If you haven't attended the opera yet, write about the movie and what you learned about Marriage of Figaro during the movie.
Otherwise, write about your reactions to the opera. Choose some aspect of the performance/production and talk about that. Please don't write about something someone else has already written about.
Pick something that you could debate. For example:
1. What other setting besides the 18th century could the opera be placed in? Defend your opinion.
2. A woman makes as good of a teenage boy character as a boy might. Defend your opinion.
3. If the opera seemed long, what techniques have you developed to help yourself stay focused?
4. The ensembles really didn't help advance the action of the play. Defend your opinion.
5. The music does clearly distinquish one character from the another. Explain.
Or pick your own debatable point and defend it. Mix it up and make it fun to read.
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50 comments:
Kenna Campbell
Period 6
I really enjoyed the opera although it was the longest it was the best to me. I thought that the woman who played the boy did i very good job since he was not supposed to seem manly in anyway. She had a voice that was like a little 8 year old boy but i think it added to the humor of the opera of this love struck boy. Although one thing that was a little bit hard, which also made it difficult to pay attention, was that i thought all the girls (and boy) sounded the same and all the male voices sounded similar but not as much as the women. But i did really enjoy this production and i think they did a very good job with it and maybe the similarity of the voices was purposeful for some reason unknown to me.
Kristina Thorson
per 2
The music of this opera was amazing. Thats just the start of what makes it awesome. Each character seemed to have a different type of sound related to their arias or in the ensembles. I also thought it was interesting to see that in the pit there were all the strings, (cello, violin etc.) but the brass was missing some instruments. Like the tuba, baritone and trombone. I may have not seem them but i also didnt hear them. The music made this opera enjoyable for me. After the intermission i started to nod off because the music flowed and fit with the story line. Mozart was an amazing composer, and thinking about this opera being conducted by him is absolutely amazing and almost unreal. Thinking about if i ever got the chance to go back in time and meet mozart and watch him conduct this opera or anything actually made this production come alive to me. This opera was by far on of my favorites!
Cristina Rice
Period 2
The Marriage of Figaro wasn't my favorite opera. I thought it was kind of boring because nothing really exciting happened. It was all just kind of the same. I did think it was funny though. The opera seemed long, some techniques that I developed that helped me stay focused were I listened for when almost an act within a act was over. Most the time everyone clapped and it was after a long solo or duet. Also I made sure to stay sitting up and I watched the side characters that were singing at the time. It made it more interesting and sometimes more funny. I wish there were more difference in the stage and crops. They had four different backgrounds but they all seemed the same. I did like how they pulled them up on string.
Heather Thomas
Period 2
The story of Marriage of Figaro was one of my favorite stories we've read in class this year, although I did not like the opera that much. I thought the setting was kind of boring and I wish they would have changed it and made it more recent. I enjoyed how fast the opera was as in how quickly the story got started unlike in most operas although having only one intermission was difficult to sit through. When you have a opera that is so long and you know kids are going to be attending they should not have a two hour act... they should split it up more. The plot was so complex and twisting that it was easy to focus as long as you didn't daze off. As soon as you fall asleep or stare off you can get confused real quick. Luckily, I stayed awake most the opera and didn't get too confusing.
Brendan Cox
Period 2
While watching the movie Marriage of Figaro, I realized how Mozart wanted everything to come together into certain themes. I enjoyed some of his songs and the acting was funny sometimes. His laugh was kind of annoying but overall from what i've read about Mozart, the actor who played him portrayed him very well. Some of it was hard to follow but I got the basic idea of how mozart ended up and how he got to that point.
Montana Ferris / Period 2
I have not yet attended the opera, but i found the movie Amadeus to be fairly entertaining. I learned a lot more about Mozart's personality, which I didn't previously know. I liked how the director chose to include the feud between Salieri and Mozart and put much more emphasize on it. The movie did a good job of summarizing the story of Mozart's life and his success. I didn't know that Mozart lived such a short life, but left us with so many musical works in that time. Overall, I enjoyed the movie and it helped educate me about Mozart, as a person and composer. I look forward to seeing the opera, Marriage of Figaro.
