Lately, I have been going on some (relatively unplanned) cultural outings. HereÅ› a brief overview of them, for your enjoyment.
Swan Lake
Ballet… hmmms. Maren and me saw many people go to the theatre, and we got some last-minute tickets. Not too expensive, which fitted nicely with the “let’s try this ballet thing” concept. We did get a book explaining the story of what was going on. We started reading that. After having read up on the first act, the the lights dimmed and the music started. Having read up was A Good Thing(tm). It would’ve been rather non-understandable otherwise. Short synopsis: evil wizards rapes queen, queen gets pregnant, boy grows up, mommy queen tells him to get married, he goes out the night before the big choose-thy-girl-ball on a hunt, and encounters this totally hot swan-chick (suffering from a spell of evil wizard). All of this (and more) is conveyed in dance scenes. I don’t speak dance-ese, so reading helped.
Le anyway,the style was a bit weird. The standard swan-lake music was alternated by modern experimental music. The dancing varied from storytelling to totally cool moves (mostly in the experimental bits ;-). All in all, I’m not opposed to seeing more ballet. But, admittedly, I did like the fact that the director had tried to bring the story into modern times (cool dance moves, hip music, a bar scene). And I also liked, that it did fit in with the story.
The Barber of Sevilla
Figaro, Figaro, Fi-ga-rooooooooooooo! Yes, you know it. And we went (again last-minute) to it. The Barber of Sevilla is a comedy-opera. Which means that not only are there people on stage, singing opera-style, but that they are winking, running behind each other’s backs, making funny faces, singing while lying on the floor, etc. etc. They are making jokes. In fact, it was very much like a musical, except singing was opera-style. Not at all like the opera’s I’ve seen before. Very funny. And as if it wasn’t enough that the play itself was funny and offered all sorts of opportunities for comic relief, they regularly broke the fourth wall (the maestro actually had a quite big part in the play, while he never left the orchestral pit). Brilliant! I thoroughly enjoyed it! Heart-felled recommendation!
X-men: Wolverine Origins
Friday night, no plans, and feeling like seeing a movie. And, you know what, I don’t need to download stuff, I can afford paying for it. So Matthieu and me went to the movies. Well, this installment is very much fire-and-forget. I’d almost liken it to going to MacDonalds for a meal: you will get something in your stomach, it doesn’t taste great and it doesn’t fill you up, and you leave feeling unsatisfied. Perfect for spending an otherwise wasted evening at the theatre. Mind you, it’s not bad, it just doesn’t have redeeming qualities. The over-the-topness is not cool enough to blow you away. The revelations aren’t fantastic. The story does not have grand surprises. It’s all mediocre.