera. Madame Butterfly, another Puccini effort, is gut-wrenchingly unhappy. As I've seen both of those, I can assure you that they are enormously satisfying, misery-laden operas.
I spent the night at Aisha's house, and the following morning I got up and, after a brief Borders visit (coffee and manga), I headed off to the opera, which was Puccini's La Fanciulla del West, the original spaghetti western. It had gunfights, poker, whiskey, Wells Fargo, actual real, live horses(!), and a decent tenor, the same guy we saw last year as the lead in Il Trovatore. He still has really good hair. As the opening opera of the season, La Fanciulla del West was a hit even though I'd never heard of it at all before. The sets were complex, visually interesting, and very western-looking. In particular, the trees were stunning. The costumes were good, with muted colors that I thought were nicely realistic-looking. The leather duster worn by the Wells Fargo guy could have used some more distressing (it looked kinda new and pimp-daddy-ish), but other than that I liked the costumes. Everyone had cowboy boots, which I personally found amusing as hell. It's probably a given that I will like real, live horses (!) on stage, but even so, the real, live horses(!) were damn nice. There was a Belgian-looking carriage horse, who was really pleasant, patient, and nicely turned-out. There was also a "mail by pony express" horse that was a lovely dark bay, built kind of like a Morgan, maybe an appendix QH. Anyway, both were very nice horses and behaved excruciatingly well on stage.
The story is that there's this chick, Millie, who runs a bar. There's a sheriff, who has the hots for Millie (she's the only chick in the entire opera). There's a Dick Johnson (you know damn well I was straining internal organs to not fucking snicker at that name) who is, in reality, Evil Bandit Ramirrez. There's the Wells Fargo guy, and a bartender and a bunch of incidental miners and Millie's household help, dressed up like indians because they're supposed to BE indians. They sing in Italian. Everyone, I should note, sings in Italian. That said, I assure you it's a western.
Millie the saloon owner is not married, nor is she a roundheel. The sheriff hits on her but he has a wife back east and anyway Millie doesn't want him. She likes this Dick Johnson fellow who handily shows up after a fair amount of the stage being set for him. He's got good hair and a nice tenor voice. If I liked cowboys who sang in Italian, he'd be my choice, too. The Wells Fargo guy and the Sheriff are busy looking for Evil Bandit Ramierrez. Er. Dick Johnson is Evil Bandit Ramierrez.
Millie goes home for the night. Evil Bandit Johnson shows up. There is nookie of the kissing sort. Bandit goes to sleep in bed, Millie goes to sleep on the hearth in front of fire. There is a knock without, and lo, it is the Sheriff, looking for Evil Bandit. Millie claims he's not there. Sheriff leaves. Millie yells at Evil Bandit that he's (Ricky Ricardo voice) got some 'splainin' to do. He explains that he only inherited the bandit gang and was using it to support his widowed mother and many, many young siblings. On Sundays. To church. Millie doesn't particularly buy this and she sends Evil Bandit out into the night. There is a shot, offstage. She hears it and goes out in her nightie, looking for Evil Bandit. She helps him back to the house, bleeding from what looks like a sucking chest wound. Millie puts him in the attic to hide. Sheriff shows up, having tracked (it's snowing outside) Evil Bandit to her door. He searches the not-very-large cabin. No Evil Bandit. But then, he sees the blood and figures it out. Evil Bandit climbs down from the attic and passes out. Millie offers herself and Evil Bandit if Sheriff can beat her 2 out of 3 at poker. Of course, if Sheriff loses, Millie gets to keep Evil Bandit and doesn't have to sleep with Sheriff.
Millie cheats at cards by pretending to faint and swiping new cards out of her sock. This fools ex-card-shark Sheriff, but that's okay because he doesn't keep his word and goes after Evil Bandit anyway. Evil Bandit (miraculously recovered from his sucking chest wound) is captured by the posse. They're going to hang him but Millie shows up, begs for his life, and suckers all the miner types into letting her have him. They go off into the sunset, to live happily ever after in somewhere that isn't California.
I guess, what with the theme of redemption-at-any-age, the happy ending was pretty much required. However, I don't LIKE happy endings. If it had been my opera, Sheriff would have hung Evil Bandit over Millie's protests. Evil Bandit, good hair or no, would wind up with a serious case of the deads. Millie would be bitter, drunk, and clinging to her saloon instead of happily wedded to anyone. Sheriff would be without Millie because she'd never go for him once he hung Evil Bandit. Yep. That's the way I would have ended the opera.
I am not sure why Puccini did this one as a happy ending. He was able to do some really good unhappy endings. La Boheme is practically the textbook definition of a three-hankie opera. Madame Butterfly, another Puccini effort, is gut-wrenchingly unhappy. As I've seen both of those, I can assure you that they are enormously satisfying, misery-laden operas.
