Il Turco in Italia

Saw a relatively new production of Il Turco this evening.
FIRST of all, we got into the opera and sat in 103.30 Euro seats.
HOW you may ask?
Well, we arrived the usual hour early, but this show was at the Prinzregentheater, not the usual Staatsoper. The house was much smaller, we knew that. The tickets in general were more expensive, we knew that too, and there was no standing room...we also knew that.

So we stood outside and did the dance: Does that person look dressed up enough to want to go to the opera tonight, or are the tickets they are holding on sale?
Let's cruise by and see what the price is. 40 Euros? No, we decided our limit was 30 for this one, and they only have one ticket anyway.

So we're standing, standing, waiting, looking. There were two women there with 37 Euro seats, ONE was willing to give it to us for 20. The other wouldn't budge. Plus they weren't next to each other, so we held off.

Finally this lovely looking blond woman comes up to us and in her perfect English says (after I had "cruised" her tickets for 103 Euros and said I couldn't afford it):
I won't be able to sell these, what CAN you afford?
So we said that we each had 20 Euros, which was our lower limit..and she said that she'd rather have someone enjoy her VERY good seats than have them empty.

SCOOOOOOOORE!

So that is the story of how I sat in row 16 of the Prinzregentheater and could see Alexandrina Pendatschanska's amazing technique from the center of the row.

For 20 Euros.
Instead of 103.

Some people in this world are just really nice. This woman did not need to practically give us her tickets. But she did. And we said that we were singers and that made her all the happier.

Now to the awesomely funny production by Christof Loy.
It was just a joy to watch. Really. Updated, great comic timing, great voices- the best of the night being Pendatchanska's Fiorella- I mean, seriously...She sounds like a mezzo with her Eastern European color, and has this amazing facility with the Rossini score, and then out pops the high Eflat or D or whatever it was at the end of the aria and it's all there.

Ahhh..it was just great.

Things we loved:
Men's chorus dressed as women in the masquerade scene. Some of them made lovely Nathan Lane's a la Birdcage.
Alexandrina's (yea, we're on a first name basis) last aria where she pretty much had a tantrum and threw brightly colored shoes all over the stage.
And also all of her other arias and pretty much anytime she opened her mouth.
The poet's constant penchant for getting beat up accidentally.
The boxing match between Selim and Geronia including clothes being ripped off to show the boxing shorts in Italian and Turkish colors underneath them.

Narciso the tenor- David Alegret-- you GO boiiii...with your Rosssini tenor-ness. We mag'ed it. (mochte, mogen...you know, have to get th Deutsch in there somehow).


The scenes were also deftly changed by the men's chorus dressed AS the Staatsoper CREW (complete with black Tshirts with Staatsoper written on them), who came onstage and made fun of themselves and the situation that they had to be in by changing the scenery while another scenes was going on.

Self deprecating humor in opera, now there's a new concept.

Also, in the very first scene the curtain was already open to a bare stage except for a small mini-trailer park mobile home type of contraption. And somehow (through the trap door I'm sure), as soon as the chorus music began after the overture, we see three people come out. That's funny because it was there the whole time during the overture with the opera curtain.
But then 5 more come out. Then the entire chorus--- think clown car effect. It had us laughing for about 10 minutes...really.

It was just cheerful and smart. And extremely well sung.

So - YAY for Turco.
First time I heard any of the music, first time I saw it, and NOT the last time since I'm considering buying it on Itunes RIGHT after I finish this entry, and also learning any of her arias for audition season.

ALSO, last but very much not least, I bought the bestest (am meistens)boots in the entire world today.
They are Frye boots. They are green. They are a little orange. And they make me happy.
And even though they cost a lot of money (more than I've ever spent on a pair of shoes, or probably any other piece of clothing including recital gowns), they are the shiny-est, pretty-est, cowgirl-est, cute-est, go-with-any-outfit-est shoes ever...and they're GREEEEEN!