The Sound of Music

My good friend Kristel and I had tickets to see the musical The Sound of Music at the Stadsschouwburg in Antwerp yesterday afternoon.  The magic started on the train ride - big fat snowflakes started to fall from the sky and the closer we got to Antwerp the fatter and thicker the snow became, which made for a beautiful sight as we walked out of the station and made our way through the busy shopping streets towards the theater for the afternoon performance.

I have always loved several of the songs from The Sound of Music. However, I was a bit apprehensive about hearing them in Dutch instead of English, afraid it would spoil my enjoyment somehow.  But as the show started with the nuns wondering what they were going to do with Maria, I quickly got used to the translated lyrics as the familiar melodies swept the story along.

One of the main reasons we bought tickets was the fact that Kristel is a huge fan of radio and television personality Kurt Rogiers, who played Captain Von Trapp, and did a fine job in the role.  Although he is not a professional singer, he has clearly worked hard on his technique. His fragile rendition of "Edelweiss" at the end of the show added an extra emotional layer to that moment in the story that would have been absent had every note been perfect.  The rest of the cast was excellent, and I especially enjoyed the dancing performed by the characters Liesl (played by Lotte Stevens) and Rolf (played by Martijn Vogel) during their duet in the garden - a mash up of Viennese waltzing, ballet, and jazz dance that had me thinking of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire.  Charlotte Campion, despite her tiny stature, was an enthusiastic and believable Maria, and Maaike Widdershoven, as the head nun, sang an amazing version of "Climb Every Mountain".

All in all, it was a fine production, and a wonderful way to spend a snowy winter afternoon.

Clivia

Every December for the past four years, my husband and I have celebrated our anniversary with tickets to the Brussels Operette Theater's performance here in Leuven.   It's always an enjoyable evening because the company puts on light opera and intends to entertain.  We often find ourselves laughing out loud, but at the same time the singing and the orchestra are of high quality, and the production is well done.

This year's performance was "Clivia", a 1933 operette by Austrian composer Nico Dostal  The influence of 1930s Berlin is clearly represented in the potpourri of cabaret, popular dance and classical opera.  The story is a typical slapstick filled operette: mistaken identity, political intrigue, star crossed lovers, odd characters, and plenty of song and dance.

An imaginary film crew, including the diva Clivia, and financed by a rich (and scheming to get richer) American, Mr. Potterman, is trying to get into the ficticious country of Boliguay ostensibly to make a movie, but in reality to serve as a cover up for Potterman's plans to overthrow the country.  In order to get the necessary visa to get into the country, Clivia weds a local guacho, who turns out to be the general who leads the Boliguayan government.

Two other notable characters were the journalist from Chicago, Mr. Down, and his Boliguyanan love interest, the leader of the female guard troop, Jola, who had several enjoyable song and dance duets together.

As it has been every year, the theater is full and everyone is enthusiastic, clearly enjoying the show, despite the high level of kitsch.  The absurdity of it all and the sarcastic humor make up for the corniness; and the professionalism and most of all, the enjoyment of the cast and crew do the rest.  We'll be there next year!

Venetia Antiqua Ensemble (Chiesa di San Giovanni Evangelista, Venice)

The week I spent in Venice this September gave me a wonderful opportunity to discover the city and its rich history.  One thing I really wanted to do while I was there was see a performance in the famous La Fenice opera house.  Unfortunately, when I checked for tickets online, only the most expensive seats were still available, and I did not feel like spending hundreds of euros for a ticket.  I was a bit disappointed.

During one of my daily walks exploring the city, I happened to pass by the Scuola di San Giovanni Evangelista, and noticed a sign announcing a concert of early music by the Venice Music Project in its small church on the Friday evening, my last night in Venice.  On an impulse, I bought myself a ticket (and it was very reasonably priced)!

On the evening, I made sure I got to the little church early and took a seat in the front pew.  The harpsichordist was tuning her instrument before the concert began (see photo).

The Venice Music Project brings music from the 17th and 18th centuries, with original instruments and performance practices.  The evening I attended, they performed pieces by Steffani, Vivaldi, Handel, and Albinoni, some of them sung by American soprano Liesl Odenwaller.  Her rendition of Handel's "Tune Your Harps" was very charming.  It was a lovely concert and a fitting way to end my week in Venice.

Orphée et Eurydice (De Munt, Brussels, June 2014)

I bought tickets to this opera after reading two articles about it in the newspaper, one that ended with the wish that everyone should see this opera, because it was impossible for any opera to be "more real, more pure, and more beautiful" than this production by Romeo Castellucci of Gluck and Berlioz's tragedy.

The production combined the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice with the real life story of Els, a young woman with Locked-In syndrome in a nursing home outside of Brussels.  Halfway through the opera, when Orpheus descends to the underworld to find Eurydice and bring her home, cloudy livestream images take us literally to Els' beside, where she is listening to the opera along with us, via headphones.  The music of the descent accompanies words on the screen that tell us Els' life story: a happily married young mother of two children, who is suddenly, without reason taken away from all of that by a freak accident: a stroke, whereby she ends up as a Locked-In syndrome patient: awake, aware, but in no way able to move, speak or interact with her environment, trapped in her own body.

It is hard to describe, but the way the production was put together and performed was incredible and the entire experience was very moving.  I'm so grateful I was able to go.