InfoAnda - Royal Opera's Falstaff: Big knight on a big horse |

Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case
Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They

Taiwan denies boycotting Australian film festival
Thursday, August 6, 2009

AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e

Merkel's support dips, regional ally resigns International
Thursday, September 3, 2009

By Sarah Marsh and Noah Barkin

BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German

Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who

Asian markets mixed after Wall Street rally
Wednesday, March 18, 2009

By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an

Trout Fishing music duo pens children's book | 23 May 2009
Bangladeshi fined for flouting tourist tax refund regulation | 27 November 2008
Welcome Back, Kotter star Robert Hegyes dies at age 60 | | 27 January 2012

Google denied Nexus phone trademark: report | 18 March 2010

Forum Views () Forum Replies ()

Read more with google mobile : Royal Opera's Falstaff: Big knight on a big horse |

Edition: U.S. Africa Arabic Argentina Brazil Canada China France Germany India Italy Japan Latin America Mexico Russia Spain United Kingdom Home Business Business Home Economy Technology Media Small Business Legal Deals Earnings Social Pulse Business Video The Freeland File Markets Markets Home U.S. Markets European Markets Asian Markets Global Market Data Indices M&A Stocks Bonds Currencies Commodities Futures Funds peHUB World World Home U.S. Brazil China Euro Zone Japan Mexico Russia India Insight World Video Reuters Investigates Decoder Politics Politics Home Election 2012 Issues 2012 Candidates 2012 Tales from the Trail Political Punchlines Supreme Court Politics Video Tech Technology Home MediaFile Science Tech Video Tech Tonic Social Pulse Opinion Opinion Home Chrystia Freeland John Lloyd Felix Salmon Jack Shafer David Rohde Bernd Debusmann Nader Mousavizadeh Lucy P. Marcus David Cay Johnston Bethany McLean Edward Hadas Hugo Dixon Ian Bremmer Lawrence Summers Susan Glasser The Great Debate Steven Brill Jack & Suzy Welch Frederick Kempe Christopher Papagianis Breakingviews Equities Credit Private Equity M&A Macro & Markets Politics Breakingviews Video Money Money Home Tax Break Lipper Awards 2012 Global Investing MuniLand Unstructured Finance Linda Stern Mark Miller John Wasik James Saft Analyst Research Alerts Watchlist Portfolio Stock Screener Fund Screener Personal Finance Video Money Clip Investing 201 Life Health Sports Arts Faithworld Business Traveler Entertainment Oddly Enough Lifestyle Video Pictures Pictures Home Reuters Photographers Full Focus Video Reuters TV Reuters News Article Comments (0) Pictures Courtside candids Sometimes players aren't the only stars at NBA games. Slideshow Follow Reuters Facebook Twitter RSS YouTube Read Jessica's got to connect to win, says "Idol" mentor Iovine 21 May 2012 Insight: Morgan Stanley cut Facebook estimates just before IPO | 3:26am EDT McDonald's Vandalized: Onions on Burgers Send TN Men on McRampage 21 May 2012 Exclusive: U.S. lets China bypass Wall Street for Treasury orders 21 May 2012 Gingrich's private ventures are going bankrupt 8:08am EDT Discussed 169 Iran attack decision nears, Israeli elite locks down 147 Exclusive: U.S. lets China bypass Wall Street for Treasury orders 118 Obama presses ailing Europe to focus on growth Watched A look at the UK’s most beautiful face Thu, May 10 2012 Apple plans fatter iPhone 5 to choke market-hungry Samsung Thu, May 17 2012 Obama raises concerns about al Qaeda in Yemen Mon, May 21 2012 Pictures Reuters Photojournalism Our day's top images, in-depth photo essays and offbeat slices of life. See the best of Reuters photography. See more | Photo caption Olympic torch relay A look at the relay for the Olympic torch as it makes its way from Greece to England. Slideshow Solar ring of fire An annular eclipse dimmed the skies over parts of Asia and North America, which briefly turned the sun into a blazing ring of fire. Slideshow Royal Opera's "Falstaff": Big knight on a big horse Tweet Share this Email Print Related Topics Entertainment » Fashion » Italy » By Michael Roddy LONDON | Tue May 22, 2012 7:15am EDT LONDON (Reuters) - A new production of Verdi's "Falstaff" at the Royal Opera features a big man on a big horse, and it could only flop if the Italian baritone Ambrogio Maestri could not sing the title role, which is manifestly not the case. Maestri, who has sung Shakespeare's rotund knight as portrayed in Verdi's last opera to high praise in opera houses around the world, reprises his specialty in a new production by Canadian director Robert Carsen that is a bit like "Falstaff" meets the 1950s sitcoms "I Love Lucy" and "The Honeymooners", but with Italian conductor Daniel Gatti in the pit and a mostly strong supporting cast, delivers the goods. Updated to the 1950s from the Elizabethan England of the Shakespeare plays it is based on, the production which opened last week and will play on big outdoor screens around Britain on May 30, features an almost blindingly yellow 1950s-period kitchen in one scene extending the entire width of the stage. The kitchen belongs to Alice Ford, one of the wealthy women the proud but impecunious Falstaff is trying to seduce for love and profit, and it may be the most in-your-face set at Covent Garden since a production of Humperdinck's "Hansel and Gretel" a few