Jinny Kim Period 4
I like the Opera marriage of Figaro. It was fun but it was boring sometimes so I hated it. Because everyone was tired on that day and it seems to long. Intermission was too long also. I thought they might have two intermission with 10 or 15 minutes.
I think the woman makes as good of a teenage boy character. Her voice was clear and soft (I also liked Susanna's voice but I didn't like countess's voice). She was funny too. Her acting feels more like a teenage boy.
Personally, I really liked the stage design. I thought that the pastel tone of simple stage setting with strong colors and luxury design of costume matches well.
I also really wanted that big feather pen.
Rebecca Taicz. Period 6
I loved the marriage of Figaro. I had no trouble staying awake for the entire opera. I also believe that although the opera could be put into a different time period or setting, that it would seriously detract from the value of the show. If it was modernized, some of the major issues in the opera would be outdated or irrelevant, such as the no sex before marriage, the recent abolation of the first night rights, and the subserviance of the servants to the masters. Although it could be modernized and perhaps put into a business setting, it would be a lot less entertaining, such as I thought the Midsummer Night's Dream modernized version was. I think the time period and setting of the play was perfect: It could not be put anywhere else.
andrew Song period 6
I thought the opera, the marriage of figaro, was pretty good. the music was all fantastic and i liked the set as well. I thought the way they changed scenes after the first act, using Figaro's aria. The set was pretty good, and worked with the opera very well. But i think this would work at a school just fine. All the couples can be students in school and perhaps the different classes can be represented by different social clicks in the school.
Michelle Le
period 2
I enjoyed The Marriage of Figaro although it would've been better if I hadn't been so sleepy. One major reason why I liked this opera more than the others is because the sets were by far the best. The scenery changed a lot which helped me stay interested. Although the sets were simple, they worked very well, and I thought it was clever how the sets behind the set being shown would work as a background for the windows.
Although I liked the music and I thought that all of it was very pretty, I thought the ensembles did not help the action of the play. Instead, it slowed down the story greatly. It was nice listening to, but after a while I thought that it went on a little bit to long. To help stay focused, I like to look at the sets and try to figure out how they made them. I also try listening to the instruments and the singers more closely, paying attention the the emotion and dynamics that go into it. Also, swinging your arms about like you do when you are listening to music also helps to keep focused.
Shae Hurst Period 6
I liked The Marriage of Figaro to an extent, but I felt that at it just wouldn't end. There were diffidently some parts of the opera that were very funny and made me laugh. I think that what made the opera funny was the fact that often times the characters would be standing in a room of multiple people, but would only be taking to one of those people. The opera did this a lot, when the person had brackets around there text, and I think this made the story really funny. I didn't notice Elektra using that technique. An example of how this made it so funny was that in the very beginning of the opera when Suzanne was talking to the woman in the green dress. Basically Suzanne is waiting on her, and they are singing together, but each keeps going off on tangents insutling the other person. This also occured during the scene where Cherubino jumped out the window and the count came in and ended up quizzing Figaro on what happened. The two women, The countess and Suzanne are telling Figaro right in front of the count but he doesn't know. The ability of the characters to direct there statements towards another completely bypassing someone else in the room made the play very funny. If the play was a little less long however, it would have been more enjoyable.
Kenny Exelby
Period 4
I thought that the opera was entertaining but quite long. Other operas that we have gone to have been about this long, but they had more intermissions which made it bearable. Going through 1.5 hours and then having to go through another 2 was unreasonable in my opinion. The saving grace of this opera was that it really was quite funny and that's always a good thing. The woman playing the little boy was funny and interesting, however i don't know if shes really better than a boy because I've never heard a boy play the part. I think it added a funny element to the play but I'm not convinced a girl is better than a boy in this situation.
Talia Cowan per6
The marriage of figaro was pretty interesting. I actually like how there was only one intermission. When there is more than one, then the performance just feels longer than it actually is.
One thing I found annoying was some of the other student groups that were there. They had dressed up, which was cool, but they didn't seem to really have any sort of respect towards the performers and the rest of the show. so many groups cam e in late, it was distracting.
but the show really was enjoyable, it had the serious moments, and had the attitude of an opera but had the comedy of a play. It is something I would most definately go to again, and bring along my friends.
