Iterta

ent

ieophyte opera-goer
gets soap in her eyes

MY FARLIEST recollections of
the opera are as a preteen expe-
riencing, at the Centennial
Theatre, the pageantry of
Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Pirates
of Penzance (merely operetta,
opera snobs would sniff).

By Layne Christensen
Community Reporter

Years Jater, the great tenor
Luciano Pavarotti (“Pavarotten” to
my unappreciative brother and 1)
made his way into my father’s limit-
ed record collection, but that was the
extent of my opera experience.

Until last Saturday night.

That was when I witnessed my
first full-scale classical opera, the
Vancouver Opera production of
Verdi's classic, Nabucco, at the
Queen Elizabeth Theatre.

From the superficial standpoint of
a first-time opera-goer, here are my
observations on a night at the opera.
@ If you like TV soap operas, there’s
a@ goed chance you'll enjoy opera.

The libretto (operaspeak for “‘a
text written for and set to music in an
opera”) for Nabucco reads like a
Melrose Place script. Fenena, a
young princess (Joe) falls in love
with Ismaele, a handsome rebel
(ake). Abigaille (Amanda), Fenena’s
wicked sister (OK, so Joe and
Amanda aren't related on Melrose,
but stay with me on this one), is also
in love with Ismaecle and conspires to
‘steal him away. The princesses’
father Nabucco, King of Babylon,
(Palmer, Amianda’s father) is an evil
tyrant who conquers Jerusalem and
sacks the Temple of Solomon
(Palmer blew up the Pretty Lady,
didn’t he?).
® People dress better at the opera
than they do at other cultural events.
Hordes of opera-goers trundled out
the tuxedos and sequins, cocktail
dresses and the odd sable stole.

@ A certain amount of imagination is
required to reconcile the opera

GIUSEPPE VERDI'S classic opera, Nabucco, has a libretto that

reads like a soap-opera plot,

singers with the characters they rep-
resent. The ‘‘young” princess Fenena
was rather zaftig and old enough to
have borne her paramour Ismaele.
From my vantage point in the 23rd
row, Nabucco, with his fake beard
and long-haired wig, looked like an
from the Planet of the Apes.
Dong-Jian Gong as Zaccaria, the
High Priest of Jerusalem, resembled
Martin Sheen.
@ Household materials can be artful-
ly transformed into opera costumes.
Drapery fringe and tassels adorn

Tegal robes, striped bath towels dou-

ble as captives’ costumes, and
upturned Grecian urns baskets mas-
querade as soldiers’ headgear.

@ You don’t need to be an opera
snob to enjoy the opera. The
Vancouver Opera brings the decided-
ly low-brow Pirates of Penzance to
the Q.E. in March.

9O¢

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, love and enslavement.

Nabucco, in Italian with English
surtitles, continues Saturday, Oct. 22

and Monday, Oct. 24 at the Queen *

Elizabeth Theatre. Tickets, from
$28.50, are available at Ticketmaster
or charge-by-phone at 280-3311.
Students’ and seniors’ standby tick-
ets, priced from $17.50 to $22.50, go
on sale at 7 p.m. performance
evenings at the box office.

28 (or
Buy the first entree, and receive a second
eniree of equal or lesser value, with this ad

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‘bran,

Pianist Yefim Bronfman October 22 & 24

He may be the finest classical pianist alive. In fact, Isaac Stern has called
him “one of the two or three greatest talents of our times.” And you can
hear him live at the Orpheum. Join Vancouver's own Conductor Laureate
Kazuyoshi Akiyama and the VSO when they welcome Yefim Bronfman.
He'll perform Bartok’s powerful Piano Concerto No. 1. Also featured is
Richard Strauss’ apocalyptic tone poem Death and Transfiguration.
Performances are 8:00 pm at the Orpheum on both Saturday and Monday
nights. Don’t miss this extraordinary performer. Call for tickets today.

VANCOUVER

—SFIMPHONY

Performing The Greatest Hits in History for 75 years
Sergiu Comissiona, Music Director

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