years ago outfitted the witch's kitchen with gleaming chrome designer ovens and a freezer locker where the children she intended to bake were suspended on racks. Carsen has transferred a gossipy garden scene to a swanky restaurant and brings a real horse, eating real hay, on stage in the last act because, Carsen told Reuters, Falstaff is meant to be dressed up as a hunter, and so must have a mount, and the horse does its bit to keep up the eating theme that runs from the opening curtain to the finale. With its cast of scheming and upwardly mobile women, a bit like the character Lucille Ball played in her 1950s sitcom, and with an indelibly memorable fat man, like Jackie Gleason as the overweight bus driver Ralph Kramden in "The Honeymooners", Carsen hardly seems far from the mark when he describes his "Falstaff" as "a situation comedy, and in many ways it's like the first musical, too". Carsen even has a response for anyone who has seen the last act before, in which the fat knight is tormented by the rest of the cast dressed up as fairies and elves who he thinks will destroy him because he has intruded on their midnight revels around a tree in Windsor Forest called Herne's Oak. In this production, there's no tree, and the stage instead is covered with tables pushed together to serve for a banquet. "It is true that the last act is supposed to take place beside something called Herne's Oak but we decided to make the entire production out of Herne's Oak - the entire show is made out of oak paneling from beginning to end. The paneling, the floor, the wall and all the furniture. Herne's Oak is there the entire way through." All this, Carsen told Reuters, is in the interest of finding "one thing which lets you into the work". "And I think with the audience it was really a wonderful reception," he added. MIXED VERDICT The critics delivered a mixed verdict, with some complaining that the production is so busy and madcap that it sometimes gives the music short shrift, while others said Carsen and cast had done a creditable job. "The audience may have loved the Fords' Good Housekeeping dream kitchen and a real horse that Falstaff rides into Windsor Forest, but these were only amusing gimmicks. Otherwise it was all routine stuff, with a particularly disappointing hash made of the great last scene," Rupert Christiansen wrote in The Daily Telegraph. "Carsen has a musical grasp of the piece...and he understands that Falstaff is more than a romp," wrote Martin Kettle in The Guardian. At the centre of it all is Falstaff and no one would deny that Maestri fits the bill. He is so large that he barely needs padding for the role, and in publicity materials he expressed concern not so much about having to share the stage with a live horse as for the damage he might inflict on the poor steed when he mounted it. Fortunately, the horse is a sturdy one and showed no ill effects. Since its premiere at La Scala in Milan in 1893, "Falstaff" has attracted some of the world's greatest baritones to the lead role, among them the late Italian Giuseppe Taddei and the German Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, who died last week. Maestri brings a somewhat laid back approach to the part, but from the opening scene when he is trying to figure out a way to pay for his last banquet which includes "a brace of pheasants and an anchovy", to the finale when he has been made to seem foolish but human, he truly embraces the role. "Maestri may lack the vocal allure of some of his predecessors," Kettle wrote in the Guardian, "but he is confident and sympathetic, subtle of tone when needed, and certainly looks the part when he goes wooing in his full hunting regalia.". Maestri is looking forward to singing in Carsen's production in Milan in January when it opens La Scala's 200th birthday tribute season to Verdi in an opera house that is notorious for rough and swift verdicts on productions or singers the audience does not find to its taste. "I like the production very much because I think it fits for the audiences of today, it probably gets across what Verdi and the librettist wanted to say more than if it were a more traditional production," Maestri said. "But I think at La Scala the young people will like it much more than the older generation." ("Falstaff" in rotation at Covent Garden through May 30 www.roh.org.uk) (Editing by Paul Casciato) Entertainment Fashion Italy Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above. Edition: U.S. Africa Arabic Argentina Brazil Canada China France Germany India Italy Japan Latin America Mexico Russia Spain United Kingdom Back to top Reuters.com Business Markets World Politics Technology Opinion Money Pictures Videos Site Index Legal Bankruptcy Law California Legal New York Legal Securities Law Support & Contact Support Corrections Connect with Reuters Twitter Facebook LinkedIn RSS Podcast Newsletters Mobile About Privacy Policy Terms of Use AdChoices Copyright Our Flagship financial information platform incorporating Reuters Insider An ultra-low latency infrastructure for electronic trading and data distribution A connected approach to governance, risk and compliance Our next generation legal research platform Our global tax workstation Thomsonreuters.com About Thomson Reuters Investor Relations Careers Contact Us Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests. NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.