Jessica Taylor
per 2
I really liked the Marriage of Figaro. I thought that the last act was kind of long though. That might be because at that point I was really tired. One of the things I found interesting was when the count was reading the contract between Figaro and his mother, all of the people on the left, the people who wanted Figaro to marry Marcellina, were all wearing dark earthy colors like green and brown. While the people on the right, the people who wanted Figaro to marry Susana, were all wearing bright colors like red and yellow. Also when Susana and Figaro were being married, I liked that the count sat in a chair with a square back and the countess sat in a chair with a rounded back. These little things I think are what make performances great. Yes if the costumes had been different colors the performance would have been good but just showing the differences in people according to what they wear made the performance all that much better.
Jessica Karr, p.4
Although this opera was the longest, it did not seem that way to me at all. I loved the music, the voices of the characters, and the way the singers portrayed their characters. The only thing I didn't like was how quiet the actual music was. I think that if the music had been able to be projected more loudly, it would have held the attention of more people. When you listen to the same music on a stereo, it's loud and exciting, but at the opera, it was just in the background. I enjoyed it, but I wish it could have been easier to hear.
Bergen Anderson per. 2
I enjoyed the opera because of the comedy. I think even though the opera was long the comedic elements and timing and blocking is what made it enjoyable throughout the whole performance. I really didn't like a woman playing a teenage boy. Even though physically it was fine because you couldn't tell the difference from far away I felt the voice was just too girly. I understand it's supposed to be that way because he is a boy and not a man yet but you couldn't even distiguish who was singing when he was with a character such as Susanna. I really enjoyed the set of this performance as well. Even though it was simple it was successfully executed and the changes kept my attention. One of my favorite characters was the blind man in the wheel chair because I thought he was hilarious and overall The Marriage of Figaro was very enjoyable.
Nathan Zimmerman, Per. 6
The Marriage of Figaro was an interesting opera to me. As most have said, the length of the opera was a little too long but I managed to stay attentive for the whole performance. One of the most impressive aspects of the opera to me was the way the set appeared in Act IV. I liked the way that the director portrayed the garden and the way it made the scene between all the characters funny and engaging. The statues were a perfect piece to allow Figaro to hide and fight well with the night theme. I thought that the scene when Susanna and the Countess were messing with Figaro and then with the Count was a good ending as well. The only scene that I didn’t really like was when the Countess and Susanna where dressing up Cherubino and then had the conflict with the Count. I don’t know how they could have done it better but it didn’t feel very interesting until the gardener came in after Cherubino jumped out the window.
Megan Lowry per 2
I thought that the Opera could have been placed in almost any time period. Although I found that watching the 18th century time period theme in this production was interesting, because it brought you back to the context in which the opera was written, I thought that there were lots of ways a creative director could have altered the time period and still make the opera work. The director could have used an even older setting, such as the medival period, and have used the unenlightened nature of the time to make the silliness of the script work. If you wanted to keep the court setting, It could have been anytime before the 18th century. More modern setting could work too, like the schoolhouse setting of A Midsummer Night's Dream. The court could be students in a high school, trying to sleep with each other. Thats what I really like about Motzart's composicion, the music is just timelessly catchy and the story is funy for audiences 300 years later. I think thats why I enjoyedthis opera so much more than the others, that it was written so that the story and the music will never expire.
Preston Longoni Period 4
I had a baseball game so I was not at the opera. I thought the movie was pretty good, I learned a lot about Mozart, I dont know what was true or not though. I learned that the Marriage of Figaro was originally a play, and Mozart turned it into an opera and it originally wasn't accepted in the "upper class" where Mozart was doing his work. I learned that the Marriage of Figaro is sort of a comedy, which I can't wait for. Like when it starts out with the guy on his knees measuring the floor.
Phillip Foshee
Period 6
I wasnt at the opera this week becuase i was sick and didnt attend school on wednesday. Im upset that i missed the marriege of figaro because i heard great things about it and it was also our last perfromance of the year. What i really liked about the movie was where it took place. the scene was amazing and it was a very imformational film. I learned that mozart was a very interesting dude and he had a very annoying and girly laugh.
