lazy day....

no work, still have accomplished a lot---a haircut, some shopping, some bills---well, the whole thing. The rest will probably do me good, but still miss the structure that I have when I am at  Friends.
  Saturday night: Attended a performance of the opera Der Freischutz, by Weber, performed by a young company called Heartbeat opera in a reasonably small space, the Baruch Theater space. The company envisions itself as taking classical operas and finding a meaningful connection with current day problems, thus this Der Freischutz, according to the director, would be a take on how burnt out american war veterans cope with life after warfare. The plot and characters of Weber's opera are applicable---the protagonist is a withdrawn, aloof  veteran of the 30 years war and the director thought that this translated into a world of alienation for the Afghan war rerturnees, especially those living in small backwoods town. So this version was set in Texas--began with a terrific group scene that created a good mood, and then fell down from there. Why, well, for one, the company has it dialogue in English, yet presents the music in the original German. I found this change of language (despite the presence of titles) jarring. The staging followed the original opera, and so long arias (though well sung) took away from the original vision. By the middle of Act I, I felt myself trapped in the theater---things were better in Act II, though the act ended with a muddled and confusing scene with the deux ex machina of the opera. The company's musical director arranged the score for a ten piece orchestra with amazing fidelity to the original music, and the singers sang well, but that was not enough. Afterwards, there was a short talk back---with the director and the other leaders of the company, it was full of self congratulations. I know one of the artistic directors of the company---perhaps I can discuss my problems with him, though I don't know how much he would like to have his bubble burst. For me, if the company wants to establish itself as dealing with American problems through classical operas (certainly possible) I really feel they should be translating the librettos into English. Having dialogue in English and then quickly switching to German for the music took away all the american authenticity the company claims to be striving for.
  Sunday--quite a change- went to the fall play at Friends.Five short farces, all takes on different genres, well acted with great enthusiasm by about 15 students. Mostly a lot of fun. After that spent the next few hours at La Flaca, where I was welcomed warmly by the service people and watched a basketball and a football game. I should go there more.
Not much else to say, the rest of the day contains one session, the evening a mystery---will report soon.