Other News on Tuesday, 22 May 2012
Italy police close in on school bombing suspect |
UK's Cameron urges euro zone action |
Exclusive: U.S. lets China bypass Wall Street for Treasury orders |
Comic Grillo shakes up Italian politics with shock win |
At least 11 Albanian university students killed in bus crash |
Mali president beaten during palace occupation |
Apple, Samsung CEOs in U.S. court talks on patents |
Whitney Houston's last record released for Sparkle |
Cannes film festival abuzz as dark tales shine |
Alain Resnais revisits classic Greek legend at Cannes |
Michael Jackson is still Bad, 25 years after album |
Jessica's got to connect to win, says Idol mentor Iovine |
Antiviral brings Cronenberg father-son act to Cannes |
Bardem shows plight of Saharawi in film documentary |
Putin shifts former ministers to Kremlin |
Greeks embrace some new myths about life with the euro |
Two dead in Beirut clashes after killing of anti-Assad cleric |
Bulgarian capital shaken by 5.6 magnitude quake |
Hollande's euro arguments nonsense: Austria's Fekter |
Facing edgy vote, Egypt army hikes diesel imports |
New Zealand to ban foreign-flagged fishing boats |
Ruling party candidate claims win in Dominican vote |
Obama sketches four-pronged strategy for Europe, sees EU consensus |
Insight: Morgan Stanley cut Facebook estimates just before IPO |
Apple still dominates world's top brands: study |
Facebook shares sink 11 percent as reality overtakes hype |
Apple seeks support for new spaceship-like campus |
Silicon Valley takes Facebook fizzle in stride |
House bows out with a funeral and plenty of twists |
Hunger Games village up for auction |
Alain Resnais revisits classic Greek legend at Cannes |
Antiviral brings Cronenberg father-son act to Cannes |
Exclusive: Tunisia to extradite former Gaddafi PM to Libya |
Afghans back Chicago deal, warn West to keep promises |
Insight: EU foreign policy chief Ashton stays out of the spotlight |
IAEA chief says nears deal with Iran ahead of 6-power talks |
Egypt underclass finds voice, voting against misery |
Mali coup leader condemns president beating |
Bissau junta says hands power back to civilians |
South Sudan says Sudan bombs, shells its territory |
Ukraine plans Euro crowd control, prostitution a problem |
Facebook drops again as pressure to perform mounts |
Google names new Motorola Mobility CEO |
After Yahoo deal, challenges abound for Alibaba |
Brad Pitt mob movie portrays broken American dream |
Singer Pete Doherty's film debut dubbed a crime |
Royal Opera's Falstaff: Big knight on a big horse |
Greece at new risk of being pushed off euro
Bodies of missing Tenn. mom, Jo Ann Bain, and daughter found
Female Breasts Are Bigger Than Ever
AMD Trinity Accelerated Processing Units Now in Volume Production
The Avengers (2012 film), made the second biggest opening- and single-day gross of all-time
AMD to Start Production of piledriver
Ivy Bridge Quad-Core, Four-Thread Desktop CPUs
Islamists Protest Lady Gaga's Concert in Indonesia
Japan Successfully Broadcasts an 8K Signal Over the Air
ECB boosts loans to 1 trillion Euro to stop credit crunch
Egypt : Mohammed Morsi won with 52 percent
What do you call 100,000 Frenchmen with their hands up
AMD Launches AMD Embedded R-Series APU Platform
Fed Should not Ignore Emerging Market Crisis
Fed casts shadow over India, emerging markets
Why are Chinese tourists so rude? A few insights

USD EUR - 1 year graph		BlogMeter 1.01