Alyssa De Hoop
Period 4
I enjoyed watching Amadeus in class because I learned a lot of background information about Mozart and the music he composed. The rival between Mozart and Antonio Salieri made the movie very interesting, but I do not believe that Salieri killed Mozart in real life. It was a clever spin on the story and made the plot very intriguing and edgy. Listening to Salieri talk about Mozart's music was the most interesting and educational part of the whole movie. It taught me how modern Mozart's music was in his time and all of the different levels it had to it. He played around with different harmonies and instrumental parts that made the music more complex and beautiful. Hearing Salieri passionately speak about Mozart’s music as it was playing made it more interesting and helped me appreciate it more. However, I did not enjoy seeing the kind of man Mozart was. I hope that he really was not that conceited and wrapped up in himself. Seeing his ultra ego and selfishness made me lose a little respect for him as a man. But the movie did teach me who insanely talented he was. He could hear a tune once and then have it memorized, rearrange any song and make it better, did not make copies of his sheet music, he would write it down once and it would be perfect, and many other things. So as a composer I have much respect for him. I really enjoyed watching and learning from Amadeus.
I thought that The Marriage of FIgaro was actually a lot more entertaining than it was going to be. At first it was a little hard to get into but as the story started to get more in depth there was a lot more comedy than i thought there was going to be and I actually found some of the things to be very funny. They made a lot of little small jokes that you would have to be paying attention to understand. I did think that some parts dragged out to far though and that is when it started to get hard to pay attention but instead of watching i would start reading so that i could still stay intrigued by the story. I see now, which we learned in the movie, how Mozart had more of a dirty kind of sexual humor to him. A lot of the jokes had to do with some sexual reference or even small little movements or actions they did like at the very end right before the curtain was about to close how she tell Figaro to stay with her in the garden to... you know what and just other things like that. Even thought there were references like that i thought it was very tastefully done and not to over the top nasty or anything. I would debate that it actually made a lot of the parts very funny and I would not try to sensor it more or anything at all because i think it would ruin the way Mozart made it. Since that reflects so much of him and his personality i think it would lose its touch. From what I have learned about Mozart it wouldn't really seem like his kind of play if it didn't have those kind of references in it. I also think it would ruin a lot of the story because of all the drama between the men and women and the whole deal with how the count wants to sleep with Figaro's fiance'. So overall i would say it was pretty good maybe put one more intermission in though so we could stretch our legs.
Christin Thrane
Period 4
I have mixed feelings about the opera. Like most others have said, I think it dragged on. I believe that it could have been more intense if it had been shortened. Still, I found it a lot more entertaining than a lot of other things we have attended. I also think that all the performances we have gone to has made it easier to focus. I have found that it’s not as hard to pay attention when taking it one act at a time. Also, being rested before is important because you don’t have to worry about falling asleep. That was my biggest difficulty with this opera; it was hard to stay focused and alert. Therefore, parts of were confusing to me.
Before we started studying Mozart, I had no idea that his work has this much comedy in it, and judging by the audiences response, the humor is still ideal today.
I liked the men’s voices more than I liked the women’s. They were very loud and became tiring to listen too for that long, so I didn’t particularly like the fact that a woman was playing the teenage boy. But I do think she was believable in the role and did a good job.
Tia B. Period 4
Although i only caught the end of the movie and had to have some of the characters explained to me, i cant say much about the movie itself on the marriage of fiagro except comment on what you told us after the movie was over.
When the movie portraied Mozart (?) creating his own death song, you said that it wasn't true. My thoughts on that were well if Mozart was creating a song about death, and he died during his creation of that song, then he might of known he was going to die and that he was going to go out with one of his most famous songs.... cause usually after a guy dies, their music becomes a rarity. Also i thought that the dude mozart 'took his thunder' from was a little creepy when he decided to 'liberate' all the other asylum inmates.....
