AnneL Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 I thought I would start this off in case anyone is going. I took advantage of my Friends membership to attend the rehearsal on Tuesday and was very impressed (I am not generally much of an opera person). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizbie1 Posted March 18, 2022 Share Posted March 18, 2022 The reviews I've seen so far are about as good as it gets - I'm going next weekend and am really looking forward to it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
art_enthusiast Posted March 19, 2022 Share Posted March 19, 2022 I saw it on Thursday. Found the singing stunning. But the storyline is terribly depressing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scheherezade Posted March 19, 2022 Share Posted March 19, 2022 14 minutes ago, art_enthusiast said: I saw it on Thursday. Found the singing stunning. But the storyline is terribly depressing. Isn’t it just! That’s why I decided to give it a miss but I’m now wishing I hadn’t. Ah well … Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnS Posted March 19, 2022 Share Posted March 19, 2022 I think Peter Grimes is to be steamed at some point but I didn’t see any details on line. I saw the rehearsal and was very impressed with singing and certainly parts of the production (the dream Prelude and drowning apprentice) but I much prefer the Elijah Moshinsky production. To my mind the updating doesn’t work with boy apprentices and I’d give the local pub a very wide berth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted March 19, 2022 Share Posted March 19, 2022 There are two "filming" performances, so I guess streaming is likely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawnstar Posted March 20, 2022 Share Posted March 20, 2022 On 19/03/2022 at 14:03, Scheherezade said: Isn’t it just! That’s why I decided to give it a miss but I’m now wishing I hadn’t. Ah well … I'm the opposite. I have a ticket but, after seeing the production pictures, am rather wishing I hadn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
art_enthusiast Posted March 20, 2022 Share Posted March 20, 2022 1 hour ago, Dawnstar said: I'm the opposite. I have a ticket but, after seeing the production pictures, am rather wishing I hadn't. You can always return it for credit! I probably would not go again, despite the beautiful singing and the orchestra's extremely strong performance - there are so many lovely instrumental parts that add a lot to the overall production. I have no real criticisms, just that it is potentially not my 'cup of tea' as far as operas go. I'd never seen or heard of Peter Grimes ever so had no distinct expectations beforehand. The staging and sets are extremely high quality - I really loved the inclusion of the aerial dancer who I believe represented the drowning boy. That was stunning to watch, seeing how aerial dancers work in general is very interesting. It added a lot to the dream sequence. I didn't like the pub scene at all, despite the good quality vocal performances. Overall, it left me with a very depressed and heavy feeling upon leaving the theatre. Of course, that may have been the intention behind a piece like this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Posted March 20, 2022 Share Posted March 20, 2022 23 hours ago, JohnS said: I think Peter Grimes is to be steamed at some point from the look of the website photos the costume could certainly do with it! Oh dear- it's a wonderful opera, but, I find as I get older I can't cope with the harrowing misery of it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawnstar Posted March 20, 2022 Share Posted March 20, 2022 3 minutes ago, art_enthusiast said: You can always return it for credit! I'm thinking about it. It does have an excellent cast line-up though so..... I think I'm particularly wary of not liking Peter Grimes productions because the first time I saw it was ENO's Alden production in 2009, which I disliked so much that I left in the first interval. Since then I've seen it once in concert, plus a lockdown stream from the Met, which reassured me that my problem was with the Alden production rather than with the piece itself. But the last thing I want is another production that might put me off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneL Posted March 21, 2022 Author Share Posted March 21, 2022 My advice is GO! See it! I was blown away at the rehearsal. Yes, it’s a depressing tale, but the performances by the all the principals, soloists and the chorus were magnificent. I loved the music, especially the interludes which were the only things I was familiar with. I haven’t seen another production to compare it with, but this one seemed great. The modern setting clashed a little with the libretto but that was my only reservation. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizbie1 Posted March 27, 2022 Share Posted March 27, 2022 Saw this last night - it's very, very good and brilliantly sung and played. The staging is excellent but I do have one gripe: it's lazy and complacent to have the mob led by people recognisably of a BNP type and the setting be inspired by somewhere like Jaywick, and for Mrs Sedley to be a recognisable Hyacinth Bucket type. Surely one of the chief messages should be that we all have it in us to behave as they did, rather than to reinforce our comforting illusion that we ourselves wouldn't do such a thing. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted March 29, 2022 Share Posted March 29, 2022 Hello, I am keen for the final show, if anyone has a ticket please let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Posted March 30, 2022 Share Posted March 30, 2022 On 27/03/2022 at 14:02, Lizbie1 said: Saw this last night - it's very, very good and brilliantly sung and played. The staging is excellent but I do have one gripe: it's lazy and complacent to have the mob led by people recognisably of a BNP type and the setting be inspired by somewhere like Jaywick, and for Mrs Sedley to be a recognisable Hyacinth Bucket type. Surely one of the chief messages should be that we all have it in us to behave as they did, rather than to reinforce our comforting illusion that we ourselves wouldn't do such a thing. Agree. The 'mob' are surely meant to be just - ordinary folk. However, the problem of the opera is, that Grimes has indeed been cruel and wicked- and possibly, (I think it's meant to be ambiguous- or is it?) a murderer of a young boy- thus, I think? making it all very complicated. I could be wrong but the productions I have seen seemed to turn on this ambiguity, and what makes the opera so disturbing (and too much for me just now) is indeed the lack of any very clear moral compass, any character who is unambiguously good. To try to cast it all as BNP-type thugs persecuting an outcast certainly sounds reductive. How was Grimes himself portrayed? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizbie1 Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 On 30/03/2022 at 08:26, Mary said: How was Grimes himself portrayed? More frustrated, clumsy and awkward than evil - I read in an interview with Allan Clayton (who was brilliant, dramatically and vocally) that he and the director had decided to play him as someone who hadn't physically abused the boy. I don't know if I'd have necessarily come to that conclusion myself without having read it first, but it did come across that both deaths were "accidental" insofar as taking a young boy into dangerous situations can be. Anyway, he was definitely more a sympathetic figure than not. It's a shattering opera - the death of a child is probably the worst thing that can happen in real life as well as in fiction; that they came from the workhouse and had likely only ever known hardship (the child actor portrayed this brilliantly I thought) makes it doubly distressing. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 On 27/03/2022 at 14:02, Lizbie1 said: Mrs Sedley to be a recognisable Hyacinth Bucket type. Glad to see you noticed that performance Lizbie1. Fiona Maddocks in her review in The Observer included Mrs Sedley in a list of those who managed “to be more than caricatures”. Not on the night I went, she wasn’t, when her strutting and gurning was straight out of amdram pantomime. I suspect the director - who overall did a wonderful job teasing good and thoughtful performances out of singers not all of whom are known for their acting ability - just couldn’t get what she wanted from that particular performer. As to wider questions about the production (which I thought was marvellous), some interestingly nuanced comments have come in a review and then a blog from the experienced music critic David Nice: https://www.theartsdesk.com/opera/peter-grimes-royal-opera-review-impressive-not-quite-devastating http://davidnice.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-greatest-grimeses.html 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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