Harry Potter at Jimmy Buffett/La Boheme

[Barb]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., "Rachel Bray" <bray.262 at o...> wrote:
> Anyway, as we were making our way 
> back to our cars, someone shouted out over the crowd to the 
> people annoying the drivers:
> 
> "QUIT SCARING THE MUGGLES!"
> 
> Most of us got it and laughed.  But this guy in front of me 
> said to his buddy "What was that?"  and his buddy said 
> "Dunno, something about scaring turtles."
> 
> Whatever.

Folks who don't know about the Potterverse are going to seem very 
out of the loop soon.  I see more and more Potter stuff infiltrating 
the culture every day!  (Can you tell I'm having great fun reading 
Foxtrot every morning this week?)

> Not sure how I'm going to make it through the day.  I 
> looked up at the clock a minute ago and it was 9:04.  I 
> swear it was 9:00 15 minutes ago!  Bad sign on how slow 
> this day is going to go.  I'm seeing La Boheme tonight 
> after work and then Harry at midnight. 
> 
> By the way, anyone see La Boheme?  Is it good?  I feel so 
> Cher in Moonstruck...."Have you ever been to the opera 
> before?"

Of course, not every opera venue is the Met (unless you ARE going to 
see it at the Met, and I assume you're not).  I've only seen La 
Boheme once, although I listen avidly every time it's on the radio, 
which is usually at least once a season.  I saw it in the tiny 
theatre they have at the Academy of Vocal Arts here in Philly, 
featuring student singers who are being trained for international 
opera careers.  (Scads of them are famous now, like Ruth Anne 
Swenson.)  

I was lucky enough to see Richard Troxell as Rodolfo, and I was also 
fortunate to sing with him in a Messiah concert years ago that we 
both did for Pennsylvania Pro Musica.  He played Pinkerton in the 
film of Madama Butterfly that was made not too long ago.  Rent it if 
you really get into Puccini!  He has a perfect voice for his 
operas.  Puccini loves the human voice like no other opera composer, 
IMO.  Beautiful, mushy, gushy stuff.  I love it all, from Turandot 
to silly, short farces like Gianni Schicchi.

Great sets and costumes are nice, of course, when you go to the 
opera, but in Boheme you really need a Rodolfo and a Mimi that have 
good chemistry and can sing duets TOGETHER instead of trying to 
tread all over each other.  And if you don't know the story, take a 
hankie and be prepared to cry at the end (assuming that the acting 
is good enough to make you care).  Have fun!

--Barb