Werther

Doesn't the title make you want that warm caramel goodness in your mouth? Too bad I only have Ricola's here in case I get sick.

Aaaanyway. Werther tonight was sung with the fabulous Sophie Koch as Charlotte, and supposed to be Adriana Kucerova, but she got sick and walked the part while another "house" Soprano sang from the pit (as Sophie), and the talented and warm-voiced Piotr Beczala in the title role.

So. It started off with me being more interested in the cute little kids singing "noel noel noel" because seeing them run around and then freeze (as the staging had freezing when Werther was contemplating life and death and other poetic subjects), was more interesting than the set, which was a rotating (Munich is apparently one of the first, if not the first theater to use the a-la-les mis rotating stage), and painted and scribbled with "artistic" graffiti in French all over.

I tried to get a picture, really I did. But all 5 came out blurry. Damn you no flash!!! My hands weren't steady at the curtain call I suppose.

Ok, so. The singing was very good. I liked Sophie Koch a lot. She cut very well and had a warm tone but also mixed with steel, which was very effective dramatically during Va and the "you gotta leave me right now before my husband comes back" duet.

Werther- Piotr- amazing. Lovely French control in terms of pulling back on those high notes and singing them in that half falsetto half pianissimo voice. His aria got a good 2 minute cheering section, and it was really really really dramatic and he took it just to the exact right place- not melodramatic or histrionic even though the text and drama borders on that and sometimes requires it. It was...well, as my post below describes- honest. And he still got that awesome ovation.

I was disappointed not to hear Kucerova, and her replacement from the pit didn't do much to impress. The announcement involved something about the fact that she had sung it in German 5 years ago and was now doing it in French..so I'm sure that the pressure was on, she was on book and in the pit...not the funnest place to be. It was sweet and pretty but she couldn't really do all that she could do were she onstage I think.

Other observations: The death scene was amazing. All the old ladies were crying and after the doors opened there was many a smeared mascara face coming out into the bright lights of the hallways.
The rotating stage around Werther really worked. There was the whole time his writing desk on an "Atlas-like" ROCK in the center...and sometimes he was there ignoring the action on stage but doing his thing..and it was ok and I liked it.
Little kids choruses are more in tune and in tempo that the real chorus! HA ha! Luisa Miller's raced all over the place. The kids were pretty darn good.

General tips for Opera Festival goers in the future:
BOOK YOUR TICKETS THE DAY THEY ARE ANNOUNCED ON THE INTERNET.

I mean, I've gotten awesome tickets each time I go, (standing room student price is 5 Euros, and if the show is sold out, people stand out in front of the theater and sell their tickets for close to the price they paid for it) but each time it's a gamble, because there are never any cheaper (meaning, not 340 Euro) seats left since they were all snatched up at the beginning, and then people just stand outside and sell them if they can't go- OR if they bought 4 for fun and go themselves but sell the other three.

We shelled out 20 Euros each for a nice seat in the 3rd Ring Center for Luisa Miller and that was really worth it. We have center seats for Orlando as well. We will probably get standing room tix for Nozze tomorrow night, and the shows left next week are Rigoletto (that weird Planet of the Apes/Set on the moon one), and Il Turco in Italia--hopefully we'll get into all of them for around 10-20 Euros.

But really, this would have been much easier and less of a hassle having to get to the theater an hour early and ask around for tickets at the door or in line for last minute student tix, if I had booked early. Of course, I didn't know which shows I wanted to see, or when--so I couldn't have done that.
But IF I decide that I need to come back here for a month again next summer I'm booking all the operas as soon as the sales open online in February.