Ok, so Don Giovanni. No problem. Mozart's dying masterpiece. No pressure.
I could say it's boring, uninteresting and not worthy of your attention, but that would be dishonest.
Over the last few years I've been immersed into the world of opera. I've heard some of the most beautiful voices ever, voices I never expected to hear. Voices taken from the show of opera and standing on a stage with just a piano. Astounding musicians one and all.
The first impression about Don Giovanni is the set, masterful, playful and really inventive.
Second thing would be the musicians of the orchestra and the conductor. No way this could happen without the music to back everything up.
However, the one thing that grabbed everyones attention was the quality of the vocalists for the performance. My personal favourite was Zerlinda, pure, clear and certainly the central voice of the evening. It'd be unfair not to include all the other voices too, but the info on the site is a bit vague. I'd love to give a list of the great actors/singers, but couldn't find the information. Perhaps it's in the concert programme. I'd prefer to be able to see, at least, the pedigree of someone who sings in Don Giovanni.
There wasn't a single discordant note in the whole production. From start to finish, the whole piece was tailored to today. The Don's dalliances are the stuff of gossip, his conquests are available in Hello magazine. His eventual and obvious finale, in this production, was a work of art. A second work of art. The first was the ball scene where the whole dance was performed, stunningly, Gangnam Style. About 10% of the under 60s audience got it, but we both enjoyed it.
Great music, great acting, astounding production, Gangnam style dancing; buy some tickets if it's coming to your area. If not, pray for a DVD.