Andrew Pilgrim Period 4
At first, I was worried that the sparse set would hinder the opera. Usually I would think that a performance like this would take a large and somewhat intricate set because of all the shifting of the characters and the different hiding sequences. I found that the set did its job though. Though there wasn't much there, the few pieces of furniture and the well placed doors worked and served their purposes well. The doors were the key I think because there was so much back and forth in and out of the room but the chair in the first part then the statues in the second part worked well to hide the different characters. While it wasn't totally believable that they never saw each other, the simple set did a lot better than I thought it would and I was impressed by the blocking throughout the opera.
Karin Ochsner
per 4
Dear mr schiendler
3) i found the opera very long but to keep myself flcused during the play i usually focus on one of the charecters. watching all of their movements and all of theyre words and such, this helps me to focus more on each and every process of the play. with these teqnigues it helps me to stay enguaged in all of these long plays.
Matt MacDougall
per 4
I enjoyed the opera because of the comedy. I think even though the opera was long the comedic elements and timing and blocking is what made it enjoyable throughout the whole performance. I really didn't like a woman playing a teenage boy. Even though physically it was fine because you couldn't tell the difference from far away I felt the voice was just too girly. I understand it's supposed to be that way because he is a boy and not a man yet but you couldn't even distiguish who was singing when he was with a character such as Susanna. I really enjoyed the set of this performance as well. Even though it was simple it was successfully executed and the changes kept my attention. One of my favorite characters was the blind man in the wheel chair because I thought he was hilarious and overall The Marriage of Figaro was very enjoyable.
Helen Wiltsey Period 4
The Marriage of Figaro was one of my least favorite operas. First off when it started I didn't enjoy Susanna's or Figaro's voice, I found Susanna's voice to sort of lack a certain power to carry it as an operatic voice across the audience.
There was one part where I found all their voices to be working together well which was in the second act when Figaro just finds out his parents from his spatula shaped birth mark (=O how convinient!) and they had the duets between everyone.
Though, the only stand alone character, with the best voice and most emotion by far I found to be was the Countess. I was really looking forward to when she forgave the count, and I was not disappointed. It was haunting and full of honest emotion, plus it had the power to carry it up to the second tier.
I would like to see this opera again, and I think it has the potential for me to really like it, but with a different cast and more than one intermission.
Andrew Kemis Period 6
Although I have not attended the showing of Marriage of Figaro I will be shortly and until then the movie has taught me many things about Mozart and Salieri. This movie was ten times better than I had antisipated ( sprry about the spelling). I believe I will be buying that movie. No joke. I can see that Mozart although talented was very young and I'm sure that the tension between all composers and Mozart were strained. My impression very uneducated was that Mozart was cocky and arrogant believing that his work was supreme. It was very interesting to see the poor condition that Mozart was in financially because I prior to watching the video would have believed him to be a famous man and rich man for his time however his work was not appreciated at the time. My question is was Salieri that appreciative of his music believing Mozart to be the best composer he had ever seen. That was by far my favorite movie of the year!
Stephanie Bateman Period 2
This opera was by far my favorite all year. Although it was long, I barley noticed until nearing the end. I feel like although for alot of people it was hard to stay awake to or catch up to, you had to play close attention to detail for it to all make sense, which for me was WHAT kept me awake. I loved the plot, I thought it was simple, yet complex and kinda funny. I can see this sitation happening in this era more so than I would have imagined it back then if I had just heard the story without seeing the Opera. I loved how they were setting their lovers up to catch them in the "act". The ending was my favorite part when they were all in the forest and the women switched rolls to try and trick their lovers. I thought it was set up perfectly and it was really funny. Also the set kept me entertained, it was beautiful and the changes were simple but were different enough to kind of grab your attention. I felt like alot of the directors choice made this opera what it was. I loved it :) and I deffinitly left the performance with a postive attitude about opera.
Regan McComb p.6
Unfortunately I haven't been able to go see the Marriage of Figaro yet but I really enjoyed the movie Amadeus, except for Mozarts laugh was pretty ridiculous. I liked the scene where that one guy helped Amadeus finish the play while he was sick and in bed. I'm excited to see the duet that becomes a trio then a quartet then a quintet and finally a septet I think that will be really entertaining because we haven't seen that yet this year.I also liked the outfits that they wore in Amadeus and it will be interesting to see if they have roughly the same ones in the play!
spencer asavadejkajorn period 4
Overall tv marriage of figarro was toooooo long. The music for it was very pleasant to tv ears though. The harpsicord was very harmonic. The sound of it pretty much lulled me to sleep. And whoever played suaanna was Somme fire. She ha it all and a little suntin suntin extra.
