Eighty percent of baroque operas are based on Orlando Furioso. I may have just made that fact up, but that doesn't change the fact that it's extremely true. It's interesting that such a massive cultural touchstone is largely unknown these days, at least outside the Italophone world. I enjoyed it many years ago, but I've forgotten most of it now. I kinda want to reread it now. Shouldn't it have been made into a Netflix show or something by now? Not that I'd watch it.
This takes place in Scotland (those Carolingian knights tromped all over the place). Ariodante and the king's daughter Ginerva are in love and the king approves so they're going to be married and he's going to be king. Things are looking preeeee-tty sweet. However, after she spurns the advances of the evil count Polinesso, he tricks everyone into thinking Ginerva has a lover. Everyone's sad and Ariodante tries to kill himself (it probably pays not to think too hard about this business where knights have to fight to somehow prove Ginerva's guilt or innocence) but then the truth comes out and Polinesso dies and everyone's happy again. As they should be.
It's another great Handel opera; what more can I say? I watched this production, from Opera McGill, McGill University's opera training school (there are actually two performances uploaded, labeled "cast 1" and "cast 2," but in fact they appear to have identical casts, so I don't know what that means). You might think, is this going to be worth watching? Buncha college students (well, and some graduate students)? But yeah, it is; these people are NOT messing around, and they do an extremely credible job. I mean, okay, clearly on some level it's lower-powered than professional performances, but you really don't feel like you're watching amateurs. At least I didn't. My favorites were Veronica Pollicino (she has a website!) in the title role and Nicholas Burns as the villainous Polinesso (referred to as "Polynesia" in the credits, which I assume is a weird translation into French or possibly English). They should have careers. Well, in fairness, anyone here could probably develop a career. But they seemed the most promising.
A traditional sort of production; fine. It is a bit odd that Pollicino has a long ponytail; in spite of her fake beard, she presents as pretty feminine anyway, so you have to wonder what the thinking is. Also, there's a dance break at the end of the first act (influenced by the French baroque?), which...well, it's true that in theory we're in Scotland, but there's nothing particularly Scottish-looking about the production, which is why it's very odd when the music shifts to all-bagpipes for the duration. This does not fit in well with the rest of the opera.
Well, no matter. Lots o' laffs here. Sez wikipedia, the opera fell into a state of complete obscurity for years after its initial production until it was revived in the 1970s. Crikey, man. Makes you wonder what great stuff we're missing out on now due to unjustified neglect.
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