Shameless plugging, May 2010 edition

[chanaleh]

I'm singing Tessa in mitgsp's The Gondoliers! It opens in 11 days! You should all come see it! (Seriously, it's adorable. Plus -- Venice! Oh, it's too much happiness!)

Then, Honorable Menschen (now featuring cycon!) is once again joining Techiya to open for their spring concert, 8pm on Sunday, May 9 (a.k.a. Mother's Day). It's FREE! You should all come see it!

Lastly, for those who missed ncfo's Springtime for Haman last month (in which I played Haman's wife Zeresh), footage is now up on a new NCFamilyOpera YouTube channel! You can even see just my scene (with the illustrious SCO#1 as Haman): part 1, part 2, and part 3. Yay!

... There was more, but right now I forget. BED NAO PLZ. *zonk*

Comments

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

It's not really a straightforward drama -- it certainly takes a light touch in many places (this scene being one of the exceptions, or rather, the beginning is lighter than the end).

However, it is a rather complex little play, really. It very intentionally reworks Haman to be a more sympathetic and indeed tragic character -- his tragic flaw being his pride; it sets up a bit at the beginning where the Agagites are second-class citizens in Persia, so that it becomes really important to Haman that everyone bow down to him, and also how the Jews were responsible for bringing down *his* people (i.e. smiting the Amalekites) so he feels particularly, personally galled by Mordechai's refusal. (Not sure how historically defensible that is, but it adds an interesting layer to the narrative.) And it makes Mordechai out to be, while not a villain, more of a schemer and political social climber (e.g., his motive in getting Esther into the palace was to bolster his *own* standing).

So it's not exactly a Purimshpiel in the sense of reinforcing the archetypes. (Though awhyzip came out of the performance going, "Best! Purimshpiel! Evar!") The composer is himself Jewish, but also an MIT guy from way back and, as you might guess, a bit of an iconoclast in that intellectual-Cambridge way ;-) But there are some really good bits, including songs that made me cry every time (both Mordechai's, interestingly). You'd enjoy watching the whole thing.

-- Oh, but to answer your actual question about the title: I think he just couldn't resist!!! (He even *uses* that musical riff, in the scene where Haman is casting the pur -- Adar, springtime, you know.) And, on the whole, it's really not a bad fit for the tone. Note that the prequel opera is called simply "The Coronation of Esther", and while I haven't seen that one to compare the material, it's a MUCH less snappy title. ;-)