Prior to local Messiah concert we attended a lonnnnng cocktail hour where we were regaled by stories from a friend, a local opera singer. He told of a Carmen where he and his pal had been cast as soldier guards. They were awaiting their entrance cue, unaware one of the cast had been replaced. This replacement summoned the soldier guards to come and arrest Carmen. Alas, he was not only an exceptionally reedy, nasal tenor, he had a severe lisp. Our friend offered an exaggerated approximation of the lispy, nasal, reedy line - which had us in stitches. The soldier guards, of course, were to meet this cue line, but they had made the mistake of looking at each other and collapsing into helpless laughter. No matter how hard they tried, they were unable to stifle it. Finally they stumbled out on stage still choking on laughter - and arrested Carmen. The stage manager was not amused.
As he finished this very amusing tale, we heard the bong of the commence of the Messiah and took our seats in the middle of a row. It wasn’t long before we heard the first notes of the tenor who - you guessed it - was a reedy, nasal, lispy tenor. All of us could feel unbidden laughter bubbling up from our deepest innards. This, of course, was exacerbated by one too many cocktails. The tenor kept singing and we, certain we would burst, started looking to escape our seats - but we were stuck in the middle and close enough to the front to be noticed leaving en masse. It was the longest hour of our lives. We hunched over, buried our faces in our programmes, and dared not look at each other, knowing that would be the end. Eventually, blessedly, another soloist would take over and we could suck in air and know some respite - but then the tenor would be back singing again, and we were once again fighting convulsions of helpless laughter and desperately beseeching the Lord not to let us burst. I can relate I have never felt such inner panic - or prayed so hard. The intermission finally arrived, and we poured out into the lobby to seek a corner where we could explode.
can i play super opinionated classical music critic too? i have the britten sinfonia version he raves about and highly recommend it - the energy is through the roof
MESSIAH STORY
Prior to local Messiah concert we attended a lonnnnng cocktail hour where we were regaled by stories from a friend, a local opera singer. He told of a Carmen where he and his pal had been cast as soldier guards. They were awaiting their entrance cue, unaware one of the cast had been replaced. This replacement summoned the soldier guards to come and arrest Carmen. Alas, he was not only an exceptionally reedy, nasal tenor, he had a severe lisp. Our friend offered an exaggerated approximation of the lispy, nasal, reedy line - which had us in stitches. The soldier guards, of course, were to meet this cue line, but they had made the mistake of looking at each other and collapsing into helpless laughter. No matter how hard they tried, they were unable to stifle it. Finally they stumbled out on stage still choking on laughter - and arrested Carmen. The stage manager was not amused.
As he finished this very amusing tale, we heard the bong of the commence of the Messiah and took our seats in the middle of a row. It wasn’t long before we heard the first notes of the tenor who - you guessed it - was a reedy, nasal, lispy tenor. All of us could feel unbidden laughter bubbling up from our deepest innards. This, of course, was exacerbated by one too many cocktails. The tenor kept singing and we, certain we would burst, started looking to escape our seats - but we were stuck in the middle and close enough to the front to be noticed leaving en masse. It was the longest hour of our lives. We hunched over, buried our faces in our programmes, and dared not look at each other, knowing that would be the end. Eventually, blessedly, another soloist would take over and we could suck in air and know some respite - but then the tenor would be back singing again, and we were once again fighting convulsions of helpless laughter and desperately beseeching the Lord not to let us burst. I can relate I have never felt such inner panic - or prayed so hard. The intermission finally arrived, and we poured out into the lobby to seek a corner where we could explode.
can i play super opinionated classical music critic too? i have the britten sinfonia version he raves about and highly recommend it - the energy is through the roof