Stuart Dransfield
Period 4
I think The Marrige of Figaro was a good opera in the musical sence. I thought that the women played the boy pretty well, but there was too much singing for my taste. Some methods I use to stay alert through a 3 hour opera are to focus on one charachter and try to figure out who they are and what they are doing. Also reading the translating bar at the top will help me stay focused. Alltogether The Marrige of Figaro was a pretty good opera even though they probably could have cut the time of it in half.
Jamae Coonts
p6
I was ntoo able to attend the Marriage of Figaro. But i did get to watch the movie on Mozart. The movie helped me understand the background of Marriage of Figaro by showing the history of Mozarts success. I really liked how in the movie they didnt only show the positive things of Mozart but also the negative things as well, such as his laugh. This gave you a deeper understanding of him.
Joel Maltos
Period 4
I did not get to attend the opera this week because we had to kick the shit out of inglemoor, but i did enjoy the movie we watched in class about mozart. I used to take piano lessons when i was younger and my piano teacher would always have be play mozart, so i had a basic understanding of a lot of his music and the works he had composed. But i had no idea what kind of person he really was in real life. He was kind of like a pop star, but a genius pop star with some weird hair. It was a fun and knowledgable movie, so good choice schindig.
Clayton Butler
Period 2
I believe that a woman does make just as good a teenage boy, as a teenage boy does playing his own part. There are many reasons why. The most obvious reason is because the woman has a higher pitched voice that has a wider range and much more professional sound to it and they can hit a wide range of notes that most teenage boy opera singers can not. Also, I think that woman have a better body type. Some teenage boys are bigger and might be too big and make it seem as if they are supposed to be a man instead of playing his part of a teenage boy. The woman have smaller bodys and make it easy to figure out which singer is playing which role. This makes it easier on the audience to see who is playing which part.
Gabe Gonzalez Period 2
I thought the Marriage of Figaro was very enjoyable and more entertaining to watch than many of our other operas have been. Although the performance was much longer than I might have preferred, I tried to follow along with the plot and characters so the opera seemed more like a story or a movie. I thought it was much harder to sit through the operas following the musical patterns and vocals than it was to just follow the story and the issues brought up by the characters. Following along with the story also helped me appreciate the set changes and the lighting effects.
Sarah Jane Elliott
Period 2
I unfortunately was unable to see the Opera this week and will be seeing it too.
As for "The Marriage of Figaro" in Amedus, they did not say much about it. I understand that the opera is based on a very controversial play and people did not want him to write it. I also got that the music was extremely complex and if you took out one note in the entire score the whole musical piece would fall apart. Another thing that the movie we watched help me understand about this opera is that Mozart was actually sucessful at creating emotion within music. I think nowaday that seems pretty simple because of the people who passed it on to us, but then it must have been extremely hard. I'm sure Wolfgang Mozart was on of the first to attempt this.
After hearing what everybody thought about Marriage of Figaro I'm really excited to finally see it for myself. (Maybe not so excited for a 2 and a half hour act though..)
Jordan Adam Per. 4
Because I haven’t attended The Marriage of Figaro yet, I’ve decided to illustrate some interesting discrepancies between the film Amadeus and true historical documents on the life of Mozart. The main fallacy that the film perpetuates is that Salieri murdered Mozart out of jealousy. Though that was a rumor at the time of his death, historians believe it to be unlikely. Salieri only “confessed” to Mozart’s murder after he was raving mad in an asylum (which he also wasn’t shown to have been). Mozart also wasn’t known to have quite as vulgar a personality in front of royals and such. He had been travelling to kings’ courts for most of his life, and knew that he needed to keep his vulgarity to himself in such company. Amadeus made him appear to have much less self control. In that vein, Mozart was also never known to have been alcoholic or unfaithful to his wife, which the movie suggests. Historical accounts make Mozart out to be terribly faithful to Costanza, even when society of the time period allowed more of romantic affairs. The movie doesn’t totally ignore history, but many parts of the film are based off of complete fiction.
