(**Please go here if you're looking for Marcelo Alvarez's surprise La Scala cancellations...)
OC gets down on her knees and sends giant, soft kisses to Classica Italia for last night's re-broadcast of the December 7, 2007 Tristan und Isolde live from Teatro alla Scala. How sweet it was to stay in last night and nurse my lingering Tristan und Isolde hangover with the hair of the dog that bit me: moar vagnair. Although this time, Triscuits Underpantsies went much better with OC draped across the couch, wrapped in 00s Eres & 90s Paul Costelloe under a 80s Bardelli cream cashmere blanket & sipping on some gin & juice Cremes Gaja red. Yah, it was teh bomb and yah u wish u were here.
We have to say that live, Barenboim's warmth and delicate mastery of the orchestra didn't translate as we had wished to the plasma, nor did the impact of Meier's acting. The suckiness of Act II lulled me again to sleep, but I was roused promptly by some of Meier's howling. So it's all good.
Here below are screenshots of the spectacle. And damn...on 42" plasma, Meier's forehead barely cracked an inch under her most forced of laments. And now the legal stuff: The following shots are pictures taken from a television broadcast, and are not promotional materials of Teatro alla Scala.
Above: Act I, The chorus & Kurwenal, sung by Gerd Grochowski
Above: Act I, scenery.
Above: Act I, Waltraud Meier singing Isolde.
Above: Act I, Waltraud Meier singing Isolde.
Above: Act I, Ian Storey singing Tristan.
Above: Act II, Waltraud Meier singing Isolde and Brangäne's Michelle De Young
Above: Act II, Ian Storey singing Tristan & Waltraud Meier's Isolde
Above: Act II, Ian Storey singing Tristan & Waltraud Meier's Isolde
Above: Act II, König Marke's Matti Salminen
Above: Act III, Barenboim arrives for Act III's awesomeness
Above: Act III, Dying Tristan & Kurwenal's Gerd Grochowski
Above: Act III, You're all gonna die!
Above: Waltraud Meier's Isolde takes a final bow @ curtain call
Above: König Marke as Matti Salminen @ curtain call
Above: Ian Storey singing Tristan @ curtain call
Above: Barenboim @ curtain call
Above: Director Patrice Chéreau