The break we booked in Amsterdam was a music one, with a performance of The Messiah on the first (Monday) afternoon, followed by Madam Butterfly on Tuesday evening and Tannhauser on Wednesday.
We missed The Messiah as at he time it was on I was in a hospital waiting to have my eye checked out by an ophthalmologist, so that was a bit sad. Must remember to get round to doing the insurance claim for that ....
The Butterfly was underwhelming. It was well sung and well played but the cast had no chemistry and it was about the most uninvolving Butterfly I've ever seen. Everyone on the trip said the same.
Here's a picture of the less than exciting set. It didn't change much all evening.
That left Tannhauser which I was dreading. I am not a fan of Wagner, but the OH had been excited about it because it is the only Wagner opera he had never seen a live performance of. It was the day we went to Keukenhof and luch dragged on interminably and it was an early start and it was six hours with intervals and it was going to be awful...
Except it wasn't. It was totally and utterly fabulous. The music, the singing, the production were all absolutely amazing. Given that it turned out to be the highlight of the holiday and given how much I enjoyed the Flying Dutchman at Opera pa Skaret back in 2016 I'm starting to think that maybe I do like Wagner after all. Who knew?
Isn’t it amazing when you realise something completely unexpected about yourself! 😄
ReplyDelete