Mackenzie Engel
Period 6
Surprisingly, this was one of my least favorite performances this year. Although i enjoyed the music and often found what was happening on stage relatively funny, i didnt find the story line itself very engaging and wasnt able to get absorbed into the opera. Typically i do not have a hard time being attentive during the operas but this time i had to employ some tactics to stay awake. typically what i find useful to do during a performance i dont find visually interesting is to either read the translation on the screen above the stage to gain a better understanding of what the performance is about or to close my eyes and let myself get lost in the music.
Evan Norris
Per. 6
As one of the longest operas to date we have been to, the marriage of figaro, though very well done, had a challenge in itself to stay focused long enough to soak up every aspect of this piece. Sometimes I felt myself simply dazing into a dark corner of the set with only the music audible, while other times my eyes were going different directions reading the projected text and the people on stage. The music was tantalizing to say the least, that alone kept my attention towards the set and stopped me from thinking about how much more time will I have before this opera makes my head explode.
Tess Opincarne
Period 6
It would be much more effectual to have an actual teenage boy play Cherubino than to have a woman play the part. The apparent reason for using a woman is that she can better understand the position of the pubescent teenager because she has been there before. It could then be argued, however, that using an actual teenage boy would be much better, as he would actually be going through those issues, and from the male point of view. He also may not have the vocal control of an older woman with more training, but that would actually add to the character of Cherubino, who is so confused with all his new feelings, rather than take away from it.
Alex Garcia
Period 6
The set in the marriage of Figaro was not very well done. I believe there could have been much more creativity used to make it more entertaining and help the opera flow better and make it more engaging for the audience. For example in the first act there were three different sets that were used but they were so similar that the difference between them could hardly be recognized. I understand the necessity of the doors for a commedia del arte but that doesnt mean the sets should be so similar, repetitive, and in a way "boring". Also this is the year 2009 and there is so much technology and effects that can be used to prevent this commonality which didnt even exist when the opera was originally created. I believe the set should have been more creative and would have completely changed my view of the entire production and improved everyone's outlook on the quality of the opera.
Lacey Helmuth
Period 4
So i couldnt make the opera on wed because I had work, and I dont know when I am making it up. Sorry Schind!!! But yeah, about the movie, the parts I watched I thought were pretty good. It's sad how he dies at the end, I was not expectin that one bit. I learned that the Marriage of Figaro wasn't generally accepted because it was innapropriate in the upper class, even tho it was accepted back where Mozart is from. I find it interesting that he chose that play to turn into an opera. I really thought his music was great for his time back in the day. I think i will enjoy this opera because i am pretty sure it's supposed to be funny so it should be more entertaining than all the others we have been to.
oh and sorry i had to do this on prestons account, it was already up
Jacob Carpenter
Period 4
I havent attended the opera yet, but i found the movie Amadeus to be quite entertaining. I learned a lot more about Mozart's personality, which I didn't previously know. I knew of Mozart and his musical extravaganzas from when i used to be in band. The movie did a good job of summarizing the story of Mozart's life and his success, and failures. Some people say your never great until your gone, i think that is very true about mozart, at first he wasnt liked, but as time went on people began folling in love with his work and went along with a much less bias perspectave. Overall, I enjoyed the movie and it helped educate me about Mozart, as a person and composer. I look forward to seeing the opera, Marriage of Figaro.
Katie Hodgson
per 2
My favorite part about this opera was the set. I was not expecting those walls to move up like that to create a different setting. And i also like how they did the part at the end with those 3 statues and had people behind them. The thing i didnt like to much about this opera was how small the orchestra was i didnt like how the music was so quiet other than that i really enjoyed this opera. And this was the first opera i didnt fall asleep in.
Brendan Connor
Per. 4
I enjoyed the music of the opera. Mozart had a gift for that. But the storyline was boring, ridiculous, and tedious. It is the basic structure for every single comedy for that time period: two people in love, someone wants to break them up, they devise a plan, someone dresses as the opposite sex to convince someone to love them, and everyone gets married at the end. A single shred of originality would have been nice.
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