Play #2 Tsar's Bride

This was our first opera on the trip, and the first opera I have ever seen. There were translations to english on the sides of the proscenium arch as well. This production took place in the Bolshoi Theater. Bolshoi (Большои) means large in Russian, and this theater lived up to it's name. It was huge. Multiple tiers, as well as a ground floor with seating on the tiers in an almost arena style (three sided because of the proscenium arch) For some history, the Bolshoi that we went to was actually not the ORIGINAL Bolshoi. The original is currently under construction and is projected to be finished sometime in 2012. So in the meantime, the "new bolshoi" is where all of it's original setlist takes place. That by no manner means that this theater is a push over, however. Enough about history, on to the Tsar's Bride...

Set:
To the date of seeing the production, this was the best staged set I have ever seen. It was HUGE, and they changed it so quickly, not a minute was wasted. The set was so fantastically done that there were times durring the production that I actually thought the set was 3 dimentional when it in fact was not. Such elaborate attention to detail and careful construction deserve more praise than I am giving it here, just phenominally superb.

Props:
Again, some of the best I have seen. The costumes were of the most elaborate designs and flashy materials, and there were so many active parts of the stage that if I tried to give you a complete list and proper detail, you would have a book, not a blog. However, I must wonder if all of the costumes were "built ford tough" Durring the production one of the golden beads on the costume just blasted off and bounced at a staged silence, making it audibly as well as visually noticable. Another thing I must talk about that probally is more Set related were the english subtitles on both the right and left of the stage. For those who did not speak the language, it was helpful for comprehension, but at the same time it created a problem by taking away from the play. More than once when I was reading the translations, (which by the way, were sometimes incorrect, and humorous) I missed an important action in the play itself, and that was frustrating.

Lighting:
Nothing really of note here, there was nothing that really stuck out to me as spectacular, but at the same time there was nothing about it that seemed lacking, the lighting was on cue and aimed in the right direction, and I cannot remember any slip ups, so all it all it was rather good.

Music:
Seeing that the play was an opera, it's going to have some music. It's going to have a lot of music. And the music was great. Loud, powerful voices, capable of reaching impressive octaves left me immersed, and completely satisfied. One character in particular that stuck out for me was the father of Ivan. That man had a very powerful, commanding voice, and he knew how to use it, I found my self favoring him over the others, and that was no small feat. The orchestrated music gave it their all as well, it all flowed very fluidly, and they started a little something to gather our attention before each act (four total) began. For an opera, I set high standards, and they were met.

Acting:
The acting was done rather well. I found it to be immersing, and there seemed to be no mental errors. Physically, Ivan took a slip in about act 2, but sometimes it's just unavoidable. As previously mentioned, I took a particular liking to the father figure of Ivan, and thought that he did well. There were some other shining moments as well, like the final act. But sometimes it seemed to be stagnant, and others it seemed to be exaggerated and melodramatic. However, this WAS an opera, so it was acceptable.

Overall:
One of the strongest shortcomings of this production was personal. I saw it too early on. It was beautiful and fascinating, but I was still trying to recover from Jet lag which made it hard enough to stay awake let alone fully enjoy the depth and richness of this play. I would definitely recommend seeing this, even if only for its eye candy value, and it held much more value than just that. It was very fun to watch, and it was equally fun to listen to. Definitely a worthy experience.